The Girl Who Disappeared

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.