Jacob Jernigan

It was a normal day. We were doing the errands that we would usually start on that day. But the fate of this day was very different from the others, leaving the event imprinted in my head, for a long time to come. It began when we had left the house to go get something to eat, and then hopefully go shopping. The problem was we had to stop by a bank near our house, by what is now a Krispy Kreme Donut shop. We got the money to go eat somewhere, but as we were pulling out of the bank, I glanced over to the stoplight where cars were, A lane was open, and a couple of seconds later, a white utility van sped past that light toward us, and then BAM!

The wreck was very short, although it felt longer than it should have. When we were hit, tires screeched like fingernails going down a chalkboard, and it sounded like a glass cup shattering. The visual of the wreck was like a bottle spinning on a table, all I could see was a mix of white, black, green, and red as cars were surrounding our crinkled mess of a vehicle.

Eventually we spun to a halt and were able to figure out the perpetrator of the accident, a woman with pre-torn clothes, incomplete make-up, and an unfinished braid, giving her a very “Poor” look. My mother got out to talk to the woman, but when my mother opened the door the woman sped of in the direction she was going in the first place, and disappears behind another vehicle,  my Father proceeds to call the police and my mother decides to chase the woman by going in that direction. We eventually came to a light right next to the woman and my father rolled down the window and asked  her why she did not stop, She screamed, “I am late for a meeting at my job.” Then she quickly sped off, again, towards Salem, but this time we did not follow her, because police were already in the area.

If she had stopped and exchanged her insurances correctly, she would not gotten a felony charge for Hit and Run, and charges for failure to yield, evading police, and two counts of child endangerment. She would have been sentenced with 5-10 years in jail. If I were her at that moment, I would have stopped and attended to the situation as correctly as possible.

Chris Palmer

When I lived in Blackstone it was a nice place because I lived in a house in the woods near an army base. Almost every night I would hear loud bangs, so I ask my dad “where the loud sounds where coming from?” and Dad said “At the army base near us they are practicing for battle or something like that”.

 Then one night it was very stormy outside, the next day I looked outside and there wore trees everywhere in the front yard from the storm my mom and dad said “there was a tornado but it did not hit our house.”

 The next day was the first day of school for me so when I got to school I had no idea what to do until one of the teachers helped me. My first class was English and in that class I made a friend, his name was Bobby but he wanted me to call him Bob because that was his nickname Bob he was a nice person to me, his dad also owned a monster truck he would drive it on the highway. After school I got on the bus and went home and when I got home there was 2 or 3 snakes in the front yard I stayed back as far as possible until my dad came out and killed them. A few years later I had gotten older and I was 9 years old and we were moving to Roanoke VA because the old school I went to had very mean teachers, bad food, less education, and the house we lived in was really run down and I had the same nightmare every night, so I called the house Horror House. The nightmare I had I was running out of my room and then something came out of the bathroom that did not work and parts of the floor missing, the thing that came out of it at me had no eyes with black stuff coming out of it where its eyes should be, but after it got me I woke up immediately. That’s why I call it the Horror House. So that’s wat it was like living in Blackstone.

Emma Oertle

As soon as I stepped out of our car and looked up at the big house, I knew it was going to be a good day. We rung the bell and all I could hear was the loud sound of ‘Ding-Dong.’ About thirty seconds later I could hear the sound of footsteps on hardwood. The door opened and a man appeared and said, “Welcome.”

My father, Andrew and I drove all the way to Utah to see my father’s grandparents. We saw them and went to a cook out at another relative’s house. The man was very tall and skinny with some gray hair and a nice little jacket that had a plaid pattern on it.  When I stepped inside I saw a huge living room, with a small fish tank on a table next to some stairs.  On the carpet, in the middle of living room, I saw some toy trains, probably for some of my littler cousins. The man told my brother, Andrew, and me that there were about three stories to this house. I thought to myself, “I wonder if their basement was old and creepy, with dirt floors and small rooms.” I knew it wouldn’t be like that, since it was a very nice house, from the look of it. He didn’t tell us about the basement, he just lead us to it. As we walked to the basement door and looked around in excitement, everything looked so new and nice.

A few seconds later we arrived at the basement door, before he even opened it, I could hear excited voices and footsteps clicking on the floor. After the door was open, I looked on into the vast darkness that seemed to swallow the stairs. The man went first, then my father, then me, and lastly my brother.  As I held onto the rail, my eyes were adjusting to the darkness that seemed to never end. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I stepped onto some more soft and fluffy carpet, the voices and footsteps were coming from some smaller kids playing arcade games. The room was bigger than it appeared, At the farthest corner was a window about five feet high, light crawled into the dark room. Next to the window was a jar, and it was full of candy! I rushed over to it and got a handful. I ate some and said, “Skittles, I love Skittles!” The man next to my father said, “Don’t eat too much now, we are cooking up dinner.” I nodded and told him that I would only have my handful. He said all right, and then he left, so did my father. I was so ecstatic, that as soon as I heard the basement door close, I started to run around. I ran so frantically I dropped some of my Skittles.

 After I had played a few games and eaten my Skittles. I started up the stairs, and when I opened it, light hit my face. My eyes were so adjusted to the darkness in the basement, that when I came up from the void, my eyes started to burn. I climbed the last step and looked around, rubbing my eyes. The first thing I noticed was a big kitchen, and next to it, a screen door. I walked up to the door, and heard more voices, but this time they weren’t as excited as the ones in the basement. I opened the door and stepped outside on to the porch. The wood was a light brown and there were many people. I looked out into the yard and saw a pool. I love to swim so I was very excited. I walked down the stairs, and looked beyond the pool. I saw a trampoline, but it looked different, I didn’t see the steel legs that usually held a trampoline up, all I saw was the bouncy part. I ran up to it and saw that it was on a big hole. “It’s in a hole?” I exclaimed excitedly. I jumped on it and lost my balance. I fell backwards and landed softly. The sun warmed me as I lay there. I got up and ran to a big lump, of dirt and grass, and stood on it and looked on to the house full of people. I rolled down the hill and ran back to the house. I put my feet into the pool water and watched people cook dinner for all my family. Looking back on this experience that no person is alike, you don’t need to be young to have fun, but you don’t have to be rich to be cool or remembered.

Troy Smith

  

          Every year my trustee would give a trip, money, etc. if I meet the requirements by summer. This year was probably like a celebrity’s vacation. I got to go to Florida, and I stayed with my mom’s sister for one week. I got to go to Orlando and visit three Disney World parks for the other week. On the first week I went to the beach, a water park named Rapids, and the Kennedy Space Station. Finally, on the last week I got to go to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, & Animal Kingdom.

            So one of the first things I did was go to a waterpark and I would say it was one of the best ones I’ve ever been to. It was pretty massive. For one thing, it probably had more than 20 big water slides, a lazy river, a wave pool, & much more. Also, even though the park was fun, I had to wait for a while just because a storm rolled in. But we got to continue on the rides because there was no lightning. Then, the bad thing about being the first to climb 30 or more feet of stairs is that feeling you’re about to throw up on the second most intense ride in the park! But I didn’t because water slides are not scary or tough. They’re easy. After the fun day at the waterpark we went back to the house for our next big day at probably the most famous space center ever, the Kennedy Space Station.

            That morning we woke up early so we could get there on time because my mom got me the upgraded pass. After all, I love learning about space and I do wish to be an astronaut myself. First we went to explore the visitor center, where they had rocket gardens, shuttles you can go in, and the world’s biggest space gift shop. Then, we went on a bus ride to the real space station and got to go inside and see the launch room and other things. Also, another thing was we got to see was the first ever launch pad. After that we got to go in a museum of spaceships where I think I saw the real Saturn V. It was taller than the Empire State Building. Finally! After that long day we were in for a long trip back to the house that took maybe an hour or more. I was tired. I even slept for most of the ride back and boy, when I got home I slept like a rock.

            After traveling for a day, it was finally time to go to the first Disney Park, Epcot. We woke up, got on a shuttle, & arrived where we got our fast passes and cards then we went exploring. My mom had to stop and figure out how to work the fast pass, which took a while because the internet was slower than snail who drank chamomile tea. Then when everything was completed we set out and rode lots of rides that especially appealed to my interest in space, such as the Space Shuttle Simulator, Soarin, & the Test Track where the tracks were humming. Then we went to the reflection lake with all the different country related buildings. But the bad thing was it started to rain so we rushed over to a Japanese restaurant and ate. Later, we had to keep going to the next building because of the storm. We wanted to go to this Chinese part, but then I saw a huge lightning bolt. So we went to the next building and then we had to leave because the shuttle was going to pick us up.

            The next day we went to Magic Kingdom, and my mom’s sister came with us. We rode a monorail and a boat to finally get there. After that we rode all the rides like the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, & the new Mine Train that had a 140 minute wait. Later I heard this one guy say, “I have a job here and I had to wait in line for it.” Also, we went on the small funny ones like Winney the Pooh, which broke down and we waited maybe 30 minutes just because the managers supposedly couldn’t find the keys. But hey, we got extra fast passes. We also saw shows and plays like a creepy one about country bears and one said, “There was blood on the ground and there was blood on the sand and there was a big puddle of blood on the ground.” Finally, it was time to go back to the hotel where we went to go rest up for the last trip.

            The last and final park was Animal Kingdom, which I’d say was the most intense park there. At first, I thought it would be about nature and not its fury. That was until I saw the Everest ride! It was huge and once I rode it I couldn’t even speak because of the speed. Also the rides weren’t the only scary thing. We saw this show there and once it ended and we exited there was a storm. Florida’s lightning is scary because I heard this one that sounded probably like a nuclear explosion. So, after the storm rolled out we were waiting for the next ride called The Rapids. We had to wait for technical problems and the storm. But hey, we got on later. Finally, our day was done and we went to pack up for the next trip.

            After all that fun and running it was sadly time to leave. But I wasn’t going home, I was going to Mississippi, my home state, for a whole month. Before that, we went to Dave & Busters to talk with my aunt for the last time. It was fantastic, with games endlessly everywhere and the food was like heaven. After we said goodbye to my aunt, we set out on the road to Alabama, & met my nana where she was. After we arrived, I said goodbye to my mom and my nana took me to Mississippi.

 In conclusion, I would say that my summer trip was probably the best one I have ever had. When I called my mom, she said, “Guess what? I lost around 20 pounds of weight after all that walking around!”

Nick Martins

                                                                        Harder Paths

I was around the age of eleven or twelve in this period of time. I lived in a two bedroom house with my mother, father, and my dog “Peanut”. We had gotten kicked out of our old apartment residence due to the rent amount gradually increasing past $1,000 each month. “Ha! You guys must be poor,” said my neighbor. People assumed we were just too poor to afford certain things, believe it or not. Life was so much better back then. A lot of people say that things were easier for them as a kid, but I personally think I have it different than most of the other kids at school. Back when I was younger, my parents made a great amount of money each month. Enough to pay for food, rent, bills, taxes, and still have plenty of money to spend on things I wanted, places I wanted to go, or things I wanted to do. Money wasn’t even considered a problem for us back then, until around 2009. My mother, Jane, doesn’t have legal papers, a green card, or a driver’s license, or able to even get one. My father was successfully able to obtain all his legal papers, certifications, and documents. He is able to legally work for a corporation, keep his driver’s license, and do anything else a natural-born American could do.  Our family originated from Brazil, which is where most of our ancestry was born. My mother and father both lived in Brazil before moving to America. They both moved here for the same reason; to start fresh. Things in Brazil were bad for the time being. My mother thought things could be way better in America, but it turns out she took the wrong path.

Imagine waking up one day, feeling a cool breeze and a refreshing scent of pine. You close your eyes to take in a breath thinking to yourself, “I have everything I could ever want.” Suddenly, you hear abrasive noises. You open your eyes and suddenly your whole setting has turned around completely. Stress overflows your body, everything you’ve seen vanishes away from you. Life turns upside down and you struggle on a budget for the rest of your life. This is basically what had happened to my family.

“I’m going to buy a moped,” my mother said. This is what started the downslide of our financial life. She decided to get a moped since she could legally get a bike license but not a car license, but a few weeks after she got it she broke her Tibia. The moped landed on her leg and caused irreversible damage to it, and she had to stay 3-4 months in the hospital. And to top it off, she couldn’t work for a year straight. To this day she still limps slightly on that leg and will continue to do so for the rest of her life. The bills came in like a snowstorm during the winter. Rapidly piling onto the table, in through our mailboxes, and back where they were sent from. To this day, she still continues to pay for minor things involving her accident, plus three recent stays for a diagnosis of “Blood Pallet Release,” which basically means she would cough up blood cells from her organs. All of that piled up together, and combined with a son to take care of, our debt swooshed down the drain. We haven’t had much money since.

My mother’s personality and feelings changed after the incident. She began to grow stubborn, overprotective, and bipolar. All of her friends had helped chip money in to pay for all the hospital bills running us down our knots. She ended up talking trash behind every single one, and as each and every friend found out, each and every friend left. My mother to this day only has two American “best friends” to this day. A year after all of the commotion, my parents divorced. I stay with my mother, and visit my father every other weekend. That’s how it’s been since that day and it still continues to flow that way. I was shocked when this was happening at first. I didn’t know how to react to it. It all just happened way too fast for me. I now tend to have a better relationship with my father than my mother. My mother has an irreversible personality that I can’t stand anymore. She acts bipolar a lot as well. She acts like the sweetest angel on earth when she’s around her friends or my friends, but when it’s just her and me in the house, I’m like her punching bag. She will find any reason to scream at me and stay angry at everything I do or say. She also stays on top of me whenever I do something. “Privacy is a right, not a privilege,” I think to myself quite a lot. She is always asking me questions about something I’m doing, always barging in on me when I keep my door closed (my door stays closed all the time), and never bothers to let me keep my own stuff protected. Say I’m playing a video game and there is a female character in a cut scene. She walks in to see the female character on my TV. She instantly starts asking things such as, “What are you watching?” “Are you watching something pornographic?” “Give me that controller!” “I’m grounding you for this.” She instantly takes her own path in her mind, assuming things that aren’t true or even in play, and she really goes deep down into her mind when that happens. The thing with her is that she thinks everything she does, says or feels is right, almost as if she were a Goddess. If you’re willing to help her once, you’re going to have to help her again and again and again because she’s going to stay dependent on you for things she can’t or won’t do. If you do decide to help her, you’d have to stop anything you’re doing whether it’s from being at the hospital as your wife is giving birth, or if your child has died in a car crash, you have to leave it all just to attend to her. She basically uses people to stay alive.  My father agrees that her personality is too much for people to handle, and I think that she’ll die unhappy, which is pretty sad. You can’t satisfy her at all no matter what. You could buy her a Lamborghini, and then tell her you don’t want to teach her how to make a cake and she’d instantly forget everything you’ve ever done for her, as if you were a devil according to her. I’ve had to take small part time jobs just to help pay for her hospital bills, yet she doesn’t even consider me her son, hence a human being. My father, on the other hand, is the only person I can really look up to and thank. He raised me the proper way with proper learning. He actually understands what I like, what I do, and what I’m saying.  He supports me in every decision I make, no matter what it would be. I can talk to my dad about any problems I’m having in life, any heat I need to get off my mind, anything I need to get off my chest. Most of my hobbies, interests, and passions come from my father as well. We can both easily bond knowing that we love the same things and disagree on the same things. I love my mother, I thank her for partially raising me, but as harsh as it sounds, I still have a faint feeling of hate for her.

Growing up this way may seem like a horrible living experience, but I’ve actually gained a lot more knowledge, courage, respect, responsibility, and interests. Sometimes a harder experience has better outcomes. I’m considered more mature than a quarter of my freshman grade. I’ve learned so many things I probably wouldn’t have ever learned taking this route. I’m honestly glad life is like this for me. I’ve gained maturity, I’m able to do things on my own, and I’ve learned to adapt to my surroundings and environment. After going through most of the hard things in my life, I can take it a bit easier. After I leave school, I go home, and the first thing I do is my homework or study. I play video games or do whatever I like afterwards until I feel sleepy. Everything feels much easier for me than it was before If you ever have a choice to take an easier way, or a harder way in life, always go for it. Because remember, as hard as it is in the beginning, you will always get something others don’t at the end. Be strong!

Midajah Davis

Blessing Smith is my cousin. She is my grandma’s sister’s daughter. Blessing is 19 years old. I don’t get to see her often, but we text several times a week. By the way, she not allowed back in my house because my mom doesn’t trust her.  Blessing is tall and chunky. Her hair is str’curly. That means straight at the root and then big poofy curls. Blessing is light-skinned, and but she has a very big head like a Bratz doll. Her makeup is ratchet. She wears too much foundation, and too much blush, like a clown. Blessing is the type of girl who is twofaced. Blessing is respectful to older people but not to my mom. She lies to my mom for no reason. She can’t be trusted. , When my mom asked “Why do you have food in the room?” Blessing said,” I don’t.” My mom said,” then why do I see candy wrapper on your bed?

One day, my mom was at work and Blessing saw the matches on the couch and she picked them up. She was 8 and I was 4 years old. She lit the match and she stood on the porch. I walked in and I said” What are you doing” and she said “idk”, so when my mom came home I told her.  I was really scared because I thought she was going to kill her and me. So, Blessing was on the porch with the matches and she was thinking to burn down the porch.

 My mom got the matches and was going to show her how matches do. My mom lite the match and put it near her. My mom said, “Was this what you want to do to my daughter? And Blessing said “No.” Blessing reaction was terrifies and she crying really hard because she thought my mom was really going to kill her but my mom wasn’t. I could smell the fire when she lit it. I couldn’t hear it. The matches look brown and black.

Lyric Harris

Scare mare is one of the most terrifying things I ever did in my life. When you walk in you sand in line for like a thousand hours. When your waiting in line there is these bunnies and clowns that walk around touching you. The bunny that was that was following Mason, Mallory, Ryan and I had crystal eyes and the fur was coated with the reddest blood I have ever seen. The clown was white a snow and had the reddest hair. He was carrying a bloody chainsaw with blood all over his face.  After like a hour of torment we finally get in there. When we walk in you walk in to a checkered room and everyone in the room match the wall to the point. After you walk out of there you go to this tunnel and all you can here is the echoed sounds of people screaming and you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face and it smelled musty kind of like a really cheap men’s colane.     

Lizzie Hunt

   

               On October 6, 2015 a few minutes after school had ended my older brother, Ammon, came into my dad’s classroom with a smile spread across his face. For weeks we had been waiting for his mission call to see where he would be for the next two years of his life. Right as I saw him walk in I knew he had finally got the papers to see where he was going. He told my dad and I that the papers were here and we both hugged him and told him how excited we were. It felt so weird right then thinking that my brother was going to be gone for the next two years even though I’ve  known about him leaving my whole life.

                  Ammon and I walked down the main hallway and saw some of Ammon’s old friends and teachers so we stopped to talk to the about his mission call. They were all shocked about how he was waiting so long to open it knowing that it was sitting right in our living room. After everybody was done giving him hugs, telling him congratulations, and wishing him luck wherever he goes Ammon went to make some phone calls while I talked to my dad. We could not wait to find out where he was going, but we still had a while until he would open it up.

                  We had stayed after school to help our dad until it was time for the volleyball game at 5:30. We went in and some of my cousins were there to watch the game as well and once they saw Ammon they ran up to congratulate him and show there excitement. We had so much fun talking about it and about how excited everyone was. We were only able to stay to watch the first game because we had a youth activity. By the time we left it was about 6:45, but it felt like multiple hours had already gone by with having to wait so long to read the letter.

                  When we got to the activity we were really late but there weren’t as many people as usual so they hadn’t started yet. When we walked in they started explaining a game to the whole group which was a different version of the newlywed game. We were all having so much fun which made the time pass faster than at the volleyball game. We switched partners over and over so we could try to guess something about everyone. We were all laughing and having a wonderful time. We stopped the game around 8:20 which gave us time to talk to people and also enough time to get back to the volleyball game to get our cousin.

                  When we got there varsity’s game had ended so Ammon told everyone about his papers. They all freaked out and were super excited. We didn’t get to talk for long because we had to be back to the house to open his letter. We got home and my mom was so nervous about everything and really stressed out. One of my mom’s really good friends was also coming over with the whole family. She got there early and had brought a dry erase map to write everyone’s guesses of where he was going. Everyone was able to guess one in the country and one outside the country. We had been making phone calls all night of whose phone was being used to call who and where they were guessing.

                  Once all of our nearby relatives were at our house which is about 25 people we got everyone seats. Every electronic device that was in our house at that time was being used to call, FaceTime, or skype relatives all around the world. Being able to see most of our family was so much fun, but then we all had to settle down as Ammon got ready to open the letter.

                  He stood at the front on our living room with the letter in his hands. He opened the letter and read, “Dear Elder Hunt, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.” Everyone was so excited, and the room erupted. I could not believe Ammon was going to be spending the next two years of his life in Argentina. My mom and some other people were crying because they were so happy while I and almost everyone else had a huge smile on their faces and were filled with excitement and love for Ammon. That night we didn’t finish calling everyone until about 11:30 to 12:00. After everyone had left and was off the phones Ammon read the full packet with just our family. It was so amazing.

                  I still cannot believe my older brother will be in Argentina for the next two years. Everything has gone by so fast. I am so excited for him, and this has also made me more excited when I’m nineteen and get to experience this same type of excitement.

Leah Chapin

I am on the drill team at Hidden Valley. I was 14 and we had a pep rally on Friday for the Homecoming Game the same day. The band teacher wanted us to learn a new dance with their new music and I knew that was too little time to learn a new dance. 

            After school on Tuesday our coach said, “The band teacher wants us to learn a new dance for the pep rally on Friday.” Some people were sick and weren’t there to learn the dance and since our coach only comes Tuesday she had an idea of filming it on one of our phones so we would have it to go back and watch. On Wednesday, we had everyone at practice and taught it to the ones who hadn’t learned it yet and critique it. On Thursday, our captains gave us our spots for where we would be standing for the pep rally. We didn’t get to practice the dance much because we had to march down to the field for preparation for the parade the next day, which was fine with me because I love the smell of the air outside and the feeling of grass beneath my feet. The band played the new song and we danced along with it, it was actually pretty good at least that’s what I thought. On Friday, it was the longest day of my life to get to fourth block but it finally came around and I was a nervous wreck. Before we went out I could hear all the people talk. When we were getting ready to go out I was going over the dance in my head but when I got out there my nerves took over. I was thinking to myself, “I wish I had practiced a lot more.” I could see everyone’s eyes glued on me waiting for a mistake. We looked at each other to see what we were supposed to be doing but no one knew it and we were looking at each other like, “What are we supposed to be doing?” We ended up winging it and it didn’t look horrible because we were doing the same thing but I just wished that we would have had more time.

After the pep rally we only had about twenty minutes left of school, so the band just hanged out till we would go to section dinner, which is just your section going to bond and have a good time. The drill team went to one of the seniors houses.  When we got to her house it smelled like freshly made pizza I was so hungry I was ready for dinner. We had pizza, salad, fruit, and cookies. It was the perfect dinner it had the taste of the citrus in the fruit, the greasy, cheesy goodness and then the sweetness of the cookie it just went so perfectly together.

Now that I look back on that day, I just keep replaying it in my head over and over again and just laugh at myself for how humiliating it was. But I guess we all come to a point in our life where we humiliate ourselves.

Jeremiah Carter

When Jacob and I were little babies, fresh out of the hospital, our mom and dad had to stop for supplies for us. First, our mom took Jacob in one cart while our dad took me in another cart. Then Mom and Dad both went to different sections of the grocery store to look for the stuff that Jacob and I needed. As I lay there in the baby seat of the cart, the grocery store then started to transform into a gigantic maze with colorful cereal boxes and canned products for walls. Little baby me was clearly scared, I was sweating a flood.

Immediately, fear jumped into my body and made me its home. In a fearful response I yelled out to Jacob, “Ba,” to see if he was there next to me. I couldn’t hear anything so I called out to Jacob again, ”Ba!” but this time louder. This time I was relieved to hear Jacob yell back at me from across the store. The smell of butchered meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables was a smell that I was not well acquainted with. For the duration of being separated in the grocery store we would yell across the store in baby twin language. We became the intercom system.

While growing up my parents told us this story many times, and Jacob and I always thought it was funny and we would laugh. But this story emphasizes a special bond that Jacob and I have, that only twins have. People today still ask me what is it like to be a twin, and I just say “Nothing is special, it is just like having a brother (or sister) look just like you.” But, growing more mature I have realized that it’s a special relationship or brotherhood to share.

Jacob and I may look the same and have 99.98% the same D.N.A, but we are still two different people that love each other. Having this special relationship that no one else has and that is very thought provoking. The bond that Jacob and I share is like rubber cement. People don’t have this bond like Jacob and I have.

Jacob Carter

One day in Roanoke, Virginia on May 3, it was my birthday and I was turning 13.  I had all of my best friends over. My dad made really juicy hamburgers and my mouth watered at the sight of them. Soon after the excellent meal my friends and I decided to play some airsoft. It felt like 30 minutes, but before we knew it, three hour had passed.

             We had realized that it had gotten dark, so I begged my dad to set off fireworks to show my friends. The firework show was awe-inspiring.  With all the colorful flashes and the smell of gun powder in the air, it was shaping up to be the best birthday party ever. After the firework show my friends and I had decided to play another round of airsoft.

As we were about to start the game, a black female police officer walked around the corner. She was surprised to see that it was a bunch of kids who were causing the noise. The officer asked us “Do you kids know why I was called here today.” I responded with a “no,” to which she said, “It is stupid to see a bunch of stupid kids making all this racket.”

Then we all inferred that the female officer was here because of the firework show that my dad had set off just a few minutes ago. The officer then proceeded to give us a long talk of how she could be doing better things with her time. The officer even went as far as to ask us “Are these airsoft guns real.” To which we responded almost simultaneously, “No, ma’am.”

Soon after our butt-chewing (referring to the fact we got yelled at), she said “Have a good night, and don’t cause any more trouble.” My friends and I unanimously agreed not to do another round of airsoft that night. Then for the rest of the night, we stayed up relaxing and trying to forget the whole ordeal. The next day before anyone left with their parents, I told them not to tell anyone and to keep that night to ourselves.

 Now it has been three or four years since that day, and I have decided that it was time to start sharing this story with other people instead of keeping it within our little group. Now looking back it is kind of funny to think that I still remember everything in such great detail and my friends still remember the event pretty well to. Even if this wasn’t a humorous or exciting there is a lesion that needs to be taught with this story. In conclusion it is safe to say that before you do anything that will arose suspicion make sure that everyone knows what you are doing before you do it.   

Hunter Taylor

It was a dark and stormy night in Eauclair, Wisconsin as we drove to Altoona’s Family Restaurant. We thought it would be a pleasant evening dinner; we were so, so wrong.

We were sat, waiting for our menus to arrive, when we saw a grisly sight: a man, whose sole purpose in life was to pour coffee. As this man and his earthy aroma drew near, we could tell that he took his job very seriously.  “Hello, would you like some coffee?” he inquired in a thick Spanish accent. We consented, but we realized that it didn’t actually matter if we did or not seeing as how he had already poured us some steaming coffee.

After he walked off I bit the bullet (metaphorically speaking of course, what actually happened was far worse) and took a sip of this water filtered through ground beans that were likely Brazilian in origin. It had a bold, dark, and sweet flavor. Once we had all finished, a frightening event occurred: he came for refills.  “Would you like some more?” he asked.

As we hurriedly denied seconds, one of the worst possible things happened; he tilted his stained coffee pot over and refilled our cups. Sadly, social etiquette demanded that we at least drink some. After my mother took a few sips, she put her spoon over the top of the mug.

“Hey, my wife wants some more!” my father enthusiastically said to The Coffee Guy as he walked past.

The Coffee Guy then proceeded to ignore my mother’s denials and poured the coffee over the spoon and into her mug.

Eventually we did manage to finish our meal, but then the worst thing that could have happened, happened: he asked us if we wanted coffee to-go. Luckily enough, he did listen to us this time and we managed to leave without overflowing our bowels with more coffee.

Looking back at that horror inducing experience, I’ve decided that everything should be in moderation. Even the best coffee can become dreadful if there is too much of it.

Emma Coe

Medieval Times is a role-play and dinner entertainment center involving British Medieval knights, kings, queens, and jousting! The building was built as a castle to attract the public, it is literal medieval castle with the medieval Times logo on the side, involving the flags of each knight’s crest around it. It was an amazing place for people of all ages. Once inside, it was a mixture of modern and older medieval things so it is just a mixture of amusement in one. The inside is just amazing. There were 6 different Knights. I and my family were given one knight to cheer for and the rest to dislike. Once inside the actually building itself we had a mixture of things to do. There were photos with the princess or King, pictures of us in princess dresses, knight’s armor or royal clothes. We could buy flags, drinks, or nick-knacks, and could even explore the dungeon~. We waited in the main hall until the real show begins.

            My family walked into the main hall amazed at the things that where there, Knight’s armor, horses, and medieval people were all around us! The time finally came for us to enter the main dining hall where in the middle was a huge arena full of sand, rope, and iron weapons. We sat down as the king began to speak. “My fellow citizens! We are proud to present the knights tonight for your entertainment! Knight Arthur of the Yellow and Black cress! Knight Allistor of the White and Black cress! Knight Alfred of the Blue Knights!” and so on. One at a time the knights started their way out onto the sandy arena, until all 6 of them were standing in a line in front of the king. Then the lights all got dark. An evil horse man appeared! He wanted the princess and 1,000 gold pieces just to keep his army from raiding the castle. The king was ferocious, a random horseman entering his castle during a competition for the princess with-out being invited was a cruel thing to do, but instead of the money he let him enter the competition!  

            As the jousting began, the desire for my knight to win was gaining quickly inside of me as waiters and waitresses brought us warm food and drinks. But the actual excitement was when the knights were jousting. After they jousted and fell off their horses they would pull out their sword and start fighting. Sparks were flying off the swords, making all the people around me, blinded by excitement, loving what was happening in front of them. 

            Knight after knight, joust after joust, sword fight after sword fight, sparks flying everywhere. Then all of a sudden a thick fog covered the sandy floor of the arena, the king slowly stood to see what was going on and then all of sudden the lights shut off. I head a terrified scream coming from where the King and the princess sat watching the show. The lights came back on and the king stood there alone. The princess was gone! The evil horse man stood in the middle of the arena, holding the princess hostage in his on as he set upon his horse. “Pay 10,000 gold to get your daughter back, and send your best knight to bring it and then possible you will get your beloved daughter back,” he said slowly rode his horse out of the arena with the muffled, screaming princess on the back of his horse. The king grew furious! He ordered his guards to go capture the man and to get the gold ready just in case his plan could not work.

            The jousting fight was at its final match, two knights where sword fighting as the kings guards come galloping into the arena stopping the fight and looking towards the king, “Your majesty,” one of the guards said, “You daughter and the horseman have made it to the edge of the city edges, the guards have stopped them. Your daughter is coming back.” They crowd cheered in excitement as the king sat down in relief. Moments later the horseman was in chains, the princess sitting next to her father happily as the horse man was getting accused of his charges. He was accused of kidnapping and possession of stolen property and sentenced to life in jail until possible execution.

            I sat there the entire time on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next. Half of the time I had a screaming and crying toddler next to me wanting to get up and walk around, wanting to go sit closer and to go down into the arena to pet the horses and to pet the horses. No one behind us or in front of us could keep their mind on the entertainment because of my little brother. I was embarrassed the entire time, and so was my mother. My step-dad and dad finally just got up and took my brother out to the room to calm him down. My family and I had not finally realized that he had left my brother’s favorite blanket and stuffed dragon in the car so he would not stop crying until he had got them back by the end of the show.

            We were finally 3/4^th through the show before my mom stood up and quickly walked out of the room and out of the car to get his blanket and dragon. When she had gotten back he had finally stopped crying and a few minutes later he had fallen asleep in my dad’s lap. We all quietly and happily enjoyed the rest of the show. Both my mother and I knew what each other where thinking, never let a crabby toddler go without his blanket and toy dragon, or else you will be a few more minutes until you get kicked out of the show. We were happy than James had finally calmed down enough to let us see the rest of the show and have a calming ride back home.  

David Tompkins

  

                I was playing in my sandbox on a stone-cold Thursday evening when it came. The thing that scarred me for life. The thing that still haunts my dreams. But we’ll get to that later. I was an adorable little 3 year old living in a typical suburban home with my brother and my mother, getting all the attention from the people in the neighborhood because who doesn’t love an adorable little 3 year old. I had it all, an older brother to annoy the snot out of, a loving mother, and my shiny new playground that is the bearer of many great memories and unfortunately, one petrifying experience.

            One day in November, these people moved in to the house beside us, which was great for me because it’s more people to give me attention. But then I saw it. They were the owners of one of the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen, this was fine, until everyone in the neighborhood crowded around the adorable satanic creature and begged to hold him, including these two old ladies who would make the most delicious pies in the entire Roanoke Valley and bring them by our house every weekend. I thought this was very disloyal.

For the next few weeks I heard the same things over and over, “He’s so cute!”, “Can I hold him?”, “You’re so lucky!” which used to be said about me until this mutt came along.

I just couldn’t take it anymore, I had to put a stop to this. I had to make the dog miserable. Every time they let it out to pee and do its thing, I taunted that little creature like it was my job. I would call it to the four foot wooden picket fence, and when it got close enough, I would throw sand at it. I did everything I could to make that dog cry and bark so loud that the neighbors would have to get rid of it.

A year passed and my neighbors still hadn’t gotten rid of the dog. Now let me remind you, German Shepherds don’t grow very slowly and he ceases to be the cute adorable little puppy he’s always been. This dog was now at least 3 feet off the ground, had these massive deadly teeth, and eyes that could just burn a hole into your soul. But that didn’t stop me, oh no!

One day their dog, the destroyer of worlds, decided it had had enough. They let him out on his regularly scheduled time and being the lucky kid I am, I was outside playing in my sandbox. So I went over and did my thing, threw sand, dirt, and maybe even a plastic shovel.

This spawn of Satan just hopped right over the fence like it was nothing and stared me down until I had tears in my eyes. I have never moved so fast in my four years of living. I started sprinting like my life depended on it, which in my mind it did. I didn’t look back once so I don’t even know if it was chasing me. But we can all agree after a whole year of getting bullied, it was most likely chasing me. I ran inside, laid down, and started bawling. My mother came to the rescue and fed me a delicious bowl of Cheerios. After this terrifying occurrence, I learned that you can’t always be the center of attention.

Anthony Murdock

            It all started when we were driving back from a weekend out in Craig County where we have been staying. We were riding the same road at the same usual time that we do after each visit to Craig County. This time was different. This time it got complicated.

            It was about eight o’clock and it was dark, so naturally the car’s headlights were on. I was trying to sleep in the back because it had been a long day. But this black Toyota pickup truck behind us kept flashing his high beams at us, illuminating our interior until it was difficult to see out the windshield. Hoping he would turn off somewhere, we just slowed down so he would overtake us. He didn’t. So from all the commotion I woke up, looking out the back window trying to figure out what was going on. I saw the black truck and nothing else because the lights were so bright.

            As we went farther down the road my stepdad got more frustrated. All of a sudden the trucks speeds up. Thinking it was trying to go around us, we slowed down. The muddy black pickup truck slammed on the brakes. Its front bumper was a hairs width from hitting the back of our car. My stepdad, Mike got furious and sped back up. Then the truck sped up too. It was almost like they were trying to run us off the side of the mountain or make us crash. “What the hell is he doing?” Mike furiously exclaimed. We pulled up into the city limits and the truck pulled off into a Burger King, but we wanted the truck’s license plate numbers. So we followed it. We pulled in the Burger King right after the big truck. The man in the truck spotted us pulling in with an irritated face like we were the ones doing something wrong. This overweight bald man wearing a red cap jumped out of the truck and bolted towards our car with intentions of angrily confronting us. But before he reached us we got his numbers and sped out of there.

            So we headed home, but realized the truck is still behind us. He had been following us down the road. So we flagged down a police officer and explained to the cop that there was a man recklessly driving and following us. We gave the police women the license plate numbers, but here came the same man in the truck. He pulled up hoped out and told the police officer, “I was trying to apologize.” We knew perfectly well he had no intention of saying sorry.

            The police officer said we had every reason to bring him to court, but considering he had been following us and if we brought him to court he would know our address, we took the safe route and we dropped it. Until this day I still can’t figure out why he did this. Maybe he was trying to impress his wife or friends. Who knows? I’m just glad we haven’t seen him again.