A Collection of Past Writing

To Live or Not to Live

Robert is very excited about the 1983 county fair. Robert walks onto the county fair grounds. He looks up at the bright blue sky. Then, he looks back down at the gigantic paint-stripped barn. The grass is brown, and the few crops surviving are withered. A house next to the barn is decaying. He just shrugs at the dreary appearance. He continues walking toward the barn holding a rope tied to Pinky's neck. Suddenly, his eyes grow wide, and he runs into a pole. He falls flat on his face into a slimy pile of brown mud.

When he lifts his head, Emma Hays stands right in front of him. She holds her hands on her hips with her lips pursed. She is a beautiful girl of 15 years old. Her long dark red hair falls ½ a foot below her shoulders in two braids. Her tan skin and freckles make it obvious that she works in the hot sun for long hours. Her deep green eyes sparkle with wickedness. She looks a little scary staring at him in the mud. She wears short blue jean cut-off shorts, and she has tied her red flannel shirt on the side to reveal 8 inches of her tan stomach.

Without even trying to, she ridicules him. She takes one look at Robert and laughs. When everyone hears her powerful laugh, they turn to see why she is laughing. Emma mocks, "Are you having trouble standing up?"

He is mortified. He doesn't respond, but he quickly scrambles to his feet. Luckily, the mud covers up his red face flushing with embarrassment. He runs toward the nearest bathroom to clean himself up. He shakes off his humiliation and focuses on winning the county fair.

The contestants are ready to be judged. Once all the contestants are in a row, he looks over at Emma. Emma announces in an overloud voice to the audience, "If Robert Peck falls over, don't worry. He didn't faint; he just can't stand on his own two feet!"

The audience cheers, "Robert! Robert! Stand up, Robert! Stand up!" He can feel his cheeks warm up with shame. He stretches his jaw in an attempt to rid his face of the awful red color. He doesn't succeed, but he gains a little confidence. He stands up straighter when the 5 judges come to judge his pig.

A judge named Joe Smith asks, "What's this fellow's name?"

Robert declares, "Pinky."

Joe Smith looks confused while continuing, "I wasn't talking to you. Is your name Pinky?"

Another judge, Devon Carroll, answers while looking at his clipboard, "Robert. Robert Peck is his name."

Joe turns to Robert while saying, "Well, Robert Peck, good luck. You'll hear your score later." All five judges shake his hand and continue on the next pair.

When the judging is completed, everyone goes to a traditional party always held the night of the fair to announce the winners. He changes into his best pair of jeans and blue cuffed-shirt. He puts on his best shoes and takes extra time combing his hair. He takes one last look in the mirror and shrugs. He starts to lead Pinky to the party when Emma suddenly pulls him aside.

Emma asks, "Will you do something for me?"

He answers in an insecure tone, "I suppose so."

Emma takes a deep breath building the suspense before adding, "Kill your pig and say it drowned in the river. I will go out with your forever if you do this for me."

Robert starts, "Why would you want me to..."

Emma interrupts pleading, "I know you like me. Won't you do this tiny favor for me?" Mischief gleams in her eyes. She has so much confidence to ask him to kill his pig. She is so daring and bold that she is almost unbelievable.

He considers his options. He loves Pinky, but he really likes Emma. How can he choose between Emma and Pinky? It is almost impossible. He takes another look at Emma's bright eyes lighting up in the dark of the night.

When Emma notices Robert taking a long time to answer, she looks offended. Her eyes rage with anger. She screams with a vicious look, "How can you not choose me over that pig?" She storms away with a hurt look on her face.

He stops her and exclaims, "Wait!" Emma turns around waiting for him to continue. "I'll do it."

Emma smiles while declaring, "Meet me at the party in 15 minutes." She flashes him a devilish grin and walks away. He walks into the woods and pulls out his knife that his father had given him a month ago. He looks into Pinky's innocent eyes, and he puts his knife back into his pocket. He can't kill Pinky. He ties Pinky to a nearby tree, and walks back to the party.

When he arrives, he lies to Devon, "Pinky was lost in the river."

Devon apologizes, "I'm so sorry for your loss. I know how much you loved that pig."

Emma knows that something is wrong. She tells her mother, "I have to go to the bathroom."

Emma needs to find Pinky. She walks off into the woods. She finds Pinky tied to a tree, and she takes out a knife. She has never wanted to go out with Robert. She just wants to make sure she wins the county fair.

Suddenly, Pinky pulls free of his attachment to the tree. Pinky has the ability to be able to understand human speech, but Pinky can't speak it. He has heard every word Robert and Emma have said. His eyes look ravenous. He attacks Emma, and he instantly kills her. Pinky runs on a rampage, killing everyone in his path. He even ends up killing Robert because Robert was going to betray him.

Pinky has killed everyone. He walks into the creaky old barn and sits down in a pile of hay. He just sighs and is very pleased with himself. Silence envelopes the farm. Pinky is the only living thing remaining at the county fair farm.





My Fourth Grade Troubles

~CHAPTER 1: THE NEW KID~

I was just about to be introduced to the class when I saw a stare. An evil stare. It happened to be coming from a girl with blond hair, a dress, earrings, and anything else
fancy you can imagine.

Mrs. Willowbrook said in a low voice, "This is our new student, Penny Dennis. Ashley, why don't you show Penny around the school be her partner for the day."

Ashley was the one who gave me the evil stare.

Ashley replied "But I can't!" She stared rudely at me and then at Mrs. Willowbrook.

"Tough Beans." said Mrs. Willowbrook in a low voice.

Everyone stared at me as though I was the only thing in the room. Even Mrs.
Willowbrook stared at me.

I happened to be in the "fancy" class. Everyone wore dresses and suits. The other fourth grade class was the one I wanted to be in. I could never wear a dress. They couldn't make me? Could they?

Mrs. Willowbrook told me to sit down next to Ashley. I took my seat.

Then something suddenly crashed. It was the other fourth grade class. They were dropping eggs for an experiment. Mrs. Willowbrook said we wouldn't be doing such a messy thing.

There was a thunderstorm during class. There was one little thunderclap and Mrs. Willowbrook made us hide under our desks. When there was another `
thunderclap everyone screamed, except me. Even Mrs. Willowbrook was scared. The other class didn't make a peep.
The fourth grade class that I'm in is not my type. How am I ever going to make any friends? Everyone thinks I'm weird. Though I do agree that I am weird.

The next day everyone was passing me notes, which we weren't suppose to do. They always got me in trouble for something they did. I mean EVERYONE was being mean to me. Even the nicest kid in school was making fun of me.
Since we've moved here I haven't made any friends. Back in California I didn't have many friends either. Though I did have one best friend who was always there for me. She and I did everything together. When I found out we were moving I kicked the wall so hard I almost made a hole in it.

She can't write or type that well so I told her she didn't have to write so often. She's a great artist. I told her she could send pictures instead of letters. Her name is Nicole.
The kids laughed at my clothes. They were comfortable. A dress would never be comfortable for me. Right at that moment I knew I was never going to make friends with anyone at this school.

School was finally over for the day. I asked Maryanne if she wanted to walk home with me. She hadn't made fun of me that much. She said angrily, "Buzz off, Jerk! Like move!" She pushed me out of the way and headed for the door. Her face looked as though she just regretted something.

As she went down the hall she kept whispering to herself, "Why did I do that? Why did I do that?" One thing you're going to need to know is that no one likes Maryanne either. Maybe she was thinking we could be friends or something. What she said was definitely not going to convince me to be her friend. It convinced me not to be her friend.
I was the last one out because I gathered my books very slowly. I headed out the door and to home. My house was eight blocks away and I had to walk. My mom wouldn't drive me because she had to pick up my bratty older sister. My mom wouldn't get me a bike because she says they're too expensive.

The door was locked. My mom had gone to work early. I just remembered where I had left the keys. In my locker to hide them from Shani. Shani would take anything she could get her hands on. Gladly Shani is in second grade so she's not in my class.
The safety keys. I thought I could get the safety keys. They're in my backyard. What's weird is that our neighbor's backyard on the side of our house goes in front our backyard so I have to cross their backyard, too. Another thing about our neighbor is he has a vicious dog. He must weigh ten times as much as I do. He instead of trotting steadily ran viciously towards me. He jumped up on the fence and growled fiercely at me. I was so frightened. It looked like he was going to eat me though I know he wouldn't. At least I hope he wouldn't.

All of the sudden the dog named Cracker calmed down, sat, and wanted to lick me. A man stepped outside playing a guitar and petted Cracker calmly. How could he do that? Make Cracker calm down in the blink of an eye? I climbed the fence to the man's yard. I was about to climb into my yard when the man shouted "Stop!" I moved steadily away from the fence and in his direction. I replied "What?" Cats came screeching down the street. The man asked "What?" I spoke even louder and broke into a scream screaming "What do you mean Stop?" He thought a second or two and shouted, "I mean............." He never finished his sentence because he went inside shaking his head.
As I went toward the fence I saw a thorn. Maybe he was warning me about that. I climbed farther away from the thorn but I still got the thorn stabbed hard in my finger. It was bleeding all over the place. All my clothes and shoes got bloody. It hurt.
I ran to get the keys. I took them with my bloody hand. Carelessly I jumped back into the man's yard. The thorn stabbed me again on the same finger but in a different place. My whole finger was bursting out blood. As I climbed the second fence I fell tumbling to the ground. I gathered my strength and got up.

As I approached the door my dad's car pulled into the driveway. I opened the door fast to get inside and clean up. Too late. Dad was already in the garage and in the house. Dad caught me before I could get to the bathroom to clean up. He said "Young Lady. What are you doing in dirt and why do you have a bloody finger." "Well you see I had to hide them and then left them and you see............" I tried to explain. Dad stopped me. "Take a shower and get on clean clothes."

I cleaned up and went to watch TV. I really hate TV, but there was nothing else to do; so, I watched stupid cartoons. They were really dumb. I stared at the TV very closely. When my eyes got tired, I fell asleep on the couch.

I could tell my dad had a good day at work because he didn't wake me up for me to go back to my bed. I dreamed of bad things. No friends ever in my life. I was in different place. Away from all this, I heard my dad calling
"Wake up, Sleepyhead. You're gonna be late for school." It was 7:50 and school started at 8:00. I got ready and headed for the bus. The bus had already left so I was stuck walking to school again.


~CHAPTER 2: MAKING FRIENDS~

I saw Mary Anne rushing out her door going to school. She had to walk or run to school like me except her house was a lot closer to school than mine. By the time I got there, I was exhausted. Maryanne had run there. I didn't have enough time to catch up with her.
After Art class Mr. Lane, our principal, told Mrs. Willowbrook to go down to the office.

The teacher left. For the first couple of minutes everyone sat still because she could come back any second. Then everyone got up flying airplanes, playing tag, and hopping on peoples' desks.

Who knew such a fancy class was such a mess? Jason threw a spitball at me though it didn't hit me. I was the only one sitting down writing. Well actually I was the only one sitting down.

When Mrs. Willowbrook came back everyone took his or her seats and were quiet. She put my name on the board because the other teachers heard racket and she just assumed it was the last new kid who caused such trouble even though it was the rest of the class making the entire racket. A new girl followed Mrs. Willowbrook. She gave a shy smile to me but stared at the others.

She wore jeans and a regular T-shirt just like me. She couldn't understand why everyone else was so dressed-up. The one thing about the new girl is she looked kind of like Nicole, my old best friend. Could it be Nicole? If it is she's changed a lot since I last saw her. Unfortunately it wasn't Nicole. Her name was Kara. Everyone except me of course was calling her names and getting her in trouble. I felt sorry for her though every new kid in this class is treated that way.
I was going to talk to Kara and ask her if we could walk home together when I heard a terrible screech. Ashley screeched "Don't talk to her. Talk to us." I guess since I wasn't the new kid anymore I would be included.

What about Kara? Was she ever going to be included? Even if another new kid came? The girls who pulled me into their group were talking about make-up, dresses, and sparkly shoes. All of it was just about going to make me throw-up. I pushed out of their group and headed for Kara. I asked if she wanted to walk home with me.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh! Noooooooo! Please! Don't talk to her! She has alien germs! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" screamed Mary to me. Kara whispered to me in a shy voice "Yes". As we headed out the door Kara gave me another one of her shy smiles.


~CHAPTER 3: PACKING AND STARTING~

Her house was right next door. I knew we had new neighbors but I didn't know it was her family. Kara asked me if I wanted to come over. I asked my mom and she said yes. She showed me around her house and her room.

She took out a piece of paper. She unrolled it. It looked like a treasure map. She said, "Since everyone hates us we'll go to a place where we'll be respected. We'll travel along this route." She pointed to a dotted line. "We'll go to a place where we're all different." She sounded so sure of herself that I went along with it.

She started packing her things. She took a lot of her stuff and put it into bags. She nearly filled eight bags. Then we went over to my house to pack up my bags. My mom was wondering what we were doing. I said, "Playing a game."

My mom said "Like what?"

I started to say "Well.......Um.......Um.......Well...We're playing........"

"Whoever packs up first wins." quickly finished Kara.

"Oh, I see." Mom said not understanding our game.

"Yeah", Kara and me said in unison.

Mom then muttered "Yeah and I cook rocks." I could definitely tell Mom didn't believe us. Of course by what she said but also by her face.

We continued packing. I packed my clothes, stuffed animals, favorite toys, money, notebooks, pens, pencils, my pillow, blankets, and so much more.

I snuck a lot of food when Mom was gone and wrote a note.

The note said:

Dear Mom,
Don't go out worrying about me because I'll be back in a month. I'm helping a friend.
Your daughter,
Penny Dennis

We took a wagon with all our stuff to the edge of the woods. Kara called, "Whistler. I'm traveling there for a good reason and I also brought a friend, Penny Dennis." A weird looking troll man came to us. I guessed his name was Whistler.

He said to Kara, "I don't think she'll measure up." I didn't know what Whistler meant by 'I don't know if she'll measure up'. I mean do you have to be a certain height and weight to enter? That would be very odd. Kara looked at me as though I was confused.
She took me aside and said, "Whistler means you look as though you are not new and different." As Kara said that I totally understood. I was wearing my mom's nice dress and was dressed up. Then Whistler led me to a kind of cage with a scale in it. Then he locked me in there.

He said to Kara, "We'll need 48 hours to make sure she measured. Sorry, Kara, you are forbidden to visit her, she needs to be alone."

I stared in surprise. 48 hours! That was two days. I couldn't stay in the cage that long. Was Kara betraying me? Was she acting to be nice to me when she was going to turn on me?

I thought about my old life when I was new in California before I had befriended Nicole. Nicole never flashed out of my mind. My new life flashed into my mind but only a few times. I couldn't help thinking of Nicole.

I didn't see Kara for two days. Finally Whistler came back and unlocked me. Kara came, too. Kara and I watched movies for almost a whole day. Whistler was very busy examining the results. In the last minute, I asked Kara if she liked me. She said of course, but I wasn't sure if I could believe her or not, but I had to or at least go along with it.

Whistler came back with a frown on his face. He said grumpily, "Your friend is able to pass. Since you two have so much stuff, you'll have to walk there because you cannot fit in the wagon." I must have had a surprised look on my face because Kara whispered "It's not that far." I tried to believe her as I took two small bags out of one of my big bags. It had food in it. Kara brought a flashlight and a blanket.

Over and over in my head, I said that it wasn't that far. I never seemed to believe myself. I kept thinking that the woods would be so long that we would never get out. Terror flashed in my mind. Finally we started through the woods.


~CHAPTER 4: THE JOURNEY, DIFFINTER, AND NICOLE~

Before, I said the woods would never end. I was most certainly wrong. It wasn't too far. It took about three to four days; I wasn't exactly sure. When we started walking, my legs were sore in ten minutes. My arms were tired, my legs were tired, and my back was tired. That was all in half an hour. I really wanted to rest.

I could tell Kara was afraid that if I stopped, I would never get started again. She came up with reasons every time I wanted to stop why we shouldn't stop. Like we'll run out of food or we'll get there too late or we'll miss the big party. Of coarse these weren't the real reasons why she wanted me to keep going. When I really wanted to stop and sit down, she'd tell me a joke or something that happened to her or her family.
We ran out of food on the third day. Luckily it wasn't much farther. Finally we reached our destination. There was a tall black gate in front of it. It was guarded by tall weird looking troll men soldiers who looked just like Whistler. They said "NP Please."

Kara answered "Liz, Alex, Diffinter."

"Please go to the front desk to sign in." answered the troll man. Kara led me to the front desk.

I whispered very quietly to Kara "Kara, what is NP?"

Kara answered "Name and password. And by the way my name isn't Kara. It's Liz, and your name is Alex. Our names change in this world. This world is called Diffinter. That is the password."

I was so confused. I mean, my name is Alex? Kara, who is Liz in this world, told me to sign on the dotted line; so, we would be in the system. She took me to my room and showed me around. The bad part is that Liz would be on the whole other side of Diffinter. Liz told me I would share a room with someone named Jenna.

Of course, that couldn't be her real name since we were in Diffinter. She was going to come tomorrow. I was so excited. I picked out an outfit though it did take me a long time. I wanted to get the perfect outfit.

There was a few things back home that I needed to know, but of course I didn't know them. First of all, my mom was worried sick. She didn't listen to the note. She called the police to set up a search party immediately. Also Nicole moved from California, too, but not near my house. A few weeks after that, she and her friend Kayla ran away. Nicole's mom thought Nicole and Kayla might have run away together. Thinking Nicole and I had planned this together, Nicole's mom called my mom and told her,"They all could've met somewhere and ran together from there." I wasn't worried about my mom at all. Nicole ran with Kayla through different woods that led to Diffinter.
Of course, Nicole was measured, and she measured up. Kayla must have been friends with Kara, since Kayla knew all about Diffinter. The next day two new people came in to Diffinter. One was my roommate, and the other was Liz's roommate. My roommate's real name was Nicole and my best friend in the whole entire world. I didn't know that at the time.

She signed in. She met me at my cabin. She looked exactly like my best friend Nicole.

Nicole thought 'She looks exactly like my best friend, Penny'.

Nicole said, "I'm Jenna. You must be my roommate, Alex."

I said, "Uh..... Yea. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you."

She reminded me so much of Nicole. One night Nicole and I were talking. She told a story about her and her best friend, Penny. Of course, I already knew the story because I was Penny. She had to be Nicole. She had a best friend, Penny, that she told a story about, and that story was about me. I asked if her best friend moved to California. She said yes. When she said that, I was sure she was Nicole.

I could tell by the look on her face that she was getting as suspicious as I was. I finally blurted out "Are you Nicole?"

She said, "Why, yes I am." She paused for a moment. "Uh.....well......Are you Penny?"

I said softly "Yes." She looked as surprised as I did. We talked on about all the fun and great times we had. We decided we couldn't tell Liz (Kara) or Marina (Kayla) about the two of us.

~CHAPTER 5: THE BIG PARTY~

Tomorrow night was the big party. I couldn't wait. There would be rides, food, activities, shows, plays, movies, music, bands, and much more. We were celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Diffinter being created. It was a big celebration. Nicole and I looked for an outfit for an hour. We still didn't find anything that was perfect. It needed to be perfect. So Nicole and I decided to go to the mall to pick out the perfect outfit since we had no outfit perfect enough for the party.

We looked all over for a mall. Finally we found one. It was called Sock's Squash of Clothes. I didn't really get the name. I mean "Squash of Clothes?" Wouldn't that mean the clothes are like wrinkled? Well you never know. It's the only mall in this place anyway. If there's nothing here then we're going to have to wear one of our not perfect outfits. After hours of searching in Sock's Squash of Clothes, we finally found the perfect dresses. I didn't exactly want to wear a dress, but it was worth it. Nicole and I had matching dresses except that her dress was purple and mine was blue. We looked just like twins except for our hair.

We decided to find a hair salon since we weren't any good at doing hair. We'd mess up our hair for sure. As for the rest of the stores, there was only one hair salon as there was only one beauty shop, candle shop, paint shop, grocery store, car store, and so on. The hair salon was called Heidi's Heap of Hair. Heap? I didn't think these names were so attractive, but I was very wrong. There were piles of kids going into the store.

There were also tons of people going into the clothes store. The only reason why there were piles of people going into each store is because there is only one kind of that store in Diffinter.

I waited so long to get my hair done that I couldn't even keep track of the time. Luckily Nicole's and my hair was done very neatly and identical.

We both decided to keep off the make-up. Even if we were going to look nice, we weren't going to look that nice. We were finally ready for the party.
We both looked in the mirror for our last minute touches. Then we started outside. I couldn't believe how many people were in the ball area. I mean there must have been millions. Maybe not that many, but close to that many. Nicole and I walked out our cabin door.

As we walked out, I saw a stare, an evil stare. It was coming from Ashley, the one who gave me the evil stare when I was the new student. She couldn't have gotten into Diffinter. I mean, she isn't different at all. Nicole and I had to get out of here.
Then I saw everyone stare at Nicole and me just like on the first day of school. Was Liz (Kara) a liar? Did she just make up the story that I would be respected here? I was certainly not being respected. It was just like when I was the new student. I felt exactly the same way.

Everyone was in frills and pink or in black fancy tuxes. I couldn't believe it. I was the one "dressed down" when I was dressed up. I guess we didn't dress up enough. Even Liz (Kara) and Marina (Kayla) were really dressed up. After everyone at the party was staring at us and silent, Ashley started laughing. Then the rest of the crowd began laughing, even Liz and Marina.

I couldn't believe it. If they were our real friends, they wouldn't have laughed. They just wanted popular friends, not people who got laughed at. Nicole an I walked back to our cabin and didn't come out for two weeks. Do you know what we did for 2 weeks? You're about to find out what we did now.


~CHAPTER 6: PLANNING THE ESCAPE~

While we were in our cabin, we were planning our escape. I mean, who would want to stay here with conditions like this? We needed to make enough plans; so, if one plan failed all wouldn't be lost. We would go from Plan A to Plan Z. Here is the list of our plans:

Plan A: Sneak out at night and escape when the guards are sleeping.

Plan B: Dig a tunnel under the large fence at night.

Plan C: Climb the large fence at night.

Plan D: Build a Big Kind of slingshot to sling us over the fence.

Plan E: Ask Liz for help.

Plan F: Ask Marina for help.

Plan G: Talk the guards to letting them out.

Plan H: Ask the guards politely and really dress up.

Plan I: Kick the guards and run out.

Plan J: Dress up as a person who is going to leave and leave in the position.

Plan K: Tell the crowd that we're going to go wild if they don't help us.

Plan L: Ask the crowd to make a tower of people of the fence.

Plan M: Tackle the fence.

Plan N: Cut down the fence.

Plan O: Bribe Whistler.

Plan P: Create a flying robot.

Plan Q: Make an ice plane to fly out.

Plan R: Make a plane to fly out.

Plan S: Bribe the tool storeowner to make us a plane.

Plan T: Bribe the Car Store to end us a car to drive through the fence.

Plan U: Swing a almost tied rope to the top and pull. Then as it is tied to the top, climb the rope.

Plan V: Go into a sewer.

Plan W: Distract the guards with dance music.

Plan X: Play the Xlaphone so loud the guards leave.

Plan Y: We yap so loud that the guards leave.

Plan Z: Walk past the guards in the daytime without saying a word.

These plans that we made took a long time. Some of them aren't the best plans but we probably wouldn't even get to them. We took almost two whole weeks making these plans to escape. One of them had to work. Wouldn't one? We decided to go in order from A-Z. It would be easier to keep track of what plan we were on.


~CHAPTER 7: THE ESCAPE~

I was very wrong about this. This was not easy. First we tried Plan A. That sounded like a good plan. Plan A was to sneak out at night when the guards were sleeping. We left all our stuff there because we would make to much noise and we thought we wouldn't need it. We snuck to the front gate. Unluckily the guards weren't asleep. They never slept. Unfortunately we didn't know that.

The guards took us to the empty front desk. One guard said, "Huffa Puffa." Then a little old lady appeared from behind the desk. "Night Sneakers." said another guard. The little old lady said, "Oh, I see. Give them to me. I'll squeeze them out." I surely didn't know what 'squeeze them out' meant. I hope nothing like squeezing the blood out of us. Maybe she was a vampire. I doubt it though.

She took Liz and me into a little room. She had a pot that was boiling over a fire. I hoped it wasn't to cook us in. She told us to tell her why we were out so late. Nicole started on some lame story about her forgetting her toothbrush in the forest and needed it really bad. I kept along with the story and finished it. She seemed to believe us. She put us in a box and asked us for our cabin number. We both said at the same time, "Cabin #5." She typed something into her little laptop computer and pulled a rope. We fell into our cabin.

Maybe it was some sort of elevator. Tomorrow night we would try Plan B. We snuck tonight to get shovels. We got two. Nicole marked a spot with some red tape along the fence where it would be a good spot to dig. She then said, "We're all set for tomorrow." I said, "I guess so." The next day came very quickly. We thought about our escape the whole day in our little cabin.

The night finally fell and everyone was asleep. Well, almost everyone. We took our shovels and looked for our piece of tape. We started digging. I was about to slip under when I guard in a black outfit saw me. We didn't see them because they were wearing black. The guards took us to the empty front desk again. One guard said, "Huffa Puffa." The same little old lady appeared. Another guard said, "Night Sneakers." The little old lady took us in a big room this time. Nicole made up a story about us looking for gold and money. We needed it because our cabin was so small and we wanted to improve it. I said a few sentences but Nicole did most of the talking. She typed something in her computer. Then She put us in an empty pot. She said, "Huffa Puffa." Then she pulled the rope.

We expected to be in our cabin but we were in some sort of jail or dungeon. A different little old lady came down from up above. She said, "Hubba Hubba." We were out of the jail and in our cabin. That was weird. Time for Plan C, climbing the large fence at night. We needed to get some sleep.

Again the morning came quickly. We toughened our hands to climb the fence. At night we slowly walked up to the fence and climbed it until we were both at the top. My hands were really sore. We were either going to have to jump or climb down the other side. We decided to jump because if we climbed down the other side it would be hard to see what was behind us if there was anything behind us.

We jumped and happened to land in a guard's arms. I tried to jump out but they caught me. Nicole did the same and had the same results. The guards took us to the back desk this time. One guard said, "Gleama Gleama." A very young and beautiful young woman popped out from behind the desk. Another guard said, "Night Sneakers." The young woman said, "Oh, I see." She took us into a hug room that looked like a ballroom. She taught us a dance. We did it for her perfectly.

She told us to get into this car that was inside. We did. She typed something into her computer and then we were in our cabin.

The plans went on and on. We were always taken to the young lady instead. The guards just probably wanted to see her. She taught us a new dance every time. We always got it right and we got to go back into our cabin. She never did tell us that we had to stay out of trouble.

On Plan Y when we were taken to the young lady we missed a step in the dance. This time she put us in cage, typed something in her computer, pulled the rope and yelled, "Gozilla! Gozilla!" We fell into another dungeon. We had a perfect view of a ballroom. It was for some kind of prince. I think he was suppose to get married and he had to pick some one to be engaged to. I didn't know it but we were 21 now. The prince saw me and said, "I have chosen a woman to be my bride."

Actually I though he was really ugly and I didn't want to marry him. The young lady saw this through her crystal ball and sent us back to our cabin. The prince was very unhappy but who gives a care about him anyway?

This was our last plan. Plan Z. It probably was our lamest plan too. Plan Z was to walk past the guards in daytime without saying a word.

We decided to do this plan around noon tomorrow. At noon we just walked past the guards without saying a word. Guess what? That plan actually worked. I couldn't believe it. We just walked into the woods, the guards doing nothing about it.


~CHAPTER 8: THE JOURNEY~

We started walking through the woods. I thought it was the way towards home. Unfortunately I forgot to bring food and money and those kinds of things. I seriously didn't bring anything except Nicole even though she isn't a thing. I totally forgot about all our stuff. We didn't bring it because it would make to much noise. I couldn't believe it. We were going to walk about 3 million miles with nothing.
No food. No water. No blankets. We had zip zap zero. I had to be so stupid didn't I? I guess we'd have to live on our resources. We'd have to use leaves as blankets. Find muddy creeks for water and pick yucky berries for food. It's the best thing we could do anyhow.

We started out. Nicole suggested that we carve something in every tree we pass by just in case we have to go back to Diffinter for food. Of coarse we'd have to steal it and find a way to get back in. Nicole suggested an N and a P. I thought that might take a long time. I suggested a line but Nicole said that it would blend into the tree too much. We thought of letters but they didn't seem to fit. We thought of shapes but decided that a circle or rectangle would blend in too much. We just couldn't think of something to carve.

Nicole and me looked at each other and our faces both seemed to say 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Yea, I am.' We both said at the same time, "A heart." Nicole carved a heart in the closest tree to Diffinter. Then we started on. She stopped to carve at every tree we passed. I got so annoyed. I was mad. I told her to stop but she didn't seem to hear me because she kept doing it. It this didn't go to cause then I would be really mad.
We kept going. After awhile to my surprise Nicole stopped doing that. She said, "We're gonna camp here. This looks like a good place. I'm gonna go out and find some firewood for the fire. Then I'm gonna find some food to cook for dinner. Why don't you set up the beds with leaves and palms? Make sure we have good shelter. And you can find some leaves for plates and sticks for silverware."

She then left. Leaves for beds? Not so comfy, huh? It seemed like a pretty itchy sleep but she sounded so sure of herself that I had to go along with it. I wondered what we were going to have for dinner. She brought the carver with her. I saw her carve a peace sign on every tree she passed. Probably because she needed to find her way back from looking for firewood.

I found some palms and started making the beds under two tall and wide trees. They seemed pretty good for shelter. I didn't know Nicole knew how to start a fire. I tried to make good beds out of palms and leaves and branches. It wasn't the easiest thing even though it might seem simple. Nicole came back with some sort of fish and berries. She cooked them and we ate them.

The night's sleep wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In the morning Nicole had already cooked breakfast and had almost everything packed up. I packed up and ate quickly.

Then we headed out, forgetting the carving stick. We didn't carve anything. Suddenly Nicole said, "I think I forgot something where we camped. I'll just follow the hearts back to the camp." She looked but couldn't find any. "I think we left the carving stick at camp." I said softly.

~CHAPTER 9: LOST, CAPTURED, AND WORRIED~

We were lost. I just sat down beside a tree. Nicole was standing up pacing and thinking all over the place. When I wasn't looking she went off trying to look for a heart or peace sign on one of the trees. I fell asleep. When I woke up I couldn't see Nicole anywhere. I didn't know what to do. Either go out looking for her or stay here and wait for her to find me. I was going through my head the reasons I should go and the reasons I should stay. The reasons were equal. I didn't know what to do.

Suddenly I heard a voice. It was coming from a cave. Liz and Marina had gone out after us. I didn't know that. I thought it was Nicole so I followed the voice. I saw a person with long brown hair that was shiny and silky. Well, at least it looked that way. I didn't know who she was but she might know how to find Nicole. I went up to her and asked if she had seen Nicole. She was meditating and couldn't hear me though I didn't know it. I spoke louder this time and said, "Excuse me but I have a friend of mine who is missing and I was wondering if you knew where she was." I gave up and sat down next to her. I did what she did. I tried to meditate.

When I was meditating I saw visions of Nicole and me in a world of frogs, toads, and horses. Not to mention Nicole loving those animals. I had visions of a new world created by Nicole and me. We could both be the rulers of it. I think we should shut down Diffinter and open Torse or Hoad. It would be a combination of a horse and a toad.

When I was done meditating the girl brought me into a cage. She took off her disguise. She was actually a vampire. She could fly, too. I couldn't believe it. I was actually meditating with a vampire. Another beautiful vampire threw Nicole into the same cage as me. I said, "Where were you? I looked all over for you. I accidentally meditated with a vampire. How bout you?" Nicole said, "I accidentally mediated with one, too." Nicole and me were trying to figure out a way to escape. It was a lot harder trapped in a dungeon than inside a huge fence. The vampires went out to meditate with more people. I had an idea for new world but one thing I didn't have was a plan to get out of here. I kept saying, "We don't have the strength but we have the brains. We don't have the strength but we have the brains."

Nicole said, "That's it!" "What's it?" "The way to get out of here. Physically we can't get out of here since we're not strong enough to move the bars. If there was just some sort of brain test then we could easily get out."

I spotted a button on the ceiling and said, "Give me a lift." I got on Nicole's shoulders and pressed the button. A computer type control panel came out. It said to type in the secret code. Nicole and me thought for a while. Nicole said, "Vampire juice?" I typed that in. The computer made a "bonk" sound.

I guess that meant that the password was wrong. I guessed dungeon. The computer went "bonk" again. We both looked at each other. It said that the password could be a sentence. I typed in what me and Nicole thought. Nicole never literally told me what she thought was the password but I knew what she meant.

I typed in 'Physical Power isn't the only kind of power.' A bell rang and we were back in the forest.

My mother was worried sick about me. All four of our moms were worried about us though they are typical moms. Always worried. Our moms weren't the only ones worried. Marina and Liz were worried as well. Since we left or "escaped" they didn't know where we were. They looked everywhere in the forest for us.

We were in the dungeon so they didn't find us yet. They thought we were dead since they saw all of our stuff was still in our cabin. They were worried sick. Finally after long days of looking Liz and Marina found us. They cried.

Nicole and me were both thinking the same thoughts, 'Ok... I'm fine really. Just get off of me. Your tears are gonna rip my clothes.' Nicole bonked and me our heads against a tree 5 times each. Liz and Marina did the same.

~CHAPTER 10: OPENING AND CLOSING~

We all fell into the tree into a different world. It was full of evil and horror things. I certainly wanted to get out of this world. I think it was an abandoned world or something because a sign said "For Sale". Maybe we could buy it even though I didn't have any money. Maybe we would buy it with something else. I asked a man at a desk,
"How much do you want for this world?"

He said, "It only takes four ships."

I said, "Well I don't have 4 ships."

The man laughed and said, "You mean these people over here aren't your friends? I thought they were. I must have been mistaken."

I looked in confusion at him and said, "Of course they're my friends. Why would you ask about my friends?"

He sighed, "Because that's what I need, 4 friendships."
Nicole's confused face turned into a fully understanding face as she said, "Well, we've got 4 friendships so can we take over the world?"

He said, "Well, sure. But before you take over you might need this." He handed Nicole a skinny stick looking thing.

All of our understanding faces turned to confused faces again. My mind went blank. A skinny stick? For what? To kill someone in this evil world? I didn't get it. He looked at us and sighed again. Then he gave a sort of faded giggle. He stopped giggling and said, "If you want you can turn this place good with it. It has magic powers. And also it has enough power to drain out another world. Not the people in it but the world."
Drain out another world? He said softly, "It means destroy or close down another world."

Nicole and me looked at each other and our faces both said 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' We both nodded if to say 'Yea of course I'm thinking what you're thinking.'
Nicole took everyone aside and asked if it was ok to destroy or shut down Diffinter. I took Liz aside and told her why we should shut down Diffinter. Nicole took Marina aside to tell her why we should shut down Diffinter.

We ended up shutting down Diffinter. Everyone in Diffinter had to pack up and leave in one week. The young lady at the back desk at night and the old lady at the front desk at night were both burned to ashes when the place was destroyed. No one could ever go there again.

I turned the place into a happy place. I named it Froggie Toadie Horsie World in honor of Nicole. There were some bad things that also happened.

Well, we all decided to go home before dinner every day so our mothers wouldn't be worried sick ever again. I had to go back to school, too. I didn't know it but it was just the end of summer and I was going into fifth grade. I didn't know how much time I spent away from home. I started in the beginning of the school year in Diffinter and now summer was almost over! I was going into fifth grade.

Ashley told the other fancy people about St. Charles, a very fancy place. All of them moved there. We only had one class now. Nicole moved where I had moved. We both had risen from our sorrow to meet a wonderful joyous ending.