published

So I was talking to my dad and he said that if I really thought about a story and carefully completed it he would have it professionally edited and we could try to get it published. I was very happy. The problem is that I have no idea what to write about, I want to start a brand new story though. Ideas? Happy? Sad? Happy with sad ending? Sad with happy ending? From 1st or3rd person? Action story? Story about an every-day sort of person. How old should the main character be? Where should it take place? Made-up land, America, Earth in the future, outer space, desert, ocean...? Nice/mean person? Ideas?

The First Daughter's Journal ( a.k.a. Brianna Thomas ) part 1

Dec. 1st
Dear journal,
Hey! When my father first started his campaign my mother gave me a journal. I never really had time to write in it with all the chaos but now that he is the president and were settled in the white house, time goes my very slowly. Most of the time I just sit in my room. Sometime I wander around but I just get in trouble because " I'm easy to get something broken. " It doesn't even feel like a real home, maybe a museum, but not a home. It's really nice but sometimes I wish I was just a normal girl who didn't always have a security agent on my tail along with the press. Most importantly, I wish I had a normal dad. I miss when we would just go out to the movies and have dinner together. I'm thirteen, I need a dad to guide me through my teens. Sometimes, I purposefully get in trouble with the press just to get his attentions.
With love,
Brianna Thomas

Dec. 7th
Dear journal,
Hi, man has dad been busy. Not like going all over the country busy but staying shut up in his oval office working busy. I don't know exactly what is wrong but it is big! I don't know because so far it looks like this information is staying in the oval office and not one citizen of America is allowed to know. I can't even go into my own dads office because it's always on top security. And now that were settled I had to get a personal teacher for school. Now, I can't even make friends at school though I still don't think I would have "real" friends if I went. They would probably just be nice to me so they could actually visit the white house. And even if my dad was cool with the idea of me going into a public school we would make me take security guards all over. NO WAY! But I still have friends. I have one who is the chefs daughter. She is really nice and treats me like I am just like everyone else. She has a feirce personality and always keeps me on my feet. She is the only fun around here. Oh right, I should probably tell you her name. Her name is Alex ( short for Alexandra ) Gromo. She has a jaggedy, short brown hair and pretty brown eyes. And my other friend, well I wouldn't call her exactly my "friend". Her name is Elizabeth Goodrich. She is definitely those words; a goody two shoes and very rich. I think she wants to be the first daughter a lot more than me. Herded is the vs. President. What's weird is that my dad didnt know him very well until one year before he joined my dads campaign and ran for vs. President with my dad. I hate to say it but there not the nicest people in the world. Ok, Elizabeth is pretty bratty,well at least to me. And she is not the smartest on the block. She thinks my dad and her dad are enemies when their partners! If I didn't know any better I would say she would go far enough to kill my dad to become the first daughter. Well, have to go!
With love,
Brianna Thomas

Allen

I've been working a lot on this at home so it's kinda long... I'm not quite sure where
I want it to go, I'm open to suggestion. It didn't pick up all my indentations when I

copied and pasted this so it may be hard to read...

Introduction
“I'm not a fighter though,” Dedala said, “I'm not meant to be in Atres. Allen, I'm not that sort of person. In my dreams sometimes I imagine that I live in Jupitar, or even Venis. But then I wake up and I'm still here. And I know that I cannot survive here. I cannot be who I am and live. Not in Atres. But you can Allen. You're stronger than anyone. You'll be so great everyone in Jupitar will know your name. I'll die the day I turn thirteen. But you won't. As my sister you'll have to represent us both soon.”
“Don’t talk like that,” I snapped although I knew it was true. Dedala was too sensuous and sweet for Atres. Sensuous and sweet didn’t survive in Atres. She was always the worst in the class during training. I was the best. At twelve I knew not to show any weakness of any sort. So I didn't let anyone know how much it hurt when Franz knocked me off my feet. And I definitely didn't let it show how much I worried for Dedala in one year’s time.
“Don’t defend me from myself Allen,” Dedala said softly, “You can’t love me, even if you are my sister. To love someone from Atres is unhealthy. You know perfectly well that half the people in Atres die at thirteen. Life in Atres is all about war. And so I’ll have to go. You know that.”
And I did. I knew that Dedala wouldn’t make it in Atres. But I wasn’t willing to accept it. In school they told us that love was a weakness, a very big one in fact. So I would never admit it, I strived so hard to be strong, but I loved Dedala. She was the only person in the world I did love. In Atres so many died you tried not to get too attached to anyone. The Calibanst army is the strongest in the world. But that's because of the city of Atres. Everyone, no matter of age and gender, in Atres is trained in the ways of war. Everyone in Atres has been in a war, is in a war, or is going to be in one, either that or they're dead. All my teachers have told me that to have a strong country you must have a strong army. And the army or Atres is the best so Caliban prospers. And if you don’t live in Atres you can’t join the Calibanst army even if you live in Caliban, others aren’t brought up to be as strong.
You start your training at five. And at thirteen you learn how to kill. You go up against prisoners of war with one partner with everything you have because the consequences of not are dire. But these prisoners won't be defenseless and if they're better they'll live. But you won't. And once you're seventeen you're eligible for war. And there's always a war.
So you’d best train as hard as you possibly can. Dedala did her best but it never was enough. Dedala’s death was harsh. She was right in saying that it was unhealthy to love someone else in Atres. It was. Only one fifth of our babies live to be thirty, death is everywhere in Atres. You get used to it. But Dedala’s death was the first that affected me. I didn’t cry. Of course I didn’t. You don’t cry. Thirteen years of training teaches you not to cry. Crying is for the weak and we Atrians have no tolerance for the weak. Anyone that saw me would think I wasn’t bothered at all.
I am the best student Atres has ever seen, I told myself, I can best anyone in a fight. I have no plans to show any signs of pain, nothing out of the norm. I am not from Venis, I am an Atrian. And Dedala was right; people in Jupitar will know my name for I am the strongest of the strong and because I don’t care.
 But that was a lie I told myself for years. I never understood for a long, long time why I always thought of Dedala before I went to sleep at night. I never told anyone the reason why I couldn’t sleep was because of my nightmares of her death. I didn’t even know why I couldn’t sleep because of them.

Chapter One:
“Are you ready Allen?” Rafe asked me.
 “Yes,” I said decidedly. Rafe was seventeen, two years older than me. After Dedala’s death I paired up with him as my partner in combat. He was better at hand to hand fighting and using a sword than I was. But I was quicker; could more accurately use a bow and arrow. He was better at thinking of plans than I was and most importantly had my back. And so I couldn’t ask for a better partner.
 “Come,” said a brunette girl from Jupitar who looked about twenty. She was accompanied by a younger girl with astonishing red hair surrounding a round pale face that looked about my age. But the two looked so much alike they couldn’t be anything but siblings. The same pale skin, chubby cheeks, and pointy nose. 
 I took a piece of a chalk and rubbed it against my hands so they wouldn’t be slippery when I sweat. Then I followed her out.
 “Here is your battlefield,” said the Jupitarian girl.
 “A playground?” I heard Rafe whisper to himself.
 I turned to the girl, “Where are our weapons?”
 The brunette girl handed Rafe a slingshot, me a pebble.
 “Some weaponry,” I muttered to Rafe handing him the ammunition for his slingshot.
 Two figures advanced. They both looked a year older than I. One was tall and slim with blond hair and a pack which held seven knitting needle shaped objects. The other was fat, with short black hair and a bow staff but he held it at the top showing that he didn’t know how to use it. You couldn’t move a bow staff well from the top.
 “You take a fat one,” I muttered to Rafe, "I'll worry about the other."
Before he could reply a whistle rang signifying that we were starting. The slim one had fought before, that much was obvious . The fat one however was probably some rich kid who had been pampered their whole entire life for he just stood there shaking like that would help.
 The slim one threw one of the needles like it was a mini spear. Luckily it zoomed past my left shoulder, it was surprising how fast it went. I kept charging towards him. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was trying to achieve besides proving that I wasn’t scared. I was defenseless and soon I would’ve covered all the space between us and wasn’t sure what I was going to do once that happened. This is was utter stupidity on my part. After fifteen years of training I knew that I should make a plan beforehand.
 I made a quick decision. I turned left and jumped from the woodchips to the playground barely avoiding getting stabbed by the needle. With one so close to me I could really see how truly sharp it was. It wasn’t exactly like a knitting needle. This was more aerodynamic and sharper. But it just skimmed my thigh and stuck into the ground. I picked it up. I was happy to have it. Now I wasn’t completely defenseless. I shot a quick glance at Rafe. He had gotten the rich kid on the ground bawling his eyes out. It looked as if my partner had broken his arm. It was almost easy from there. Soon Rafe would be able to assist me and victory would be ours.
 Now the slim one wasn’t coming but eventually he would. I wait for him. He didn’t seem to care about his weakling partner so I doubted he would try to assist him. He just stood there watching me. I wasn’t the best at throwing so I decided to hold onto my weapon until he was close enough to stab him with it like a knife. He would come. I could just stand here until he did. And Rafe could run him over here when he got a chance.
 The slim one just smiled and walked over to the swings never taking his eyes off me as he started swinging.
 He’s playing with me, I thought indignantly, acting like he doesn’t care and he’s got all the time in the world. Like nothing important is going on. Just playing happily, well I’ve made my decision. I’m not leaving. He can just stand there until Rafe comes and finishes him off because he’s not worth my time to do it myself. His stupid little smiles just drips from mediocrity. His every breath insults me. He thinks if he mocks me he can have me rush in head-first and easy. Well he obviously doesn’t know the ways of an Atrian.
 “Allen!”
 I’m startled out of my thoughts by Rafe. But I quickly recover to notice the tall boy has been caught off guard too. I’ve never been the best at throwing long distance. I’ve got the ability to create power but not the aim, especially when my target it so far away. But I take a chance. I throw.
Whenever I go into a fight I tell my brain to take everything in slow motion so I can feel like I’m much more able and quicker than I really am. I see every little detail. The boy is pulling out another one of his needles to throw at the charging Rafe. My needle is off from where I aimed but it still will hit when the boy throws his arm back and-
 My mouth drops.
 “That’s not fair!” I hear someone yell. I think it was me.
 “Well you can’t kill him!” said the red haired girl. She’d just leaped in front of the boy and snatched the arrow.
 “Of course I can!” I yelled and stormed over picking up a fallen needle on the ground prepared to stab both of them.
 “Stop right there!” ordered the brunette Jupitar girl, “This is Colyn of Jupitar!”
 “Who?”
 “Are you people here in Atres so desperately uneducated that you don’t even know who you’re future king will be?” snapped the brunette girl.
 Rafe gave me a look of surprise. I said to her, “What’re you talking about?”
 The brunette sniffed, “Daddy says not to expect much here but this?”
 “Ellowyn,” said the boy, “Let me do the talking.” He turned back to us.
 Rafe straightened up like he was under inspection. I just folded my arms and glared. Why would they put someone in the arena if we weren’t allowed to kill them? Who cares who the crap they are? Not me.
 “Greetings from Jupitar,” said the boy, “My name is Colyn. The brunette is my older sister Ellowyn and my younger sister Emisyn is the redhead. First, congratulations. Not many come close to besting the prince.”
 “That's surprising," I said, "Because it's not like you were all that good.”
 Colyn’s eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed as if trying to find something appropriate to say.
 “Just because we’re not in Jupitar does not mean that we don’t demand respect from all our subjects!” Ellowyn hissed.
 “Ellowyn,” Colyn said, “I thought I told you to let me do the talking.”
 I smiled sweetly in her face.
 “Anyways my father the king thinks it would be good for me to travel along to all the major cities of my country Caliban, before I reign. And I couldn’t really know Atres without participating in the fighting. After all, it'd be a good chance to show off.”
 He wasn't serious, I could tell
“Don't you have to be good to show off?" Rafe asked.
 “Colyn!” Ellowyn said sharply, “You’re the prince. They're commoners!”
 “So?” Colyn asked.
 Ellowyn glowered and quickly stormed off.
 “Well either way according to my paperwork you, Allen, are the most skilled girl fighter in all of Atres that hasn’t been off to war yet,” Colyn said.
 I was surprised. I knew it was true. I mean, everyone knows that I'm the best. But I never that it says on paper.
 “Do you want to see the paperwork?” asked Colyn.
 Before I could tell him I couldn’t read he handing it to me. It was just a bunch of squiggles to be. The only things that I could understand were the pictures. There was me as a baby, me on my first day of military school at five, me holding the championship trophy in wrestling at seven, and the last one was of me after my first match at thirteen.
 “Calibanst paperwork is almost as good as the Calibanst army,” Colyn said smugly, “There’s written record of anyone and anything that ever was or is in Calibanst.”
 “Interesting,” I said although I didn’t find it very interesting.
 “Why are you here?” Rafe demanded.
 Colyn looked as if he’d never been addressed in such a tone before, “Does a prince not have a right to travel through his own country?”
 Neither Rafe nor I could seem to think of a suitable response.
 “Where are you staying?” Rafe asked after a while, “Atres does not receive visitors.”
 “How should I know?” Colyn shrugged, “I have people to decide such things for me. A prince has much more important things to think about.”
Then the prince and his sister turned and walked away to where other luxuriously dressed people were waiting for them.
 “How should I know? I have people to decide such things for me,” Rafe mimicked, “Ugh, that fellow makes me sick. The way he talks is so…
“Annoying,” I finished.
 “Annoying,” he agreed.
 “I hope he leaves soon,” I said.

 * * * * *

When I came home with Rafe after training I was surprised to have a crowd waiting for me. Rafe gave me a look of surprise and I returned it.
I walked over to my mother, “What’s going on?”
“Don’t ask questions, Allen,” snapped my mother. In other words, "Shut up and watch."
“Greetings Atrians!”
I turned to my left to see Colyn standing in front my house as if he owned it. I glowered. I should have suspected such a crowd was revolving around him.
“So Allen has finally made an appearance!” Colyn said enthusiastically to emotionless faces, “Now I’m sure you all are wondering why it is that you have been called here.”
I wondered what methods he did use to acquire this group. I doubt that half of Atres would have responded to a request from a sixteen year old boy; even if he was royalty. 
 “This year one girl from each major city has been chosen to visit Jupitar for about a year,” Colyn says, “And so the chosen from Atres is Allen Gracen.”

Chapter Two
All eyes seemed to turn on me.
Looking back I wish I could've thought of a more ingenious response but I just blinked and said, “What?”
Colyn looked uncomfortable under my hard gaze.
“Um… Do you think I’m joking?” he asked after a while of just standing there, looking awkward, unable to think of a suitable response.
“Joking…?” I repeated, never having heard the word before.
“Never mind,” he said.
“What is the meaning of this,” Rafe said coldly. I felt his protective hand on my shoulder. Usually this gesture would have annoyed me but now it felt like it was the right thing to do.
Colyn didn’t look like he knew what do say. But before everyone got bored and left his red haired sister stepped in saying, “The most accomplished girl of each city has been invited to Jupitar. Why ask questions resisting it? It’s not like another wonderful opportunity such as this will come again. Be grateful for it.”
This is met by silence.
“Well if that’s all,” Colyn said, “We’ll be taking Allen Gracen and be on our way.”
“You just can’t take Allen away from us!” Rafe said in horror, “She belongs in Atres. You can’t just come here and take her away! No, Allen is Atrian!”
Colyn slowly turns to face Rafe. Colyn is taller but Rafe is obviously stronger, there’s no competition.
“I know perfectly well that she's Atrian,” Colyn said quietly after a while, “No, it’s just assumed that Allen in destined for greatness. And we want to educate her properly and make her more socially liked.”
“I don’t need to be socially liked,” I said.
“Well it never hurts,” Colyn replied as if telling something to a little child.
“Colyn!” Ellowyn calls as running up to her brother, “Colyn we must go immediately! Sicilie is anxious to leave.”
“Who’s Sicilie?” I ask.
“You’ll meet her shortly,” Emisyn answered, “Now Allen. I don’t mean to rush you but we’re behind schedule as it is. We must be going to Minera as soon as possible.”
“Minera?” I gasped.
Rafe gives me a look of alarm. Minera is a cursed place as far as any Atrian is concerned. It’s in Caliban so we’re not allowed to attack it but if we had it our way it was be completely, and I do mean completely destroyed. That’s because in Minera you are not allowed to fight. In Minera you are expected to sit and look at squiggles in books for hours straight. The idea of living in such a way is so utterly preposterous to an Atrian we wish to squash the very idea. Their ideas are so utterly stupid that any Atrian would rather die than go to such a place where everything is so completely wrong. An Atrian cannot go to Minera under any circumstances.
“No,” I said in a stubborn manner, “I will not go.”
“I agree,” my mother seconded, “You cannot ruin my daughter’s life in such a way!”
“Ruin her life? Nonsense!” Ellowyn scoffed.
“I’m not leaving Atres,” I said in a final sort of manner, “You don’t understand.”
“You’ll leave if we tell you to leave,” Ellowyn said, “It’s not like we were giving you a choice.”
She turned to face the rest of my city, “Do you even have the slightest idea what would happen if you defied us? I could destroy each and every one of us with the snap of my fingers. I wouldn’t advise testing that out.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” Ellowyn shrieked as Rafe stepped towards her, his hands in fists, “This goes to anyone else as well. If you so much as touch me your life is over! We’re taking Allen with us now and anyone who dares argue will feel the wrath of all of my father!”
I’ve been in countless life or death situations. Even as I’ve been pinned to the ground as someone is preparing to deliver my deathblow I’m not panicking because I have a plan. Now there is no one bigger and stronger advancing towards me as I’m virtually unable to defend myself, but I would rather be in that situation than the one Ellowyn is telling me. I have hope in the arena. I have hope that Rafe will slaughter him before he gets close to me. But now I’m hopeless. Rafe is as defenseless as I.
General McAllister clears his throat. I look at him. But even he is unable to defend me. The king could destroy anyone in Caliban that defied him and his family if he wanted to. My people couldn't help me. If they said I was going to Jupitar, then I was going to Jupitar.

Chapter Three
"Meet your companions," Emisyn said, "Sicilie from Venis, Rennia from Ceres, Evaline from Seidon, Rudie from Vulca, and Acacia from Polen. We just need to pick up Cevian in Minera and we can head to the Jupitar.
I critically looked around the room before quickly whirling around. "Do you mean to tell me that all of the best are all girls?"
Colyn smiled smugly, "Well maybe there was a good year for girls to be born, the girls from that time to seem much more accomplished than the boys."
I stared back at him.
"It's not right," Acacia said, "I wasn't the best, Andrew was better than I was. So why am I here?"
With that she shot Colyn a look of utter disgust, distrust, and disapproval. I almost smiled. Maybe this voyage would be interesting.
"Oh don't be ridiculous!" Sicilie said smiling cheerfully with immaculately white teeth, "Don't question the best things, relish them!"
She had bright red lips, redder than anything I'd ever seen on my countrymen. And she had strange black things around her eyes. She was unnaturally skinny and wore a skin-tight blue dress of some unusual flimsy material to show it.
"Well don't just stand there!" Ellowyn cried, "We have a lot of ground to cover to pick up this Cossie person."
"It's Cevian," said Acacia indignantly.
Ellowyn ignored her and said, "Now let's be on our way!"
I reluctantly but decidedly sat down; perfect posture, no flinching, no itching, no letting my eyes stray, no expression, no movement whatsoever.
"I'm Evaline, you're Allen right?" said the girl to my right.
I didn't move from my statue position.
"Did you hear me? I'm Evaline," she repeated, "Hello? Um, I'm talking to you...You know when someone's talking to you, you should at least show them the courtesy of making eye contact. You know you're being really rude."
I looked at her. She had eyes that were black and hard, her black hair perfectly straight and all the way down to her hips.
She acknowledged my perfect posture and straightened up her natural slouch, "I'm Evaline, Evaline Monteith."
"I know," I replied, "I heard you the first time."
"Well I'm just making sure you did," Evaline said, "It's hard to tell when you pretend you didn't, you know."
"I wasn't pretending anything!"
"Well I'm glad to hear that," Acacia said, apparently she'd been listening, "If you ask me that's all anyone's been doing. Pretending to be friendly, pretending to clever, pretending this isn't a screwy situation, pretending, pretending, pretending."
"Screwy situation?" I repeated.
"Yeah," Evaline said, she lowered her voice, "I'm not going to be so open about my discomfort and suspicion but I feel the same way. Something's not right, why would we be taken to Jupitar. This sort of thing just doesn't happen, it doesn't add up. Why would they invite seven, fifteen year old girls?"
 "Invite?" I muttered bitterly.
"Snatch is more like it," Acacia whispered, "Did you want to come? I didn't. I had things planned back home. They didn't even give me the courtesy of time to pack. We're going to have to wear Jupitar clothing, have you seen it? It's hideous and completely impractical besides. You know, that I want to scream because I don't have some items, they're back in Seidon. And who knows how long they're going to keep us captive!"
"That's an interesting point of view," I said, "That we're prisoners..."
"What's that?" Emisyn said, "Well, that's ridiculous! Prisoners? You are… Honorary guests!"
"You really should learn how to whisper," Evaline muttered under her breath once Emisyn looked away.
I looked at her and blinked hard before turning straight forward to my primary position; perfect posture, no flinching, no itching, no letting my eyes stray, no expression, no movement whatsoever.

* * * * *

"You cannot be serious!" Sicilie yelled, "Share a suite! We all have to share a suite! You have got to be joking!"
There's that word again, I thought, Joking… I wonder what it means…
"It's not all that bad," Emisyn reassured, "It's a very big suite."
Sicilie took a deep breath as if she had to state the obvious, "We're all sharing one bedroom..."
"It's a huge bedroom!" Emisyn argued, "It's bigger than the royal dining hall!"
"What's the point in having one humungous room instead of several smaller ones?" Rennia, that Ceres girl protested, "I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything but I'd be much more comfortable with more privacy."
"Share? I cannot share with six other girls!" Sicilie fumed, "One bathroom?"
"But look how big it is..." Emisyn started.
"This is outrageous," Sicilie ran to Ellowyn, "I've never heard of anyone denying their guests comfort, especially in Jupitar!"
"Don't pretend that you know anything about Jupitar!" Ellowyn said in a nasty tone.
I rolled my eyes. I didn't get what the big deal was about. We were given a room beyond luxury, with more space than any seven people needed. What were they complaining about?
"This isn't fair!" Sicilie repeated.
"I'm terribly sorry that you don't like your dormitory but, I'm sorry. We don't have any room prepared for you arrival. We worked long and hard to have this ready for you. My father thought that it would be best if you were close together. He imagined that you'd quickly become friends and..." Emisyn said quickly.
"Come on, Emisyn!" Ellowyn said impatiently, "We don't owe them any explanation. I'm tired from our travels. Besides, father requested to see us as soon as possible and you know father doesn't like to wait. We did what we were told to do, now let's be on our way!"
Emisyn quickly followed not at all seeming reluctant to go.
Sicilie threw herself on one of the beds the instant they left, "It's not fair! It's not! I had a room all to myself in Venis… I thought that everything was supposed to be better in Jupitar! How dare they treat us like this? I thought we were honorary guests!" Sicilie looked venomous.
None of us exactly knew how to respond to this. We all just stood there not making eye contact as Sicilie grabbed a pillow and threw it on the floor in anger.
Then Evaline sighed, "Okay, look. Let's all go to the living room. It's time we all had a talk."
Still expressionless I followed Rudie into the next room and sat crisply down on a large couch that sank in instantly as I sat.
"I'm glad we're finally alone," said Acacia quickly, as soon as we were all seated, "I don't trust it. I hate it here."
"We only just arrived," Rudie muttered.
Acacia gave Rudie a look, "Well I hate the fact that I am here. Happy? Let's think of this long term. Sure everything is amazing now…"
Sicilie gave a hysterical laugh.
"…But do they even intend on sending us back? And this whole, 'to better educate the girls' junk... I mean what's up with that? Since when do Jupitar people even give a crap about everyone else in Caliban?" Acacia finished with a defiant glare.
"It's not like that," Cevian muttered.
"Oh, yes, it is!" Acacia yelled, "Don't you dare pretend otherwise!"
Acacia seemed to realize that she'd been screaming. Her volume dropped but her voice was cracked with emotion, "I'm scared. I really am. I don't like what's going on. I don't trust it, so how can I like it?"
It was Rennia who finally answered, "You can't."

A Journal of Opal Allgood (part 2)

Here is part 2 of the Opal Allgood story:

2 days later:

I had to leave because Sunny was flirting with a street cat. The cat assured me thata he did not want to eat my bunny. Oh and another thing I forgot to say is that I have a special talent, I can talk to animals and read their thoughts. So I knew the street cat did not want to eat my bunny and I let them flirt, plus I think it would be really cool to have a bunny-cat! The street cat told me his name was Thomas, which Ithink is a wonderful name. Abby came over today and gave me a wonderful gift, a pearl knecklace & my mother and father's wedding rings. She tiptoed into my house and took them from my dead parents room in the middle of the night. I think that was very brave and kind of her.

The next day:

I was in Mrs. Nill's room last night for reasones unessisary to write here and I found a piece of a picture. I looked at the picture more closely and saw that it was the same picture my mom had of her and my dad. She always slept with it close to her heart. There was blood all over it! Of course this doesn't mean anything but it is not normal to find a picture of your parents covered in blood in the room of your gaurdian!

Late at night:

I can't find Sunshine anywhere! A littel bird flew into my winow this morning and told me Sunny went into an alley with Thomas and never came out! Oh, I do hope she is OK.

In the Morning:

I found Sunny! Abby is coming over in a few minutes & she has something urgent to tell me.

Midnight:

The "URGENT" thing Abby told me was that her dog pooped on her favorite shoes! Not exactly what I call urgent. We made friend ship bracelets and wiped the poo off her shoes with the old socks Mrs. Nill gave me. I guess those socks were good for something after all. A few flies started buzzing around the socks and asked me if they coul have them. I had no problem with this so I threw the sock out the window so the flies could be in the fresh air. It landed on Mrs. Nill's head! She got so mad at me and Abby had to go home. I am now in the BOX OF SHAME writing under the light of my ipod. THe box is 2ft long, 2ft wide, and 3ft tall so I don't thinks I will be getting much sleep tonight.

Evening the next Day:

Everyone got adopted today! Everyone that is except me. Sunshine was acting strange today. I asked her what the matter was but she just shrugged me off. She has never done that before!

By: Lyssie (Haslam)

that is all I can write so far but I will post the rest later

A Journal of Opal Allgood (part 1)

Here is the first story I wrote:

In the morning:

Uncle Clant bought me this new Journal in hopes that I would write about all the things I am thankful for. But I thinks that would be a waste of time. You could spend your whole life writing down all the things you are thankful for and not even get halfway done! So I decided to to write about me! I will just use my magic wand to copy and paste someone else's thankfull journal. That is if this world had magic.

After lunch:

I had to stop writing because Mrs. Nill came to call me to lunch. Mrs. Nill has one large eye and one smaller eye, she also has arms that look like fish fins. She always has her hair up and wears drab cloths from the 1930's even though this is the 21st century. I think she hates me because she thinks I am a murderer. Just because my parents were murdered doesn't make me the criminal! I loved my parents more than anything in the world, and now that they are gone I have to live at this stupid orphanage.

Before Dinner:

Uncle Clant is not my real uncle, I have no relatives, he is just in charge of my affairs and my parents will. So he acts all kind and stuff not for me but for the money he is getting paid. When my parents dies they left my my enormous fortune. I wish I could be with my parents again at our house but my parents are dead and the house is now some kind of investagation site used to help finde my parent's killers. They were shot in the night and that horrible morning when I found their bodies in their beds, my poor parents!

My full name is Opal Lily Allgood. I was born in October and the birthstone for October is an Opal so my parents named my Opal. Lily was my mother's name. I am 13 years old and I am extremely unhappy because it has been exactly a month scince my parents died. It is also my birthday. Today is October 31, 2010.

Late at night:

Halloween is now going to be a dreadful day for me. My parents and I always dressed up and held a haunted mansion party at our house. I didn't fell like dressing up. Uncle Clant wanted my to go to a Halloween bash at my best friend Abby's house but who wants an orphan at thier party? Uncle Clant got me a new pen for my birthday and thats all he gave me. Mrs. Nill gave my some old socks. I think thats the best present I will ever get (and thats saying something). Last year my parentsbought me a genuine opal knecklace, an ipod touch 4G, a pet bunny (named Sunshine), and many other wonderful gifts. I only wish they were alive now. That would be the best gift Icould get. But my parents are dead and allI have left is the gifts they gave me. But I will Cherish them in my heart always.

By Lyssie (Haslam)

Story!

This is officially the first story to be posted. Yay! I don't know what to call it yet. Any ideas? Well, Here it goes!

Chapter 1

The boy was running as fast as was physically possible for him, even though it was difficult dodging tall, hard bamboo shoots. He couldn’t go on like this forever, he would have to stop eventually. The bamboo forest was long and he knew it. He couldn’t run the entire length of it with not food, water or rest. He would have to give in soon. He heard a swishing noise behind him, his assailant. He made a sharp left turn, resulting in twisting his ankle on a root. He could go no farther. He knew that. All he could do was hope that whoever was chasing him was merciful. I girl came up from behind him and raised a bamboo pipe to her lips. A small object hit the boy in the neck and he slumped onto the ground.

“He was trying to take Mayza. I had to do it.” A tall girl with long dark hair said.

“It is wrong to take children but I doubt he would do that. Look how young he is. He’s Mayza’s age! It must have been something else.” Said an old woman with graying hair who was standing nxt to the younger woman who appeared to be in her late teens.

“I don’t care! I just don’t get a good feeling from him. Do not let him see Mayza. Keep them apart. And keep him away from Wen.”

“It does not mater if he is near Wen.”

“I said keep him away. Enough talk. I am going.” And the woman strode out of the room.

The old woman sighed an looked out of a window.

“Where am I” The boy said to the girl above him.

“Your here now.” She said with a grin. “And you will never leave.”

“Why did you put me in a pit?”

“So you wouldn’t leave, silly.” She walked around the opening of the large hole.

“I’m hungry.”

“I will not have you telling me what to do. You are a prisoner!”

“I didn’t tell you what to do. I told you that I’m hungry.”

“Oh well. You will get your food when you get your food.”

A young woman stormed down a set of stairs and over to the girl. She was not happy at all. She grabbed the girls shoulder. “Mayza! What are you doing? Go to your room!”

“But Shai, I just wanted to see him-”

“Enough. Go. Now.”

The girl walked down a thin path in the bamboo and began to climb a ladder.

“You. don’t want you here. It wasn’t my choice to let you stay and I don’t want to, but if you get away you will reveal us. You know what that would do to us? Well? Do you?” She roared.

“I didn’t mean to find this... village. I was hunting for food. For my sister and mother. My mother is blind and my sister is young. Please let me go.”

“You will never see your family again.” She turned and called to the closest house in the trees “Cover it up.” She walked towards the ladder that the younger girl had recently climbed.

Two boys, who looked like they were fourteen or fifteen, walked down the stairs and walked to a clump of bushes from which they withdrew a large woven tarp. The threw it over the large hole the boy was in and weighed it down with stones. The boy heard the other boys laughing as they climbed back into the room suspended in the trees.

The boy curled up and hoped that it would not be too cold that night.

Chapter 2

“Psss. Wake up.” Called a girls voice from above.

The boys eyes slowly opened and looked around. He was still in the pit. There was not much else in the hole but random clods of dirt and a few leaves. It was dark but a bit of light was shining through small holes in the woven tarp. He couldn’t see anything outside of the pit. On the far side the tarp was pulled back a bit and a rope ladder fell down. The girl he had been talking to the day before climbed down into the pit.

“Your awake. My sister, Shai, the mean one, has forbidden me from seeing you but I do not care.” She said with pride. “Well? I sneak out at night and you have nothing to say?”

“Where am I?”

“You are in the village of Bao Yu.”

“Why am I here?”

“You were captured, you dummy. Why would you try to steal from us? How did you find us?” She implored, playing with her short brown hair.

“I didn’t steal anyth-” He was cut off.

“Do not immediately deny it! That would be a foolish thing to do.”

“Sorry.” He looked down and picked up a clod of dirt “I didn’t find you. I was hunting and then someone was chasing me and then I was here.”

“Of course, of course.” She said but he doubted she believed him.

“Why are you here? I mean- to see me.”

“I have come because I am curious, do I need any other reason?”

“Well... I don’t know. I don’t think so.” He fiddled with the dirt, crushing off small pieces.

“Follow me.” She went over to the ladder and began her ascent. “By the way, what is your name?” She paused halfway up the ladder to look at him.

“Uh... Aoki.” He put his hand on the ladder and followed her up.

The bamboo forest wasn’t not much lighter than it had been in the pit.

“What’s your name?” He worried she wouldnl’t answer him.

“If you don’t know already, it’s Mayza.”

“So was that girl yesterday your sister?”

“Ugh, yes! She is so irritating! She tries to control me.”

“Oh. Where are we going?”

“You are going home. I am staying here. And you are not going to tell anyone about this place. Now follow me.” She ran into the bamboo. She stopped at a large rod of bamboo with a hole cut into one side. She put her hand into the hole and withdrew a thick black bag. “Put this on your head.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.” He put the bag onto his head and Mayza grabbed his arm. Sh ran through the trees quickly, pulling Aoki along with her. They did not run very far before Mayza stopped and went silent.

They could hear men’s voices coming from a couple of yards away. Mayza Turned around and ran. Aoki pulled off the bag and followed her.

“I knew those voices!” He said, hurrying to catch us with Mayza. “They are men from my village. Let us go back!”

“No.”

“Well, I’m going back!”

Before he could turn around Mayza had whipped a small bamboo rod from her shirt and had put it to her pursed lips.

“If you move backwards I will blow a tranquilizing dart into your neck.

“I guess I have to go with you.” He started to move forward again but Mayza kept the blow gun pointed at him. She followed behind him, always keeping the gun pointed at him. They were not very fast but soon Aoki could no long hear the voices.

His insides filled with despair. Would he ever get away from this place? Would he ever see his mother or sister again? What about his beloved Noriko? What if he never saw any of them again? How would his family survive? His Nori would be heartbroken. He sighed.

“Keep moving.” Mayza said in an irritated voice “They will catch up to us if you don’t hurry up.”

“Me? Your the one who has to walk with that thing pointed at me!”

“But I can’t trust you to stay on track without having a dart pointed at you. What happened to the sack that was on your head?”

“I’m trustworthy! I dropped it.”

“Just keep moving.” He did. Soon he was only a few feet away from the pit he had been in earlier.

“Ugh. You’re going to put me back in there, aren’t you?”

“Well, I have to. Shai would kill me if she knew I let you out. Get going.” He sighed and walked to the ladder. Before climbing down it he looked back at her but her eyes were closed. Maybe if he just walked past her quietly..... Her eyes flew open. “Do you think I’m that stupid?”

“Well, no but your eyes were closed.”

“You think I would close them all the way if it meant you could get away? Get back in the hole.”

He climbed down the ladder. The hole was probably about ten feet high and six feet wide. Not being very tall, he was about to lay down without hitting the wall. Mayza pulled up the ladder and spread the tarp back over the top. He heard her footsteps.

Eventually he fell half asleep. Hours passed that way, until several loud voices above him woke him. It was a bit brighter in the pit but there wasn’t much to see so it didn’t matter. He strained his ears to hear them. He only caught fragments of what they were saying. This is what he heard:

“That’s what she said.”

“Would she really do that?”

“Well, you know what she did last time!”

“Yeah. Shai sure is harsh.” The voices dropped to be quieter. He could no longer hear. The voices went back to normal, but the conversation was dull.

“Ya, we are going hunting near the water fall today.”

“Oh, good luck. Maybe we can have mamba. My favorite.”

The voices faded as the people walked away.

Aoki sighed. He layed down and tried to sleep. What else could he do? He would not be able to reach the top of the pit. Thinking of his villiage and his loved ones would only make him sad. At least he would be well rested if the chance to escape came. It was difficult to fall asleep. He was actually not able to. He layed there, staring at the tarp. He had no idea how long he had layed there. A small amount of more sunlight shined in, but the amount of trees above him prevented much sunlight to reach the ground beneath their long, bamboo stocks.

At last something came to entertain him a bit. The tarp opened a bit on one side and Mayza’s face peered in.

“Hey! I brought you food, but my sister can’t know I did. She wants to half starve you to death! It’s a few grubs, fried, some papaya and a bit of fish. Got to go!” She quickly dropped down and basket and the tarp flew back over the opening. He eagerly grabbed the food and stuffed his mouth. The grubs were better fried than they were when they were juicy. The fish was good. He had a few bites of the papaya but he put it back in the basket so he would have something to eat later.

He stood up and jumped. He could not get out. He layed on his belly and drew in the dirt. The tarp was lifted once more. The young woman he guessed to be Shai peered down at him, a disgusted look on her face. She dropped a basket down. The tarp was closed once more. He grabbed the basket hastily and looked inside it. There was a crumbly piece of cheese, a few orange slices, some old bread and a slice of some sort of meat. He took a nibble of the cheese, which had the texture of cracked clay. It was dry and he did not like it, but he needed the protein. He ate some of the food, leaving more for later.Then he went to sleep.

The New Idea

So, I was think that I should make it so we can all post stories! So, comment on this post and I'll invite you so you can write on here! Ok, so if you are a jerk about anyones writing skills I'm gonna kick you out. Peace.

Welcome!

Hello! I was at home, being bored, thinking to myself.... and I came up with this! It is a blog for all of us to write stories and post them for other people to read! I have made it private so that only people we invite have the ability to see the blog. This blog is mainly for my school writing group, which consists of Alyssa Haslam, Sarah Crandle, Amy Powell and I. I have also invited Caili Chung to write with us because she is a big writer but she doesn't want to be in the group. Please feel free to start posting your stories!