Our Voice Volume 7 by Scot McAtee

Maria Mecklenburg

  Name

  The Dirtbag At Sam’s

  I didn’t want to be scanning food products being reeled in on a conveyer belt as my career, but unfortunately, here I am. I didn’t want to have to ring up and bag people’s items they bought either, but unfortunately, here I am. I didn’t want to be a check-out clerk at the supermarket, but unfortunately, that’s what I am. Yep, what a life, right? Even my name sucks. My name is Alex. Alex Lee. Not that anyone cares. My mom thought it would be a good idea to name her daughter Alex.

  “Alex is a girl name too, sweetie.” She would say. Well, I’m sorry, mom. Your case didn’t stop the kids from making fun of me in grade school. The only good thing I’ve got going for me right now is the fact that my brother Rick Grimes is a sheriff. When people find out I’m related to the amazing Sheriff Grimes from Sweaser Valley, all of a sudden, it’s like people want to talk to me. About my brother, of course. I would say that the people could care less about me, but that would pretty much be a lie. I’m at the bottom of their list of people they care about. They ask how he’s doing, even though I’m the one with two broken fingers. They ask about his accomplishments at the sheriff’s office, such as the time he almost spilled coffee on him, but didn’t, and moved out of the way just in time. Oh, how the people smile and nod their heads at that story, even though I recently got employee of the month at work. But do people bring that story up? No.

  But enough complaining. My life isn’t that bad. I have my job. My store-clerk job at Quinton’s Market, that was supposed to be temporary. It was going to be just a way of bringing in money until I found a way to move to California and pursue my dream as a celebrity, but look how that turned out. But it’s not all that bad. I have two goldfish in a bowl on my table that I enjoy taking care of. Did I say two? I meant only one goldfish. The other died last week.

  That’s okay, at least I can pet the other one. Wait, no, it’s a fish. Well, I can teach it to, no, that isn’t possible. I thought to myself.

  Well, at least I have my cat. She eats dinner with me at night when I get home from work. I take that back. It’s not even my cat. It’s just a stray cat that wanders around my house, but I give her food because I feel bad for the scrawny little thing with its leaves stuck to its matted fur and her constant purring. I feed it every night by placing a can of tuna on my porch, by my hammock. Some nights it doesn’t even show up. Yep, everything in my life is going just fine.

  Who am I kidding? I thought. When my shift at Quinton’s Market was over at 9:30 p.m., I changed out of my uniform in the back room, clocked out, grabbed my things, and drove off in the night in search of a life. I passed a couple gas stations, an ice cream shop, our town’s car lot, and two elementary schools before something caught my eye. It was a large sign in the shape of an arrow, pointing to a nice-looking restaurant that said

  SAM’S

  in neon yellow letters.

  Huh, never noticed this place before. I thought to myself. I decided to pull in the parking lot and grab a bite to eat at this so-called “SAM’S” place. After I turned my car off, shut the door, and locked it, I walked up the steps and through the doors to SAM’S restaurant. I widened my eyes in awe as I looked around. The restaurant wasn’t exactly what I expected. I thought it’d be just a typical middle class restaurant. Boy, I had never been so happy to be so wrong! The place so beautiful. Spectacular! From the designs on the walls to the dark earth toned hardwood floors, I stood in the middle of the doorway, absolutely amazed. Hanging from the ceiling were decorated foam balls. The restaurant had dim lights, but you were still able to see perfectly. There were Chinese lanterns in every booth, table, and in the middle of the buffet tables, lighting up a four foot tall chocolate fountain. The waitresses were all wearing matching hot pink dresses with black belts and had gold pens to write people’s orders down in the notepads they had. There was a white rectangle pinned to each of the women’s dresses with their name printed on it for a name tag. The chairs to the tables were in the shape of a tilted “S”, probably for “SAM’S” and were made of black leather. The walls were engraved with cool designs and just random shapes intertwined with each other. The place was filled with the noise of people’s voices, talking to. This was one extraordinary amazing place, especially considering it was a half fancy and half fast food restaurant. There was a couple of windows I saw before I stepped in that must have been the drive thru.

  Just then a woman pushed past me and her and her family walked up to the podium where the employee makes seating arrangements.

  “Good Evening.” Said the employee. “Would you like a table?”

  “No.” the woman said sarcastically. “I’d prefer the floor. Carpet for 5 please.”

  One of the three sons of the woman rolled his eyes at his mother and said,

  “Mom, do you have to be so rude?”

  “Luke, do you have to be so dumb? You are a Hemmings. Start acting like one. We should be treated with the most highest level of respect and I shouldn’t have to explain to this idiot that I want a table every time we come here. If you want to eat on the floor like poor people, then take your food back to your grandma’s house and eat it in the barn. Haha, I made a joke.” She said.

  One of the other boys that was with her shook his head slightly from side to side and said,

  “That wasn’t funny. You just can’t make jokes mom.”

  The woman smirked at him before replying,

  “I made you, didn’t I?”

  I started laughing really hard at the woman’s joke. She turned around from all the way by the podium and scrunched her face in disgust. She probably thought I was weird. Just then a young man, who I’m assuming is in his twenties came up to me, dressed as if he worked there, and asked me if wanted to sit down instead of standing there laughing myself like an idiot. I ignored his rude question because from his point of view, that is probably what he saw.

  “Oh. Yeah, uh, sure.” I said.

  He gave me a weird look as if I was stupid or something before saying,

  “I’m Sam Pepper. The owner of this place. You like it here?”

  So, this guy was the owner, huh?

  After he gave me a table to sit at and a menu, I couldn’t help but notice what he did next. Sam walked up to one of the female employees a couple of tables away and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. I focused my eyes on the menu, not really caring about Sam Pepper. He was most likely dating the waitress, and I was too busy noticing that there was fried chicken on the menu. But then I overheard him talking.

  “Hey, babe, your shift is over in ten minutes. Unless you want to work overtime and stay here with me.” He said.

  She whipped her head around at him and replied,

  “Mr. Pepper, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me babe?” She brushed his hand off of her and started to walk to the next table.

  He gave the waitress a toothy grin and said

  “Please, baby, call me Sam. So, uh, can I follow you home? My parents always told me to follow my dreams.”

  “Boss, enough, or I’m going to report you for harassment. Again! Now leave me alone and just let me finish up here.”

  “Oh, come on sugar, loosen up will ya? How bout you come over to my place and relax in the hot tub?”

  I decided to text my brother, Sheriff Grimes to let him aware of the situation I was observing. I told him the owner of the building was flirting and hitting on his female employees and he wasn’t backing off after they told him to quit. Sheriff Grimes texted me back almost immediately and said he’d swing by in about twenty minutes. He deals with this kind of stuff all the time. Meanwhile, Sam moved to another girl and began his silly puns.

  “Is your name Google? Because you’ve got everything I’m searching for.” He told her.

  The young woman smoothed out her hot pink dress and cracked her knuckles.

  “Well,” she replied. “Thank you. I’m very flattered, but like I’ve told you a million times, my
name is Ariel! Mr. Pepper, don’t make me hit you. I’ve had enough already today with you and your hands all over my waist while I’m trying to attend to tables. It’s not very professional to be copping a feel in the work place in front of customers anyhow.”

  Sam Pepper’s eyes lit up. He leaned back and moved his head up and down, checking her out.

  “Well, that’s perfect Ariel.” He whispered in her ear. “Because I think we mermaid for each other.”

  “Would YOU CUT IT OUT?” yelled Ariel. She grabbed a tray of food off one of the tables and hurriedly walked into the kitchen. The owner followed at her heels, eyes fixed on her behind.

  I tried to focus on the menu, but my eyes and ears drifted into other people’s conversations. The son of the rude woman that pushed past me earlier was talking to his mother in the booth over by the large glass window.

  “So, mom, there’s, uh, um, this girl. That. I kinda like….” I heard him say faintly.

  “Luke, dear,” she said. “This morning, your father called.”

  The young boy raised his eyes in confusion before asking,

  “Mom, what does that have to do with what I just said?”

  The woman dabbed the corners of her mouth with a velvet napkin and replied,

  “Sorry, sweetie. I thought we were both talking about things that no one cares about. Your father. And that garbage can you’ve been hanging around.”

  Just then, a car pulled into the parking lot. It looked familiar. It was my brother, Sheriff Rick Grimes. I slid across the booth I was in towards the large beautiful window to get a closer look. The night sky fell against the shadowy figure that emerged from the driver’s side of the car. He was adjusting his hat and fixing his things.

  “STOP IT!” shouted a voice.

  I whipped my head around to the sound of one of the waitresses near the podium by the front doors. The owner, Sam Pepper, was holding the lady by the wrist pulling her grip off of the rail to the few steps that led to the drive thru window. He dragged her into the dining area. She struggled to get free.

  “Why the hell not?!?” Sam growled at her.

  “Help! Oh, would you just leave me ALONE!?!”

  “I’d think I’d rather go on a date with you, baby. C’mon, don’t fight me. I’m stronger than you.”

  Some people hurriedly ran out of the restaurant, some tried to pry Sam Pepper’s hands off of the poor woman, and some just sat there. I ran over to the owner. I decided that I was going to step in and save the day. People would look up to me for once. People would like me. Maybe my life would turn around and people would finally be interested in me. The thought of it sounded great. I wrapped my arms around his huge arm muscles and tugged.

  “UGHK!” exclaimed Sam as he turned around and saw me. “Where the hell did you come from ya disgusting freak? Did someone leave your cage open again?”

  He let the waitress go. She ran off to the far side of the restaurant to get away from her boss, and the next thing I knew a fist came barreling down at my face.

  “FREEZE DIRTBAG!” yelled a voice. I was too busy hunching over holding my bloody nose to see that Sheriff Grimes had walked in. But he was my brother, so I knew him perfectly. He was most likely wearing his sheriff uniform, dark brown hat, and had his belt wrapped around his waist. His knees were slightly bent, his hands held a handgun, and he wore a serious frown under his mustache.

  “You’re under arrest, Sam Pepper. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.”

  The sound of handcuffs tightening could be heard as Sheriff Grimes escorted the man toward the front doors.

  “You’re being charged with not only harassment, but assault as well. And just because that was my sister, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you get locked up for a long time.” He said.

  After Rick shoved Sam Pepper into his car, he came back into the restaurant to see if I was okay. A crowd of people had gathered around me and started talking to me. To me! I couldn’t believe it. I stood up and looked at the worried faces of the people.

  Wow, they DO care! I thought. Boy, did this feel great. Other than my swollen and bloody, perhaps even broken and fractured nose. Ah, but the attention was nice.

  “Alex, you okay?” asked Sheriff Grimes.

  “Yeah, I’m alright.” I replied.

  He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and made sure I made it to the ambulance truck safely, which had just pulled up.

  “Ya, know,” he said. “If it weren’t for you texting me what ya saw, I wouldn’t have even came down here. That dirtbag would’ve kept harassing those women. And if it weren’t for you, prying that dirtbag off of that lady, who knows what would’ve happened? You saved the day, Alex. You saved the day.”

  ONE WEEK LATER

  “Hey, Alex, you doing okay?” asked someone. I scanned their food items and bagged them in a plastic sack that said Quinton’s Market. I was at my supermarket job, talking to a random customer.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I said. I was smiling from ear to ear. People finally cared about me after years of being left out. They started asking me about my job, my cat, who I eventually adopted, and my life in general. They brought up stories, and we laughed together, remembering them. For once at my crappy job, I was happy. I was smiling, and well, I finally felt like people liked me just as much as Sheriff Grimes from Sweaser Valley. And I made more friends that year since, well, never. So, yeah, I’m doing just fine.

  Maria Mecklenburg

  Roll A Story

  Stranded

  Sitting in math first period while Miss Nyland’s back was turned, 12th grader Abby Keyana whipped her IPhone 4s out of her back pocket and held it under her desk in the back of the classroom as she texted away.

  “Sarah, good job…Ben, not bad…Tina, good…Alex.” Miss Nyland said as she passed back papers. When the teacher got to Abby’s row, she hurriedly shoved her phone in her zebra print pencil pouch and stuck her hand out to receive her paper.

  “Abby, you failed your math test. I’m very disappointed in you. You had the WHOLE weekend to study!” exclaimed Miss Nyland.

  “I have a life.” Abby responded. Miss Nyland raised her eyebrows, tilted her head to the right, making her dangly red hoops jingle, leaned on one leg, and put her hands on her hips as she asked,

  “Are you talking back to me?!?”

  Everyone in the classroom focused their attention on Abby, waiting for a usual smart-alec or sarcastic remark, like her and her identical twin sister, Ally, did all the time. They turned around and put one hand on the back of their seat and the other on the corner of their desks that were engraved with cuss words and people’s initials inscribed in hearts.

  “Are you talking back to me?!?” the teacher repeated.

  Abby squinted her bright blue eyes at Miss Nyland and leaned her head toward the teacher in confusion before saying,

  “Of course I’m talking back to you. That’s how a conversation works.”

  The classroom erupted in laughter. Most of the seniors supported Abby by nodding their heads in agreement to what she had just said. Some smiled; others slapped their desks, and tilted their heads back as they choked on their deep hearted giggles and chuckles. When they heard a joke told in Miss Nyland’s class, it was considered hilarious to the common student since Miss Nyland didn’t like jokes, fun, or probably life itself. She was a very old, very cold, very strict teacher who didn’t tolerate or accept anything funny, which made her class extremely boring. So when someone dared have the guts to crack a joke and disrupt the class, especially to the teacher’s face like Abby had just done, it was a big deal. The sound of over 20 students’ laughter bounced off the tiled walls, making a soft echo that could be heard through the opened thin glass window with white frames on the opposite wall of the wooden classroom door. The noise leaked through the bottom of the door and out the hardwood floored and black and white locker filled hallway and slowly died off as it ro
lled around the corner. Miss Nyland nearly gave herself whiplash as she turned towards the class with and gave them a sinister look.

  “How about more homework tonight?” She threatened. Everyone quickly turned back around in their seats and stared at their graded tests as they decided on eavesdropping instead. All was silent again except the occasional rustle of pages being turned or a cough or clearing of the throat here and there. No one dared talk, for if they did, they knew that Miss Strictland would stick to her word by assigning another chapter of reading, a worksheet, or havening to write paragraphs about boring prompts. When she talked about more homework, she was serious. Miss Nyland turned her head full of brown poofy hair with grey streaks back to Abby.

  “You sure do have some lip young lady. Don’t you be bringing your attitude problem into MY classroom again or you will serve detention.”

  Abby softly shook her head from side to side in disagreement before saying,

  “I don’t have an attitude problem. I have an attitude, and you have a problem with it.”

  Abby smirked an evil little grin, huffed a breath of air on her nails, and polished them on her shoulder to show that she had won.

  “That’s it.” Miss Nyland growled. “I’m putting you in after school detention on Wednesday.” She said. “AND, you’re going to retake this test tomorrow. I’m NOT going to have a student that fails and makes ME look bad because they didn’t want to study. It’s absolutely no excuse and blah blah blah blah blah.” Miss Nyland rambled.

  Meanwhile, in a classroom down the hall in Mr. Steven’s English class, sat Abby’s identical twin sister Ally Keyana with her head resting against her hand and starring off in space. Vvvv. Vvvv. Her phone was vibrating. Ally unzipped her tiger print pencil pouch and snatched her IPhone 4s to turn the sound off before Mr. Steven heard it. She clicked the power button. A picture of herself and her sister appeared. They were both wearing tight shimmery black dresses that were slightly higher than knee length. A hot pink scarf draped around their necks hiding their necklaces of a mini Eifel Tower. Their French tipped manicure was easily noticeable since their hands were on their hips, showing their nails. On each of the girls’ left wrists were two simple silver metal bracelets that perfectly matched their silver studs. The twins were two inches taller than normal in the picture thanks to their black pumps with straps across the feet. Abby and Ally’s blonde hair had been straightened and lay against their backs. The bottom half of their hair was a dark brown and within it was a streak of pink to help support breast cancer awareness month. Their lips had more shine on them because of the sun in the background as well as their lip gloss. Both of their eyes had an even light brown earth toned color eye shadow. Their lashes were thicker and fuller since they were wearing black mascara which made their bright blue eyes pop nicely. Abby and Ally’s smiles were nearly perfect. No crooked or overlapping teeth. They use 3-D Whitening toothpaste, so their teeth were pearly white. They looked very happy, like they usually did.

  Ally smiled at the picture that reminded her of her and her sister’s awesome wardrobe style as she swiped the screen and typed in her password. After she pressed her Imessage app, Ally took a quick glance around the room to make sure she was safe. Mr. Steven was at his desk calling people up to receive their tests. Ally was clear. She turned back to her phone and read the text that Abby sent her.

  In math. Boring! Help me now!

  “Kimberly Madonna…Trevor Topo…Ally Keyana” Mr. Steven called. Ally’s head shot up from reading, making her blonde curly hair bounce toward her face, and her layered purple earrings jingle as she looked around. No one did anything or said anything to her. She thought she heard her name. This must have been her mind playing tricks on her, she thought to herself. It wasn’t like last class, where her name was called and she wasn’t paying attention. No, that couldn’t be. She promised Mr. Steven that it wouldn’t happen again. But then again, when either of the Keyana twins made a promise, they were smart enough to cross their fingers.

  “ALLY! How many times to I have to say your name?” Mr. Steven impatiently asked.

  Ally looked over at Mr. Steven sitting at his metal desk in his leather chair with his arm outstretched, holding a paper. His other hand pushed his glasses up on his face after rubbing his brown eyes.

  “What?” asked Ally.

  “Your paper! Ally, you told me last time that you would pay attention.”

  “Yeah, well I say a lot of things.” She smarted off. After receiving a stern look from Mr. Steven, Ally slowly slid her phone under her pink spiral bound notebook so he wouldn’t notice she had been on her phone, and stood up. Once she made her way to his desk, he handed her the graded English test that they took about half an hour ago. Ally snatched the paper from his hand and was about go back to her seat when Mr. Steven said,

  “Wait. Ally, I want to know why you failed your test. No one in the entire class got a grade even close to yours.” He said. Ally smiled at him and flipped her hair behind her shoulder before saying,

  “Well thanks, I do what I can.”

  “No, Ally, you didn’t hear me. I said you failed. You’re the only one who got a 42%. And why is that?” Mr. Steven asked her.

  “I don’t know.” Ally replied, shrugging her shoulders.

  The teacher stared at Ally for a few a seconds. Then he continued with his lecture.

  “I know why, Ally. It’s because you’re spending too much time talking to Lexi. If you honestly think I’m going to let you get by with talking the whole class period when you’re supposed to be taking notes, then you’re wrong. This grade is inexcusable.”

  “Wait.” Ally responded. “If you knew why I failed the test, then why did you ask me?”

  Mr. Steven sharply exhaled through his nose and gritted his teeth in frustration.

  “I’m not playing your word games.” He said. “I want to see you here after school on Wednesday for detention. You’re going to retake the test tomorrow and as for now, I want you to move your things to the empty desk over there. That will be your new seat.” he pointed to a seat a couple rows away from her BFF Lexi Stanson. How could he do this? Mr. Steven was so mean. How dare he move Ally away from her best friend? She decided to put up a fight.

  “What? I don’t WANT to move!” she protested.

  “Well, I didn’t want you talking to Lexi instead of working and failing your test. I get evaluated based on how well my students do. Or how well they didn’t do. That’s your new seat. Now go sit down.”

  Ally was about to make a dramatic ‘stomp away to my seat to show Mr. I Think I’m Cool that he made a big mistake’, but stopped when she realized who she would be sitting by. Noah Cleaver. One of the most attractive guys in the 12th grade. Ally had kept her eyes on him from a safe distance for months now, ever since he moved to Weston High School in the beginning of September. But she never followed him around or stared at him all day, like the other girls. Abby and Ally were cooler than that. Noah ran his fingers through his shaggy bright blond hair as he tapped his pencil on the desk. He sat slouched in his seat with one leg propped up on the other, shaking his foot up and down. Ally grabbed her books from her old seat by the whiteboard, watched Lexi raise her eyebrows, as her eyes moved in Noah’s direction, and happily moved next to him. She looked over at Lexi, widened her eyes, and gave her a smile. Abby and Lexi knew exactly what each other’s faces were saying. Lexi was telling Ally “Look who’s sitting over there. You’re so lucky.” And Ally was saying “Can you believe it?!?” But they didn’t need the words. They totally understood each other. Lexi gave Ally one downward head nod and got on her phone. After sitting down, Ally took her phone out, spot-checked the room to see if anyone was looking at her and joined a group message with Abby and Lexi.

  Lexi: Hey what happened at mr. I think I’m cool’s desk?

  Ally: I failed my test and got put in detention

  Shortly after, Abby responded.

  Yeah, me 2. Miss Strictland seems 2 think I’m going
to spend 8 hrs a day studying. Yeah, like that’s going 2 happen. At least we’ll b there 2gether.

  For the next several minutes, or so, the twins and Lexi texted each other. Ally clicked away at her screen.

  Ally: It’s ok. He moved my seat and guess who I’m sitting by

  Abby: Nuh-uh!

  Ally: Yep

  Abby: Awsm

  Lexi: he is so hot!

  Ally: I know right!

  Lexi: u guys better not tell ur mom u got detention. She’ll flip out and you might not be able to go to david’s party this Friday

  Ally: good idea

  “Psst.” Said a voice. Ally looked up from her phone, her eyes darting back and forth with no head movement. Mr. Steven could usually spot someone who’s up to trouble when their heads are moving all around and looking for the all clear. However, Ally knew how to look less guilty, as her and Abby got away with numerous things they weren’t allowed to do. It made others jealous.

  “Hey.” The voice returned. Ally looked over at Noah who was part way leaning in the aisle between rows of metal desks and colored chairs.

  “Hey.” Ally whispered. Afterwards, the bell rang, signaling the end of first hour. Everyone gathered their stuff and made their way out the door. Ally and Noah walked out the classroom and headed down the long hallway which was flooded with people, together.

  “I’m Noah. Noah Cleaver.” He said.

  “I’m Ally Keyana.” She responded.

  “Cool. You’re one of the twins! That’s awesome. So, uh, what’s it like having someone look exactly like you?” asked Noah. His smile stretched across his tan face. Ally was grinning too, as she thought about it for a second.

  “It’s pretty awesome.” Ally replied.

  “Yeah? How so?”

  “Well, we love to trick people when they think they know who’s who. And, being identical helps each other with some stuff. Like okay, for instance, Abby failed her math test. I’m pretty good at math. I failed my English test which Abby is pretty good at. So tomorrow, when we do our retakes, we’re going to switch and take it for each other. Problem solved.” She said. Noah gave her a puzzled look and asked,

  “What if you get caught?”

  “Oh, we won’t.” Ally replied. “We’ve done it lots of times. All we have to do is tell each other a little bit about the teacher as a heads-up, like what they look like so we don’t say the wrong thing to the wrong person and certain things that we need to pay attention to and anything we remember about last class in case they say ‘What did we learn last class?’ or something like that. Other than that, the only way we could get caught is if we forget to put each other’s names at the top of the paper instead of our own.”

  Noah and Ally looked at each other and started laughing.

  “Sounds like you guys really do know what you’re doing then.” Noah said to her.

  “Thanks.”

  “Well, I gotta go now. See ya later. And good luck with the whole switch-a-roo thing tomorrow.” Noah gave her a little half wave as he turned the corner of the hallway.

  “Later.” Ally called after him.

  After Abby and Ally got home from school, they swung their matching Under Armor bags off their shoulders, tossed them on the glass coffee table, and kicked back on the black leather couch next to each other in their living room. They propped their legs up on the coffee table and sighed after a long day of school.

  “So, guess what?” asked Abby.

  “Miss Strictland gave you a detention for failing your math test and this is your way of bringing up our ‘switch and take each other’s tests’ deal?” said Ally.

  Abby grinned before saying,

  “You read me like a book sista.”

  “More like the Internet.” Ally responded. Then they both covered their mouths with their hands and threw their heads back as they laughed for a while. When the twins were done, they looked back at each other.

  “Anyway,” Abby started. “That’s not all I was gonna say. Hunter Bell got switched to my class since he dropped his Physics class. And he sits right in front of me! By the way, we are doing the switch-thing right?”

  “No way!” Ally said excitedly. “Hunter is, like, so hot! And duh, we’re switching. How else are we supposed to retake the test? Now, if only his last name wasn’t Bell. What if he has kids one day and he names one of them Taco, then their name would-

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.” interrupted Abby. “Their name would be Taco Bell. So funny.”

  Ally gave her sister a grim look and sarcastically said,

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Did the middle of my sentence interrupt the beginning of yours?”

  Abby rolled her eyes at her.

  “Sorry.” Abby lied. She gave Ally one more eye roll and a sigh before kicking off her flats and grabbing the remote to the TV. Ally narrowed her eyebrows as she glared at Abby.

  “Keep rolling your eyes.” She said. “Maybe you’ll find a brain back there.”

  “You calling me stupid?!?” Abby snapped.

  Now it was Ally’s turn to lie.

  “Sorry.” She said. “What I meant to say is that you’re ugly.” Afterwards, she snatched the remote from Abby’s hand and turned on the TV.

  Abby frowned, much to Ally’s amusement. Then she stood up and said,

  “I’d get off that high horse if I were you, considering Shrek called earlier. He wants his face back. Yeah, that’s right! I said it.”

  “Alright!” yelled a different voice. “ENOUGH!”

  Abby and Ally whipped their heads toward the door, where their mom stood frowning, with her hands full of grocery bags. She had just gotten back from the store. Their dad was standing beside her.

  “Both of you.” She said. “Cut it out, right now. I’m not going to listen to you fighting. And if you’re calling each other ugly, then you’re both stupid. You look the same, for God’s sake! What’s the point in insulting each other? You’re just insulting yourselves.” she asked.

  The twins’ faces looked guilty, not because of what they had said to each other, but because they were caught at it. They bowed their heads, stared at their feet, and twiddled with their thumbs. Their mom looked from one of them to the other. Their dad added,

  “Yep, that’s true. I swear, you two holler more ‘n’ I did when I was in the military and got my leg smashed to pieces, gettin’ ran over by a 5-ton tank. That’s how I got this here prosthetic leg, cuz of it. One of my bones even came through the skin, ‘n’ I was gushin’ blood, but was I hootin’ an’ hollerin’ at the idiot who was drivin’? Hell no! I had one uh my buddies beat him senseless.”

  “MIKE!” their mom hissed. “Why do you do that? We already have a problem with ‘em arguing and yelling at each other, and what do you do? You tell ‘em one of your military stories about beating people up. Don’t you be giving them any ideas. You want to do something? Make them get along.”

  Mike looked at the twins and said,

  “Alright, alright. Your mother’s right. Enough with the arguing or you’re going to be spending the whole damn night in your room ‘til mornin’.”

  The rest of the night, the girls didn’t fight. They talked about Noah and Hunter and hoped that they would be asked to the dance next week by them. When Abby finally fell asleep, she dreamt of the perfect night with Hunter Bell and her at the dance. With his perfect short brown hair, dark green eyes, and his cute smile, Hunter was quite dreamy, and she had a wonderful time. When Ally finally fell asleep, she dreamt of the perfect night with Noah Cleaver. With his shaggy blonde hair, blue eyes, and toothy grin, Noah was quite dreamy as well, and she, too, had a wonderful time.

  When Tuesday finally arrived the next morning to the sound of the alarm clock beeping, both Abby and Ally sprang up from their beds, their blonde hair a mess, and threw off their matching dark purple and neon green striped comforters. After making their beds and cleaning their room, Abby and Ally got dressed. They decided on black sweatpants with the word Aeropostale run
ning down the left side and neon yellow custom made t-shirts. The black letters across Abby’s shirt said ‘COPY’ and the black letters on Ally’s shirt said ‘PASTE’. They thought it was funny since they were identical twins. As for their hair, they pinned their side bangs back with two bobby pins and pulled them toward their foreheads making a bump up. The rest of the girls’ hair was thrown up in a ponytail. Each of them wore a small black necklace with the letter charm ‘A’ for their names. On Abby and Ally’s feet were pink tennis shoes with neon yellow laces. Then the twins put black studs in their ears. Today, they were going for a casual and comfy-type look. After applying their eye makeup, and finishing their morning routine, they headed out the door.

  The girls bounced down the stairs of the sidewalk that led from the front door to the driveway. As the twins followed the sidewalk path, they looked up at their recently mowed bright green grass and the large oak tree at the far side of the lawn by the road, which brought shade to the street. The colors that came alongside with the sunrise in the distance looked like an artist’s work of spilled ink across the sky. Abby and Ally took a picture of it with their phones and got in the front seat of the Mercedes Benz parked outside the Keyana family’s 2-car garage.

  Today was Ally’s turn to drive. She pulled her keychain out of her coach purse and flipped through her various keys. The house key, the key to the mailbox, the key to her lock box, aha! The car keys! She pushed the key in the ignition and turned it until the engine roared to life and the radio came on. The girls buckled their seatbelts. Ally adjusted the rearview mirror, turned the station to 102.9, and turned the volume up before putting her shades on and switched the gear shift to reverse. Then she backed out of the paved driveway towards the circle of their culdesac, while Abby checked her hair in the mirror above her head, pushed the shift back up to ‘drive’, and drove towards the stop sign at the end of their neighborhood. The twins jammed out to Ariana Grande’s ‘One Less Problem’ and Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ as they made their way to Weston High School.

  Everything went according to plan that day. Abby and Ally switched identities for a few hours to take each other’s tests and succeeded. Well, pretty much. They almost forgot that they were pretending to be each other. Mr. Steven turned to Abby and said,

  “I’m very impressed Ally. You sure did study more since last class.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Abby. “I’m A-A-of course I did good.” She lied.

  Miss Nyland turned to Ally and said,

  “Abby, your math score is a lot higher than last time. You definitely improved.”

  Ally gave her a confused look and responded by asking,

  “Huh?” Immediately after she said that, she corrected herself.

  “I mean, yeah. Yeah, I did.” She lied.

  That night, Abby and Ally Keyana celebrated another successful scam by putting red Hawaiian punch in wine glasses and watching movies until midnight.

  “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you.” Abby remembered all of a sudden.

  “What?” her sister asked.

  “After we took each other’s tests, and we went to our lockers, ya know, guess what happened?!” she said excitedly.

  “What, what?!?”

  Abby was grinning like an idiot. She looked around the dark living room with the light of the TV before leaning in toward her sister. Ally was sprawled across the couch on her stomach and her legs in the air, kicking her feet.

  “Hunter asked me to go to the dance with him next week!” she yelled.

  “SAME HERE!” shouted Ally. However, when Abby wrinkled her forehead and squinted her eyes, she realized that she needed to clear herself.

  “Well, not with Hunter. I meant that Noah asked me to the dance too! But you know what I mean.” She said.

  “Yeah.” Abby replied. “God, this is awesome! We’re going out with Noah and Hunter!”

  They clinked their glasses, both whisper yelling “Cheers!” since their parents were upstairs sleeping, and took a celebratory gulp of their red Hawaiian punch.

  Wednesday rolled around the corner, and the girls walked around the school in the morning with Noah and Hunter before the bell rang, having a great time, then served their after school detention that evening. Thursday whizzed by pretty fast, since it was the last day of the grading period, and the teacher’s already had what they needed in the grade books. The students just watched movies all day. Except for the twins. They talked to Noah and Hunter the whole time. After school, they went on a double date to the movies. Then, finally, the best day of the week had arrived. Friday. The day of David’s birthday party. Unfortunately for Abby, Hunter’s family had already made plans to stay with grandparents for a few days in Tennessee. Unfortunately for Ally, Noah had a late baseball game and wouldn’t be able to hang out for a few days either because of a tournament in different towns. But the girls tried to make the best of it and reminded themselves that it would only be a few days before they would get to see Noah and Hunter, and they would hang out then.

  After they got home from school, ate dinner, and watched TV for a few hours, it was a little after 7:00 p.m. The girls went to their shared room to get ready for the birthday party out of town. Abby and Ally changed into floral skinny jeans with knee high boots and a peach top. They redid their makeup, said goodbye to their mom and dad, and went to their friend, David’s birthday party. It was out of town, so by the time they got there at 8:30, the party had already started. The radio was blaring to modern music songs, people were all over David’s front lawn bobbing their heads to the beat, there was a snack table near the front door, and the sides of the streets were flooded with cars. As Abby and Ally walked through the crowd, they saw smiles and heard laughter. After singing “Happy Birthday” and eating chocolate cake, most of the people chilled out on the poolside or on the front porch. They partied with their friends from Weston High School until 12:40 in the morning. As the party died down and all the people started to leave, the twins’ closest group of friends, including David, Abby, Ally, Lexi, Sam, and Tyler all sat on the hood of David’s car.

  “That was a cool party David.” Said Tyler.

  “Yeah, happy birthday bro.” added Sam.

  “Thanks guys.” Said David. “But I think it’d be more fun if we go and stay at my parent’s island this weekend. They own the whole thing.”

  “Sweet!” exclaimed Sam.

  “There’s a couple of cabins down there for us to sleep in too.” David continued. “There isn’t any electricity or plumbing, I’m pretty sure, but I was just thinking it’d be cool to all hang out near a fire, telling stories, ya know, experiencing the wilderness and nature with all six of us, just havin’ a good time making memories.”

  “Whoah, whoah, whoah!” said Lexi. “There won’t be any electricity? How am I supposed to charge my phone? Or see?”

  Abby and Ally nodded their heads in agreement.

  “Well!” exclaimed Tyler. “There’s this thing called a sun. And… it comes up every morning!”

  Lexi playfully punched him in the arm.

  “What?” he asked as if he was innocent. “I’m kidding.”

  “Hey!” David said. “Come on. So what are you guys thinking? You want to go?”

  Everyone looked at each other, sitting in silence for a minute or two. Tyler finally broke the ice by nodding his head at the gang.

  “I think it’ll be fun. I mean, come on guys, this is the perfect opportunity for us all to do something awesome all together. Think about it. Next year, we’re all going to be off to college, or whatever else, and we’re not going to be able to hang out as much as we do now. We need to make a weekend of hanging out that we’ll definitely remember.” He said.

  “What about last week?” asked Sam. “That was fun.”

  Abby rolled her eyes at him.

  “All we did was play video games in your basement.” She pointed out.

  “Yeah.” Sam sighed.

  Ally thought for a minute before adding,<
br />
  “Yeah, Abby and Tyler have a point. We should go to that island. I want to be able to look back on my life and say, ‘I went to a private island with my friends’, not ‘I spent my free time playing video games in Sam’s basement’”

  The rest of the gang exchanged smiles and head nods before all agreeing to go.

  “Alright!” exclaimed David. “Everyone have your stuff packed for the weekend and come back over in the morning around 11:00 so we can ride the boat over and go to the island.”

  Everyone agreed before getting in their vehicles and heading off into the night.

  After returning home at around 2:00 in the morning, Abby and Ally were exhausted. As soon as they got to their room they set their alarm for 9:00 a.m., plopped themselves down on their beds, kicked off their boots, and fell fast asleep.

  BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

  BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

  Saturday had arrived to the sound of the alarm clock going off. Only getting 7 hours of sleep, the girls didn’t feel like getting up. But once they remembered they were going to a private island with a beach, water, shady trees, and their friends, they sat up and rubbed their eyes, while smiling at what today’s fun would include. They excitedly got up from bed and hurriedly walked to their walk-in closet. Abby and Ally grabbed their matching black suitcases with wheels from the top shelf, laid them on the floor, and unzipped them. Abby rummaged through the clothes rack for something to wear, while Ally brushed her teeth and hair, put on only mascara and lip gloss, and made her bed. The girls never wore blush or foundation because they didn’t like the way it felt on their skin. When Ally returned to the closet, Abby sat on the bench already dressed, slipping on some black flip flops with a tiger print design on the straps, while her pajamas lay on the floor. She had decided on frayed shorts and a dark green top. Ally looked at her sister’s t-shirt like it was a hairy spider. Abby had pulled out the same clothes for Ally, as they always did, and laid it on her bench.

  “What?” asked Abby. “You don’t like it?”

  “Nooo… I am NOT wearing that” Ally told her. She walked over to one wall of clothes, grabbing hangers, and sliding piece by piece of clothing to the side, searching for a different shirt.

  “Okay, here we go.” Said Ally, as she pulled out two hot pink t-shirts. Abby changed her shirt, then brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, and made her bed.

  “Hey, Ally! What lip gloss did you use?” she called.

  “The one with the sparkles!” Ally yelled back.

  Abby put only mascara and the same lip gloss on to match Ally, and returned to the closet to pack for the weekend. Ally joined in once she finished getting dressed.

  “What swimsuit should we bring?” asked Abby.

  “How about the two-piece that we tie-dyed last month?” replied her twin.

  Abby nodded her agreement and put the swimsuits in the suitcases. The rest of the morning carried on in the same way, with the girls deciding what to bring to the island. Once they were finished, they headed down stairs with their luggage and barely caught their dad on his way out the door. They ran across the living room after dropping their heavy bags by the stairs.

  “Dad!” called the girls. He turned his head around.

  “Where ya going?” asked Ally.

  “I was just goin’ outside to clean the car. I’m not goin’ anywhere. You guys know I haven’t done much workin’ since the deal with my leg. That’s why your mom has to work all day. Why?”

  “We just wanted to say bye.” Abby told him.

  “Yeah.” Ally said. “We’re going to be gone, just for the weekend. We’re going to David’s parent’s island with him, Lexi, Sam, and Tyler. ‘Member?”

  “Oh, yeah. I remember! I got a text around 1:30 in the mornin’. Don’t worry, though. Me and your mother weren’t doing anything important. We were only just trying to sleep.” The twins’ dad said sarcastically.

  “Sorry.” They said at the same time.

  “Alright. But you guys better be careful. If anything happens, you should know what to do.” Their dad said.

  “We know.” Abby said. “We haven’t forgotten.”

  “Well, ya better not. I’ve taken you two on so many campin’ trips ‘n’ taught you ‘nuff to survive on the land, y’oughta be good. Bein’ in the military, some ‘o’ those tips and skills saved my ass more ‘n’ once. I hope all that monthly campin’ ‘n’ trainin’ ever since y’girls were five done ya good. That reminds me! Our next campin’ trip this comin’ Monday? Well your mother told me y’girls got some sort of dance or somethin’ goin’ on, so I’m pushin’ it back ‘til the week after. Sound good?”

  The girls nodded their heads.

  So everything was going perfect. Wrong! A day later, the twins sat on a log in the middle of the forest in the middle of David’s island all alone. How did they end up this way? They rode the boat across the water, the air flying through their gorgeous hair after arriving at David’s at 11:00, Saturday morning. Once Abby, Ally, Sam, Lexi, Tyler, and David got to the island, they got everything situated in the cabins. At the end of the night, they sat by a roaring fire, breathing in the fumes from the flames. After the boys told a scary story into a flashlight, they dared the Keyana twins to walk a few yards into the woods all by themselves. The gang knew that the girls were scared of the dark, even though they were in the 12th grade. If they could do it, they could have the whole cabin to themselves and the rest of their friends would sleep outside in the cold. If they didn’t, they would be called scaredy cats and suck their thumbs in front of everybody at school on Monday. Wanting to prove that they weren’t cowards and to save their reputation as popular, the girls accepted the dare and nervously headed into the woods. After hours of going in circles, they started crying.

  “Oh my god!” cried Abby. “We’re lost!”

  “Where the hell are we?!?” exclaimed Ally.

  And so there they sat Sunday morning, tired and exhausted, smelly and covered in a blanket of leaves.

  Meanwhile, David, Sam, Tyler, and Lexi woke up on the shore of the beach. The waves crashed against the bank of the beach, making the sand moist. They were worried for their friends who never returned.

  “What should we do?” asked Sam.

  “Yeah, why haven’t they came back?” sobbed Lexi. “It’s been a whole day!”

  David looked around franticly.

  “Uh, guys! Where in the hell is my parents boat?”

  The rest of the gang looked around. By the dock, by the water, along the shore. But they couldn’t find it.

  The group thought a moment before Tyler snapped his fingers.

  “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed. “Abby and Ally are getting us back for scaring them last night! So they took the boat and left us here! You guys! You know what this means? They’re okay! They’re at the mainland!”

  “Alright!” exclaimed Sam. “Let’s take the emergency raft and go to them!”

  Lexi wiped her tears and stood up, brushing the sand off of her.

  “Yeah. Let’s go get our stuff and head out to see the twins.” Lexi said.

  After gathering their things from the cabin and around the pile of woods where they had a fire the night before, they got on the raft and were off to the mainland. The waves pushed a large piece of wood on the beach. Part of it stuck out from the sand, making it clear to see it had broken off of something. It kind of looked like the side of a boat that had sunk. The side of David’s parents boat. The boat had sunk, and David, Sam, Lexi, and Tyler, mistakenly took the absence of the boat as proof that the twins had “left” them.

  Abby and Ally looked up at the sky, which had fallen dark. Wind rushed against their cold, tan faces, and in the distance, a branch snapped under its power. The leaves around them swirled, the clouds began to leak tears of rain, and the twins huddled close.

  “Do you think someone will find us?” Abby yelled over the pouring rain.

  “I don’t know. But if we don’t make it home by tomorrow, we’re g
oing to miss the dance!” Ally sobbed.

  The Keyana twins were very upset that they might miss the dance with Noah Cleaver and Hunter Bell. If they took a look at the guys they’ve dated in the past, they would sure enough come to the conclusion that they had never met anyone better than Noah and Hunter. Those two boys they met that year were perfect, and now, what would be the perfect night dancing under the stars with them wouldn’t even take place, they thought.

  The storm got worse, tearing down trees and flooding the crystal white sand around them. All of a sudden, the girls remembered something that took their minds off the fact that they might miss the dance tomorrow and possibly might be stranded forever. They had a flashback to Saturday morning when they were talking with their father.

  “I’ve taken you two on so many campin’ trips ‘n’ taught you ‘nuff to survive on the land, y’oughta be good.” The twins remembered. A smile stretched across their face as they got to work. No more complaining. No more whining. If they wanted to get off the island, they were going to have to do a little more than sit there complaining about the perfect night with their boyfriends they weren’t going to have. They were determined to help themselves in what they considered a life and death scenario. They followed their dad’s number one rule in the army. Kill or be killed. After whittling a sharp spear like weapon from nothing but sticks, they looked for something to hunt. A few moments later they had caught a squirrel. They roasted it over a fire and ate it. It wasn’t satisfying. Since their stomachs were still growling and gurgling, crying out hunger, they decided to look for something else to eat. Abby and Ally grabbed a stick and started poking around the sand. It was a little trick their dad taught them.

  “Hey, I think I got something.” Ally said, shortly after.

  Abby trudged over, trying not to be knocked over by the wind, lashing at her tiny body, and poked at the sand.

  “Yep, this seems kinda hollow.” She said. “There’s probably turtle eggs under here. Let’s dig it up.”

  Sure enough, there was a small pile of eggs buried not far from the surface of the sand. The twins cracked them open and ate them raw. They didn’t care. About an hour later, they had built a temporary shelter, made of branches and large leaves. It was strong enough to withhold the storm, and was as large as a small tent. The girls lied down and fell into a deep sleep.

  Monday afternoon woke the girls with the sound of birds chirping, waves rolling, and leaves rustling in the soft breeze. They rubbed their eyes and sat up. Around noon, the gentle breeze went away and was replaced by heat.

  T-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-

  The sound of blades chopping and slicing through the air could be heard above their heads. The Keyana twins held their hands up to their faces as they looked up in the baby blue sky with the sun shining bright on them.

  “IT”S A HELICOPTER!!!” shouted Ally.

  “HELL YEAH!” screamed Abby.

  The chopper neared the ground.

  “We did it!” yelled Abby. “We did it! We survived!”

  Ally smiled and gripped her sister in a tight bear hug.

  After the chopper landed and a police officer escorted them on board, they flew back to the mainland where they met up with their parents, Sam, David, Lexi, and Tyler. The gang exchanged hugs and apologies.

  “We’re so sorry guys.” David spoke first.

  “Yeah.” Added Lexi. “We thought you guys left. The boat was nowhere to be found a-a-and you didn’t come back.”

  Abby and Ally told their friends that it was okay and that it wasn’t their fault. After many tears, more hugs, and paramedics checking to see if they were alright, the girls went home. They took a shower and got ready for the dance that night. It wasn’t too late after all. The identical twins came downstairs an hour later. Their beautiful blonde hair had been brushed and crimped and fell to the sides of their faces. They were wearing one shoulder hot pink dresses with a thick black belt fastened around their slim waists. White high heels cradled their feet and bracelets coiled around their wrists. The girls wore matching dangly heart earrings and their favorite necklace of the Eifel Tower. Abby and Ally made it to the dance on time and spent the night flawlessly dancing with Noah Cleaver and Hunter Bell, the Mr. Right for both of them. Not once were they not having a good time or wore a frown upon their face. And Abby and Ally Keyana danced under the stars just like they always wanted.

  Maria Mecklenburg

  First Lines

  And No One Was Home

  I woke up exhausted, never again would I stay up all night to watch movies. I looked at the clock; it was 10:00 am. As I bounced downstairs, my disheveled blonde curls along with me, I shouted,

  “Mom!”

  No answer. All the cars were in the driveway, but no one was home. That was unusual. She normally would’ve left a note, or texted me, or…something. Did someone come and pick my mom up? Perhaps it was her friend Kelly. Oh well. I decided not to worry about it. I had the house to myself. Well, almost. My sister and 2 brothers were here. Or were they? I walked past the granite countertops and to the cabinet, where I grabbed a box of Fruity Pebbles and poured myself a bowl of cereal. What the…? Ok, what happened to my twin sister Kaleigh? Just about every day for the past few years, she sat right next to me and ate a bowl of cocoa pebbles. It was our routine. She couldn’t be at a friend’s house, because I would be there with her. Everyone loved us. We weren’t just twins. We were identical twins. And very popular at that. Wherever Kaleigh went, I went. Wherever I went, Kaleigh went. We were always invited together. We were referred to as Kylie and Kaleigh, for crying out loud! You couldn’t just talk about the twins and only use one name at a time. It hit the ear wrong. And why isn’t our younger brother Kaden running around annoying the crap out of mom to the point where she says,

  “Kaden, sweetie…” Mom always called someone sweetie if she was mad at them or if she wanted to make them feel stupid, which she did to the people who worked alongside with her at her office. I love you, but if you don’t quit horsin’ around, I’m going to rip out my hair and paste it to your Alaskan Husky right before I GROUND YOU’RE A** TO YOUR ROOM!”

  “Mommy, I don’t think Kaedo likes hair.” Kaden would say.

  Then mom would sigh in frustration. She sighed a lot, especially at K-town, where everyone’s names began with a “K”. In our messed-up nation, there were 26 towns, and you guessed it. Each began with a different letter of the alphabet. Everyone was assigned a town and a job about 20 years ago, and they were forced to practically change their whole lives around in one night. It was all part of the leader’s plan to “establish a civilized and organized nation, with orderly conduct”, but in reality, sometimes, all it did was make our lives a living hell. No one was allowed to leave their area and go to another town, but every once in a while we snuck out to see each other. Me and Kaleigh had made friends with a bunch of people from here and there on field trips, competitions, or camp, the only way we were allowed to interact with the others. Sometimes, I felt like Katniss from the Hunger Games.

  But now not even Kyle, my oldest brother was here. Okay, that one didn’t surprise me because normally he would be down in the basement sleeping. Or playing GTA5. But I didn’t even have to walk downstairs to see if Kyle was there, because like the others, he was gone.

  I decided to call my friend Karmen and tell her what was going on. There’s no way there would be a town meeting, because I would’ve heard the leader, Anabelle’s, high-pitched, rude, sarcastic, cheerful British voice over the speakers that were installed all over town. Every week there she was in the sky room announcing “that tha tohwn Eldas have schedyoualed a tohwn meeting fohr today, at…roight naow. So if you coud playse make your way to the tohwn sqawya, whineva yoo get tha chonce, thought wood be appreeshiated. Ahnd, make shuh yoo hahry oup! Thought will be ohl.”

  Brrring…brrring…brrring… “Hey, it’s Karmen. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” beeeep. I didn’t even bother leaving her a mes
sage. She hardly ever even checks them. I sent her a text instead. Little did I know that that would be useless as well.

  The day dragged on, and no one came home. I called all my friends, texted them, called the cops, walked around town for three and a half hours, but everywhere I went, the area was desolate and vacant. I even snuck through the hole of the gate surrounding K-Town and walked through the streets of L-Town. All cars were in a reasonable area, houses untouched, stores still in stock of their products, no destruction, nothing. Just like my neighborhood. Everything seemed normal. Except that there weren’t any people. No babies at the playground, no annoying kids at my door with fundraisers. I returned home. Not even Kevyn, the town’s most beloved basketball player was shooting hoops in his driveway.

  I opened the door and looked at myself in the hallway mirror. I looked amazing. My hair was in a sloppy bun and I had gold earrings dangling from my ears. My necklace was shining in the light of the sun that streamed in through the window. When I got dressed after breakfast this morning, I put on a pair of booty shorts and a baggy tee so I looked pretty chillin’. But I had to make sure that I looked fine because I was starting to think that I was losing my mind or disappearing like in the movie last night. I went into the living room and grabbed the remote off the glass coffee table. Then I layed on the couch and turned on the daily news but it was a RERUN. Things were really scary.

  Every once in a while, I swear, it was like I could just hear my brother Kyle’s voice in my head telling me that,

  “You and Kaleigh are too chicken to do anything. Kylie, you’re dumb, and Kaleigh you’re dumber.” He would say. But I was really missing the comfort of his insults and my family. The truth is, I was kinda afraid to do anything.

  Miraculously, I could hear the leader, Anabelle’s voice over the speakers. Oh great now I am hearing things. I thought.

  But nevertheless, I was never so relieved to hear her voice which was real. She had to have been the only other one left in town.

  “Kyyyyyyllllllliiiiiiiieeeeeeee……I noe youra hera. Somewha.” She said.

  Oh, that doesn’t sound good. I thought.

  “Come to the town squa immediately.”

  Even though it didn’t sound okay, it was reassuring that a person came back from wherever it was that they disappeared to. I ran so fast I tipped over two chairs, knocked down a picture of the family, and grabbed Kaleigh’s keys to her Mercedes Bendz on the way to the door. I put the key in the ignition, turned it, and put the shift in reverse. I didn’t bother buckling my seatbelt. I put my shades on and looked in the rearview mirror. I don’t know why I did that. There were no cars to look for. Then I backed out of the drive and headed to the sky room above the town square where Anabelle did the announcements.

  When I got there, I slammed the door closed of the car. I turned towards the door that led upstairs, but gasped when I saw Anabelle waiting for me outside of my parked car. She was wearing an evil smirk on her face, but I ignored it. I had to get to the bottom of all these disappearances.

  “Where is EVERYBODY?” I shouted. “Everyone’s gone.”

  In her hand held a Swiss army knife. The blade was shiny in the light of the sun.

  “Don’t worra about tha othas. Oui took cahr ov them.” She hissed.

  “No!” I yelled.

  “YES!” then she jabbed me in the stomach.

  “AHHHHHHHHH!!” all I could hear were my screams as Anabelle took it upon herself to continue stabbing me.

  “Chloe. Chloe. Hey. Chloe.” Suprisingly, I could hear a voice through the pain of the wounds. Anabelle gave me a little wink, then stabbed my chest. I felt the vains being punctured as she whispered in my ear,

  “K-Town is ohl MINE!”

  “AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

  “CHLOOOOOOEEEEEEE!”

  I sat up, engulfed in the darkness, and looked at two faces peering at me. One of them was shaking my leg and claiming to be my mother, but I couldn’t make out all the words over my screams.

  “Chloe, it’s ME. Zoe. Wakeup.” I glanced from my twin sister to my mom, to the boys who walked in through the doorway. They were both shirtless, wearing nothing but their boxers, and their hair was a matted mess.

  “What’s all the yelling?” said the older one.

  “Yeah, Charley’s barking like crazy now.” Said the younger boy.

  “Tony, Tyler, go back to bed.” Said the wrinkly old woman.

  I looked down and saw a blanket laying on my legs, and looked from my mom, to my sister Zoe, to my older brother Tony, to my younger brother Tyler, to Charley, who jumped up on my bed, and realized that it was just a crazy dream.

  Nobody was getting Me. I thought.

  Meaghan Hitz

  Portfolio

  Ignored

  A room full of people,

  talking and laughing,

  smiling, blinded

  by those around them.

  No one sees

  the wisp of gray and white

  dancing across their feet

  before racing across the hall.

  No one could feel it

  tugging on their clothes,

  trying to let them see it.

  No sound

  was made as it floated away,

  unnoticed.

  Confusion became bitter,

  aggravation bubbled to the surface.

  The fog

  screamed,

  shouted,

  cried,

  bellowed,

  begged,

  but no one turned their heads.

  No one heard.

  The wisp sighed in defeat,

  curling up in the corner,

  watching the others

  have fun without

  it.

  My Reflection

  When I look in the mirror, I see a different person.

  My older reflection was a small child that loved attention. I had craved to be noticed, wearing bright and loud clothing to help achieve that. There was a glint in my eye that spoke of trouble, and I was a very confident person overall, unafraid to speak my mind.

  Then I entered elementary school, where I became a very shy individual. The waves of new people and unfamiliar surroundings had alarmed me, and I didn’t want to be seen anymore. My clothes became plain and dull to avoid drawing attention to myself, and I dyed my hair brown and wore contacts to match everybody else.

  It was strange to no longer speak my mind, but whenever I tried to talk, I was either put down or cut off. I stopped trying to have conversations. I stopped raising my hand during class, bothered by all of the strange looks I was given. The years were rocky, but I managed.

  With my lowering confidence, I entered middle school, and it only got worse as the time passed. Depression had struck hard from the bullies I had to face daily. They made fun of me for who I was, what I liked, especially my albinism. To make it worse, I had no friends to support me because I had avoided everyone throughout elementary school. I started to feel hopeless and alone.

  My reflection became dark, the stereotype for Goths and ‘emos’. I wore mostly black clothing as a way to express my emotions without having to speak out. The closest thing to color I wore was the splashes of white that were used for the designs. There were long, black, fingerless gloves that I constantly had on, and my parents were worried I was hiding slashes on my wrists.

  I stopped dyeing my hair, letting the lack of color show. I didn’t wear my contacts anymore either, my pink eyes being revealed for the first time since kindergarten. My reasoning was simple; what’s the point? They’d make fun of me if my albinism was hidden or not, so why bother?

  Being picked on and tormented was horrible, but I had no one to go to. I couldn’t talk to my parents about this; I was supposed to be strong. Besides, the bullying would only get worse if my only defense was ‘crying home to mommy’.

  High school should have been the part where I tell you I snapped. The depression started whispering things in my
ear, and I would have probably lost control and finally ended it. Thankfully, that was not the case.

  My family announced that summer that we were moving. I was switching schools, moving to a completely different city. I would be able to get a fresh start, but I didn’t know if I should be excited. The depression murmured to me that it would end up just like before, that this school was going to be just as horrible if not worse.

  I didn’t change my appearance to try and win them over. When I walked into those doors, I was wearing something from my different phases that had comforted me. I had the dull colored clothing, the black gloves, and I forced the confident expression. My albinism wasn’t covered by dye and contacts; I was going to let them see the real me.

  This was going to be the final test. If the terrible things in my mind were true, then I’d finish it. They didn’t know it, but I was putting my fate in their hands, and the outcome would depend on their reaction to me.

  Surprisingly, they didn’t treat me like an outcast. I wasn’t an alien to them, I wasn’t shunned. In fact, the students there were fascinated by my differences, and were easy to get along with. They were easy to talk to, nice and understanding. Finally, I didn’t have to be alone anymore.

  High school was the best years of my life. I didn’t try to hide who I was, and my depression was quickly losing ground. I didn’t feel hopeless or scared. Being around all of these people who would listen to and support me helped me gain my confidence back again.

  Now, when I look at my reflection, I see the more confident person who was there before. I’m not shy, scared, depressed, or humiliated. I’m not afraid to show my albinism, and I refuse to allow myself to be pushed around anymore. My reflection used to be different whenever I looked at it, always twisting and changing me into things I wasn’t.

  I don’t see a reflection anymore. I see me.

  Wings

  I was falling, crashing towards the ground, the wind tearing at my emerald hair and uniform. My wings were flapping frantically, trying to stop my fall, but they couldn’t. I could do nothing but watch the burning, crashing wreckage above me as I hit the ground.

  Things had started to go wrong that morning. It was the morning that we were going to attack the creatures we called Alki. They were horrible and nasty monsters, with bony bat wings and slobbering mouths that housed large fangs. The creatures had been attacking our people for far too long, and the Council of Elders decided that we should take action.

  I was dressing for battle, adjusting my armor and slipping on my helmet when I heard a comforting familiar voice call my name. “Koda!”

  Turning, I saw Shilo rushing towards me, with his ruby red dragon wings fluttering restlessly and his navy blue curls bouncing slightly with every step. To my concern, he was wearing the battle equipment as well.

  “What are you wearing?” I questioned worriedly.

  He grinned proudly, answering, “Fighting gear. I’ve been approved. They did it this morning; I’m officially a warrior now.”

  The words sent a cold splash of fear through me. “No! You’re only 84 years old. That’s way too young.” (An 84 year old is like a 16 year old human.)

  Shilo’s smile faded. “What more do you want, sis? I’ve passed all of the tests they’ve given me with some of the best scores they’ve ever seen.”

  He didn’t look like a warrior, with his childish face that was covered in filth, his wide and innocent red eyes. Still, he had a point. There wasn’t much else he could do to prove himself.

  If I had known what was going to happen, I would have told him to stay. I would have found a way to keep him here in the Grove, where it was safe. In fact, I might have flown up to the Elders myself, demanding that he didn’t come with us. But I was a fool, and with a sigh I muttered, “Alright, but we better hurry. The ships are going to leave soon, with or without us.”

  After slipping on my black and green gloves, which I purposely picked to match my own pair of wings, I followed him as he flew towards the ship.

  The ship was shining so brightly it was almost blinding. It looked like a normal boat at first, despite the fact that it was made of the finest and strongest materials that we could find. It was old, over two hundred years old at least, and the technology was outdated. There were motors and rockets attached to the bottom, allowing it to soar into the air like the rest of us could. There were multiple levels of decks on the ship, with few actual rooms inside.

  Saying goodbye to my brother, for he was stationed at a lower deck, I flew to the top. Although the Alki were a long way off, I pulled out my dark sword, studying it. Sending out a silent prayer, I looked over the edge as we were ordered for takeoff.

  There were hundreds of ships with thousands of us inside each one, and the journey lasted less than an hour. It was unnerving that the enemy was so close.

  We were immediately spotted, which should have been expected. The Alki didn’t feel fear, they caused it, so they weren’t fazed by our army coming closer. We could hear their animal-like screeching down below, and we all knew that there was no turning back.

  Some ships landed so the fighters could attack on the ground, but the majority of us were to stay in the air, where we’d have the upper hand. Mine was one that wouldn’t land, which helped calm me down a little. I always felt safer in the air, where no one could reach me.

  The mistake we had made was assuming the monsters were stupid. These creatures definitely weren’t very bright, but they either had a rare few that held authority, or some intelligent allies that we weren’t aware of. There were traps and defenses that no Alki I’ve meet before could have possibly made. I was secretly impressed, but didn’t voice it.

  Shots and blasts were heard all around, along with the howls of the animals for Alki and the screaming of my people. I didn’t know how long we fought, for I was too busy trying to stay alive to pay attention to the time.

  Suddenly the ship was hit by something I couldn’t see. It sounded like a cannon had been fired at us. The entire ship was knocked towards its side, and there was a loud groan as the metal began to give out. The force of the blow threw me and many others to the ground. They were beginning to panic, but before I could open my mouth to calm them, the floor gave out from underneath us.

  I didn’t know what happened to the others. All I knew was that gravity grabbed me by the waist and dragged me off the deck. I was falling. I spread my wings to try and slow myself down, but I couldn’t tell if it was doing any good. Wind whipping my green hair into my face, I almost couldn’t see the ground rushing up to meet me.

  Impact. I landed on the roots of an old oak tree, and groaned painfully. I blacked out for a moment, but forced my eyes open. I had landed on my back, and watched helplessly as the battle ship slowly edged closer to the ground, about to meet the same fate as me.

  I rose up very slowly, being careful to not hurt myself further. By some miracle, it seemed that no bones had been broken. I guess my wings had slowed me down after all.

  Darkness was clawing at the edges of my vision, but I did my best to ignore it, instead using the oak tree to stand. Glancing up, I could see the dark, bear-like Alki with their bony wings, flying around the remains of the burning ship. They were searching the falling wreckage for survivors, no doubt.

  Then a thought suddenly struck me, which sent fear down my spine. Shilo was on that ship. My brother was either hiding from those monsters, or he had fallen off like I had. There was a chance that he was dead, but I refused to think about the possibility.

  Panic and determination gave me the strength to start searching. If he had fallen with me when the floors gave out, then he’d be near here. There was nothing. I searched both the ground and the trees, thinking that he might have gotten stuck. There was still nothing. He wasn’t there.

  An explosion shook the ground, both distracting me and successfully knocking me back down again. The ship had finally crashed. It was in flames, with evil black smoke rising above the trees. He wasn’t in the blas
t, was he?

  I stood up, starting to run the best I could towards the burning remains. If he was still alive, he’d be along the path the ship took, right? A tiny voice in the back of my mind told me that it was too late, that he was already dead, but I refused to believe it. Shilo couldn’t be dead, could he?

  The forest became a blur of green and brown as I surged forward as fast as I could with my shaky legs. There was a splash of red in the corner of my eyes that caused me to stop dead in my tracks. I turned back to take a closer look. Whatever it was, it was ruby red.

  Quickly ripping away the underbrush, I almost sobbed with relief. It was Shilo’s wing. I couldn’t actually see him, but it was definitely my brother. “Shilo, thank goodness. I was so-” My voice died in my throat. It took me a moment to register what I was looking at. It was Shilo’s wing, but nothing else. There was blood from where it had been ripped off. Another spot of color was ahead, and when I cleaned away the foliage, I was met with the same thing. It was just a wing, nothing else.

  The sight sent numbness through me. He was gone. He was really gone. Those monsters tore off Shilo’s wings before throwing him overboard to crash to his death. There was no way he could have survived that. The only reason I was alright was because I had used my wings to soften the landing. He was really…

  With that thought, I started to cry, falling to my knees as the gravity of it hit me hard. Shilo had been the only family I had left, and now he was dead. My baby brother was gone forever.

  “…K-Koda…?” A familiar voice suddenly spoke.

  My head snapped up in an instant. “Shilo!?” I called out almost hysterically.

  There was a weak chuckle to my right. I carefully crawled over, as if he’d disappear if I went too fast. Slowly, I lifted up the branches.

  It was Shilo, laying on his stomach and smiling up at me weakly. He had two horrible and bloody stumps on his back where his beautiful wings used to be. Nothing else seemed to be severely hurt, although one of his ribs appeared to be broken.

  He was alive.

  I wanted to hug him as hard as I could, but he was injured enough as it was. With great care, I scooped him up into my arms, lifting him. He winced, but didn’t make a sound. For a moment I thought he was unconscious. I spread my tired wings and took off, carrying him to the nearest medical center as fast as possible without hurting him.

  Shilo would never fly again. He looked battered and bruised, about to pass out. He’d probably be kicked out of the army because of being handicapped, but I didn’t want to think about that. In fact, I had a happy tingling running through me as quickly as my heartbeat was racing.

  He was alive. He’s alive.

  Roseanna

  “Are you sure this is the right place?” Colt asked as his older brother parked the car. The building before them was ominous, large, and creepy. There was nobody for miles, the nearest town being about an hour away. All that was there were the woods surrounding them, the long dirt road, the small lake, and the pitiful excuse for a house.

  “Yes, I’m positive,” Ryder replied, wasting no time getting out of the car. “Now come on. I want to see what we can find in there.”

  Colt was hesitant, but Valentine was already out the door. The twins were walking away as their younger brother shouted, “Hey, wait up!” and rushed to join them.

  The three siblings managed to not fall through the almost destroyed porch, and started to explore the first floor. There was a living room with boarded up windows and mysterious stains on the floor, a hallway, two empty rooms, and a kitchen with nothing but filthy counters. They had been expecting more; all they found was dust, dirt, some broken and rusted cooking supplies, and the lack of a toilet.

  “Well this bites,” Colt muttered under his breath, but he was ignored by his older brothers, which wasn’t unusual.

  “Do you think it’s safe to climb these stairs?” Ryder asked. The steps were old, and looked like they could barely support themselves, much less a person.

  Valentine shrugged, putting a foot on the first step. When it held, he tried the next one. Except for the sixth one, which was completely missing, the wooden steps were able to hold his weight.

  As the other two cautiously climbed up to join him, Valentine started making multiple different hand motions.

  “What is he saying?” Colt whispered. “I don’t understand sign language yet.”

  “He found something,” Ryder translated. He was used to having to help people understand his mute twin.

  When they reached the top, Valentine pointed up towards the ceiling. There was a trapdoor, leading up into the attic. Ryder, being the only one tall enough to reach the cord, pulled down the ladder.

  It was pitch black inside, but that was to be expected. A horrible smell hit them hard, and the three almost choked on the stale air. Since Colt was the only one with a flashlight, he took the lead.

  The attic was almost as devoid of furniture as the rest of the house. “An old chest, some books with what looks like mold growing on them, and a creepy mirror in the back of the room,” Colt reported.

  Ryder opened up the chest. There had been a lock on it, but it was so frail that it hadn’t been able to hold. “Nothing but papers.” There was a large pile of different kinds of papers and documents inside. He raised one up to the light.

  It was worn, old, with beautiful cursive writing on it. Strangely, it had been in half. It appeared to be a letter, and was addressed to a person named Roseanna Demerath. “Valentine, can you take a look at this?”

  The boy nodded and took the note as Ryder continued to rummage through the chest. There were multiple official documents, invitations, and some papers with inky sketches of animals and people. He was also able to find many other letters to Roseanna. Strangely, they were all torn as well.

  “What does it say?” Colt asked as Valentine handed the paper back to the eldest. Valentine made a few different motions before making a heart with his hands.

  “It’s a love letter,” Ryder decided, and received a nod in confirmation from his younger twin. “Why is there a bunch of ripped up love letters in here?”

  “Maybe the girl broke up with the guy, and she tore them up out of anger. Maybe this guy liked her and never had the courage to give them to her, and he destroyed them out of frustration.” The youngest shrugged. “Why does it matter?”

  Ryder didn’t know the answer himself, so he avoided the question. “Is that all?” There was a nod from Valentine. “Then let’s go see the rest of the house. It smells like something died up here.”

  They didn’t find anything else for the rest of the day or the next. For some odd reason, Ryder couldn’t stop thinking about those letters. He was the kind of person who could turn anything into an adventure or a mystery, and this was the perfect opportunity to let his imagination run wild. At the very least, it would keep him busy for a while.

  He was about to head out the front door when a splash of golden yellow in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to see that it was Colt’s cat, Cornflake, a brightly colored pet that they had gotten when Colt was in elementary school.

  Cornflake was pressed up against the wall, fur fluffed up to create the illusion that he was bigger than he truly was. The animal seemed to be afraid of being in the house, especially upstairs, which Ryder found vaguely disturbing. His Aunt G had always told him that creatures like cats and dogs could sense when something was off in the spirit world. Being born in a gypsy family, the siblings had heard a lot about the supernatural, mostly how to tell when something was wrong and how to avoid getting tangled up with evil spirits. Although Ryder didn’t really believe most of it, the memories were still fresh on his mind as he left the house to do some research.

  It took him about an hour to get back to civilization, though it could hardly be called that. The sleepy little town was about as old as their house, along with the majority of the people living there.

  Ryder walked into the library, with one of the
notes in his hand. He wanted to learn more about Roseanna, and figured that this was a good place to start searching for answers.

  The first time he found her name was in an article about her murder. The criminal was said to be identified but not found, but Ryder doubted it was up to date, since it had been written before his parents were born.

  A slight chill went up his spine when he saw the date of death, which was April 23. That had been yesterday, when they had moved into the house. It was a creepy coincidence.

  Besides more articles about her death, there wasn’t much to be found on her. There was a lot of information about her family, though. Apparently they had been billionaires before they started disappearing one by one.

  It was starting to get late, so he left for home again. Barely any of his questions had been answered. The killer had been identified, but not named. Why was that? Who were they? Who had written those letters, and why were they all torn apart? If the Demeraths were so rich, then how did Roseanna’s letters end up in such a dump of a home?

  When Ryder pulled up to the house, he cursed under his breath. It was almost completely dark out. He hadn’t meant to be gone for this long.

  Neither Colt nor Valentine seemed very upset about his absence, though the older of the two was starting to become jumpy. This also made Ryder anxious, for his twin had supposedly inherited more gypsy blood than them, and could be just as good as a cat when it came to detecting these kinds of things. If the boy was nervous, most of the time it was because of something they couldn’t see.

  Valentine was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the living room, his long ginger and brown hair tied up in a ponytail. He had a large pile of the old papers from the attic, and was in the process of sorting them out into separate piles. He barely gave Ryder a glance before continuing his work.

  “Did you find anything?” Ryder asked as he sat down across from him. The floor creaked loudly, like a creature of some sort screeching.

  His twin didn’t answer him, picking up another worn paper and studying it for a moment before setting it down into one of the piles. He then picked up his small notebook and flipped it to the right page. ‘Where were you?’ it read.

  “Library,” the eldest answered as he looked over the piles his brother was making. There were four of them. The first was business letters, typed or handwritten. The second was made up of carefully crafted sketches, all done in ink, with the initials RD written on the bottom right corners of each one. The third were papers that looked similar to receipts. The last stack was made up of the letters. They were all addressed to Roseanna, and they were all ripped.

  Ryder flipped through some of the notes. “Are there any other names on these besides Roseanna?”

  Valentine became visibly uneasy when her name was spoken, but he answered anyway with a shake of his head. No, there wasn’t even a mentioning of anyone else. It was just her.

  Suddenly, the room seemed to chill, the temperature dropping dramatically. Ryder’s six sense was starting to tingle in the back of his mind. Something was wrong.

  “Colt?” he called out. There was no answer. “Colt!” A feeling of dread was starting to build up.

  A wild burst of freezing wind swept through the room, throwing the papers into the air. They didn’t have a window open, did they?

  Valentine shot up in an instant, racing down the hallway. Ryder quickly followed, calling out for their younger sibling. They searched every room in the house, even the attic, but the redhead was nowhere to be found. They checked the yard, the car, even some of the woods around the lake.

  Their Aunt G’s words once again came back to haunt him. Names have power. She had always told them to be careful about what they watched, said, listened to, or read, because they might let something inside by accident. He hadn’t done that just now, had he?

  “Colt!” he screamed out one last time.

  No answer.