Archive for category: Students K-12 Classes

5th Grade, 3rd Place

by Leland Fordham,

Putnam County Elementary

My name is Christine. I am putting up Halloween decorations which I thought would be fun. Apparently Not. I would rather be in my bedroom staring at the wall right now! My mom is helping me put up Halloween decorations and she wants everything to be PERFECT. I was putting up these fake bats on the wall. She was putting up the fake spiders on the wall. I was putting the bats on the wall when I noticed my mom walking into the room. There are too many in one area. Here, you should do it like this.” As she picked up the bat, I yelled “why does everything have to be perfect!” Then I said, “Can’t you deal with one little mistake!” I stomped my feet up the stairs and slammed my door! I Stayed in there for one hour until I got hungry. When I opened my door, all I saw was a mysterious portal! As I was freaking out, I accidentally stepped in the portal! I fell through the portal quickly as I noticed that there was ground underneath me. As I fell flat on my face, I noticed how strange the world looked. The leaves on the trees were purple, yellow, and blue. I saw a strange river. The river was pink and had rainbow sprinkles in it. I saw a turtle. Its shell was bright blue, and I saw he also noticed me. As he slowly approached, he said “Hi. The name is Sprinkles. What strange creature are you doing here?” I explained what happened with the portal. He was confused. He told me that either I could have only opened the portal, or some creature here opened it. If I opened it, how did I do it? It must have been something here. “AHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed. I then realized, where would my mom think I was? Would she think I ran away? I must get back to EARTH before sunset. I checked the time on my watch, it was already 5:03 PM! I only have an hour! I don’t think I opened the portal. I had a MAJOR problem! How would I make it back home? We would have to find the creature who opened the portal so we could get me back home. As we looked around the forests, I spotted something in the woods. It looked like a pink jaguar. I saw it run to us. Me and Sprinkles rushed to the volcano, well I did sprinkles was slow. We found her and asked her if she opened the portal. She said I’m deeply sorry I did. I have been looking for you so I can take you back home. “I’m really going to miss you,” said sprinkles. A big smile spread across my face. “I have an idea!” I gasped. Sprinkles could come home with me! As the portal opened me and sprinkles stepped in. We made it back just in time .Sprinkles is the best pet ever!

5th Grade, 1st Place

by Nova Macknik-Conde,

Homeschool 

I stared at the forest of dark pine trees looming over me, laughing at me, each becoming a vision of the one I used to welcome into my house, my arms, my heart, until he stood over my parents with a bloody knife in his hand and the look of a crazed, cornered, monstrous animal in his eye, his beautiful kaleidoscopic eye, the eye I could sink into and be lost inside. Those pools of colors and sadness and intelligence and sometimes tinges of humor, but now, only hate and pleading for help. And his gentle hands, now flecked with red drops that fell to the floor as though the blood was crying, pooled on the wooden floor, and creating dark swirling masses of danger, as if warning me to run away, far away from this person named Angel I thought I knew.

I was able to think all this as Angel’s servants and guards of Fallen Angels growled at me to get going and pushed me toward the forest where my death was waiting as a sacrifice to not Angel, for Angel had changed. Angel had morphed into the God of Death, a Demon, or as I now thought of him, the Angelic Demon. Tears slowly slid down my pale cheeks, tears for who Angel used to be, tears for the trapped look in his eyes, like he was aware he was going mad but did not know how to become sane again, tears for my lost parents and my old life, tears for the lives that death had stolen all around.

All at once, I snapped out of my reverie and saw I had been pushed into a clearing. I looked around, dreading what I may find. As my eyes adjusted to the suffocating darkness caused by the tight interweaving of tree branches, I saw Angel. Slowly, he walked over to me and kneeled down. Then he laughed. It was a terrible laugh, but not nearly as cruel as the smile that followed.

I held my breath and begged him with my eyes. Slowly Angel stood and withdrew, like a viper recoiling to strike. And strike he did. In less than a second, his knife was in my chest. Almost immediately, his dreadful glower and the murder in his gaze evaporated. Rather, his eyes broadened in dismay. Then he wailed in anguish and rocked me back and forth in his arms, begging me not to leave him. My last thought went like this: ‘Goodbye, Angel. At least I’ll be seeing my parents soon.’

 

4th Grade, 2nd Place

by Chloe Hallford,

Suwanee Elementary School (Gwinnett County)

I’m Shadow, and I used to have a dog named Spark. But two weeks ago, he was hit by a falling branch when we took a walk in the forest. When that happened, his body disappeared. When I go back to my house, I cry myself to sleep. I miss him and would do anything to get him back.

One night, I wake up to the howling of a wolf in my hut. No, it’s a dog, and that dog sounds like Spark! I jump out of bed and run to my window, but he’s nowhere to be seen in the darkness. I walk to my bed and cry myself to sleep. When I wake up, I think about Spark and how he disappeared just like that.

I wake up the next night when my room starts shaking like crazy, and my things are flying into a dark hole in the middle of the room. I hear a noise like big people are stomping. I yell for help, hoping that someone would hear my cries of fear.

THUD!!!

I land in the middle of the haunted forest. Something wet touches my hand. Spark!!! Though I can’t see him, I can feel his nose. I grab his collar. We try to find our way out. We walk and walk some more until I realize I was walking in circles! Finally, we see a big path. My heart pumps harder. We will get out of here. Me and Spark!

Spark whimpers as we start down it. “Why are you scared?” I whisper to him. “This is our way out of here and then we can be together again.” But he doesn’t say anything back.

A big wind blows when we walk a short distance. It pulls me like invisible hands that are holding me. “AHH!!!” I yell.

Something crashes from above me and hits me on the head. At first, my eyes could not see anything. Only darkness. Then I looked at my hands and I saw them lose their color. They started to fade away and became invisible. I realized that my whole body was fading away from the world. My body would disappear like Sparks. When I stopped fading, I knew… I was gone from the world forever.

3rd Grade, 3rd Place (tie)

by Shelby Sandford,

Washington Park Elementary (Jasper County) 

It was Halloween night and Jake and Carly were getting their costumes on for Halloween. They were so excited! They wanted all the candy but also to meet their new baby cousin Maggy. Carly was the most excited. It would be her first time going on a plane. Well it’s just a tour guide. Jake had already gone on a plane for a school trip. ‘’Mom, are you ready cause I really want to meet Maggy’’ said Carly. ‘’Yes I’m ready,’’replied mom. After that, they went out the door. On the way to the car their mom totally forgot about the Halloween baskets for the tour guide! She had to rush inside very quickly. Once she finally found them, she had to rush outside very quickly again. ‘’Okay, now I’m ready’’, said mom.

2 Hours Later

Jake and Carly were asleep when mom turned around to say that they were at the airport. Soon they woke up. But when they did Carly was so excited but she was also kind of tired, which was very good because she had to be very cautious around Maggie. Once they got to the airport, Carly and Jake finally got to see Maggie. Maggie was asleep at the moment, so unfortunately Carly and Jake couldn’t hold Maggie. In a few minutes she woke up. But suddenly a whole row of chairs just flipped over! Everyone who was sitting in the chairs were injured.Then something else terrible happened, all of the flights were delayed, the noise was awful and everyone argued with one another. It was like someone made it all happen. If so, who could it be? I looked over at Maggie to see if she could give me a clue like in the movies. But it didn’t work. Guess what I saw it was a sentence that said ‘’give me the power to take control of the world’’. That gave me a clue, it was all Maggie! I can’t believe it! My baby cousin was a BABY CONTROLLER.

 

3rd Grade, 2nd Place

by Asher Hoselton,

Gatewood (Putnam County)

It was the night before Halloween. Billy and Ashley were taking their dog Cosmo for a walk down the street. There was a storm moving in and they were heading back to their house. Thunder rumbled and scared the dog so he ran fast into the neighbor’s yard. “Oh no”, said Billy. “He ran into Mrs. Adams fence!”, Ashley said with fear. Mrs. Adams was an elderly woman who never spoke to anyone and rarely came outside. All the kids in the neighborhood were scared of her. They heard thunder rumble again. They walked slowly towards the gate looking for their dog in the thick grass. They pushed the gate open, and it creaked loudly. They inched their way towards the front porch where they heard Cosmo scratching at the boards. They walked up the steps trying to be quiet, but the boards were old and noisy when they moved their feet. “SSSSQQQUUUUEEEAAAAKKKKK!” Ashley looked at Billy and shushed him.
“Be quiet”, she said. “I’m scared, bubba.”
“Let’s just get the dog and get out of here!”, said Billy.
They tried to call Cosmo quietly so that Mrs. Adams did not hear them. They got up to him on the porch and went to grab him. As soon as they grabbed his leash, lightning struck and scared both of them. They looked up, and saw Mrs. Adams standing in the window.
“AAAAHHHHHHHHH!! RUN!” both kids yelled. They ran as fast as they could to their house and rushed inside. They told their parents what happened and the parents did their best to calm them down. Once they settled down, they got ready for bed and their mom and dad tucked them in. As they laid there and tried to fall asleep, there was a tapping against the window outside. TAP. TAP. TAP. TAP.
“Billy, did you hear that?” asked Ashley.
“Yes, this is spooky”, said Billy. The kids got up and went over to the window. Lightning crashed again, and they saw Mrs. Adams walking slowly up the driveway. Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. Both kids looked at each other with big eyes full of fright. They heard their dad open the door and the old lady began to talk. The kids walked to the top of the stairs and looked down at the open door.
“Hello children,” she said. “I was just returning your ball cap. It must have fallen off when you were getting your dog from my porch.”
“I’m sorry we were in your yard, ma’am.” Billy said softly.
“It’s okay. I don’t have many visitors, but I sure don’t mind.” Mrs. Adams said as she smiled at the children. They smiled back and waved.
“Have a good night,” said Mrs. Adams, as she turned and walked back to her home.
The children went to sleep, and from that day on they visited Mrs. Adams every time they passed her house.

THE END