Blame it on September
Later that night after the very violent soccer game, which we had won! I started to get a sharp pain in my leg. It was almost like someone was kicking me in the leg again and again. But I just thought that I probably pulled a muscle in the game, so I forgot about it and went to bed. But the next day I woke up and the pain was still there, in fact the pain was getting worse. Every week it seemed like the pain was getting stronger until I had got to the point were the pain was so excruciating that I couldn’t handle it any more.
So the next day I sat down with my parents and told them about my leg and how it was seriously sore. First they asked me how long I have had the pain for and I told them about two months. Then they asked me what leg and I said my left leg. So, of course my mom said that we should go to the hospital right away. We all got in the car and dove off. When we got to there a very nice nurse examined my leg and then told me that the doctor would be right in. When the doctor came in he said that I needed an x-ray and sent me straight to the room. When I was done he looked at my x-ray for a few minutes. But I could tell by the look on his face that something was wrong. So I asked him if everything was all right and he just answered me in a depressing voice saying that he wanted to speak to my parents, in private. I knew something was up so I rushed to the door and pressed my ear against it, but sadly I couldn’t hear them.
When my parents walked in the room they told me something that would change my life drastically. They told me that I have bone cancer in my left leg, and that the doctors need to amputate it. They said that the surgery would be tomorrow. At that very moment my whole life flashed before my eyes. I don’t believe it! I yelled. I can’t believe it! My whole life is ruined! I’ll never be able to play soccer again, let alone walk. I’ll never be able to accomplish my dream of becoming a professional soccer player now!
Later that night I called one of my best friends, Grace and I told her about my leg and how that pain I had was bone cancer. I also told her that I am going to have surgery the next day so they can amputate my left leg. She told me there was nothing to worry about and that she and Lucy will always be there for me. About an hour later my other friend, Lucy called and said that Grace had explained everything to her and she just wanted me to know that I am going to be ok and that they are going to come and visit me as mush as they could. She also said something that made me believe that I can still follow my dream. She said that as long as I believe in myself and never give up I can be or do anything I want. I can even become a professional soccer player.
I woke up that morning and was covered in wires and IV’s. The doctors came in and said that it was time for me to go to the OR. I was so petrified that I could feel my heart beating in my chest. I love you, those were the last words my parents said to me before I was wheeled in and put under anesthesia.
Then the next I knew I was back in my hospital room. When I looked around I saw my mom, dad and my two best friends Grace and Lucy. I didn’t even realize my leg was missing until I looked down at my feet and saw I only had one foot. Thankfully I wasn’t as sore as I used to be, thanks to the doctors. But before I knew it I was falling asleep a sleep again.
A few weeks later my leg was healed over and I was finally aloud to get my artificial leg. The doctor strapped on my new leg. I was ready to try and walk again. I was so excited!! I tried it on and started to walk around until I feel over. Then I tried it again, I stayed up for about five minutes and then I feel over again. The doctor told me that I had to go through rehabilitation for a few weeks, maybe even months.
So after I had started I was done before I knew it. It was hard and sometimes very painful but I stayed strong and never gave up. So now I can finally walk again, and the doctor said that I could even play soccer again if I was up for it. Then it could be just like it used to, me and my friends playing soccer again! And to make things even better I could go home that day! I couldn’t wait to see my friends!
When I got home I ran straight to my room and looked in my mirror but then I realized that my hair was almost all gone from all the chemotherapy the doctors gave me. But that didn’t matter all that mattered was that I was there without the pain and still able to walk. But I couldn’t believe that I was back in my house with my family and I had an artificial leg. Wow, this has been quite a year for me.
Well I got to play soccer again after all that time. I finally got to go back onto the field! I was so overwhelmed that I could barley breath. As soon as I got there I saw all my friends. But there was one person there that I didn’t recognize and they looked to old to be a player on our team. So I rushed over to see. Then I had finally found out who it was it was Alice Macdonald! The worlds best soccer player. I ran up to see her and she told me that my friends told her about me and that she was here to teach me some tricks! Later on when I had got home I ran to bed and said to myself, “I can be a professional soccer player all I have to do is believe in myself!”
***
The Mysterious Door
Jesse Annear
Crick, Crack, Crick, Crack.
Vladimir Fippula woke to the floorboards of his new neighbors deck creaking as they carried furniture into the house next door.
Vladimir was a 13- year- old boy, fairly tall and skinny for his age. His long blonde hair was slicked back and from his icy blue eyes. He lived in a small suburb in Stockholm, Sweden.
Vladimir went downstairs to get some breakfast. He was eating a bowl of cheerios when he heard a knock on the door. Vladimir had to get the door because his parents were away on a business trip (Vladimir never got much more information from them than that).
Vladimir opened the door to greet his new neighbor, a tall yet stocky man with short black hair and a cleanly shaved beard.
“Hey, kid. Are your parent’s home?”
“No, they’re on a business trip for the week.”
“Well my name is Jack and I was wondering if you could help me move some furniture into my house. What’s your name?”
“Sure, my name is Vladimir.”
Vladimir helped him move couches, tables and chairs into the large old house. He couldn’t help but notice a mysterious door in the middle of a hallway with a big old lock on it.
Vladimir always got himself in trouble by being to curious and yet again he had to ask right before he left “What’s the door for Jack?”
“That’s none of your business.” Jack replied in a rude tone.
“Sorry, sir” Vladimir replied.
Vladimir just couldn’t get the mysterious door out of his mind. He was looking out the window when Jack left his house, sliding a spare key under his welcome mat.
Without even thinking Vladimir ran to Jack’s house. He took the spare key and opened the front door. He jogged down the hallway where it was cold and he could see his breath. He jogged until he reached the mysterious door. He quickly realized that the lock used the same key ass the front door.
With no hesitation, he inserted the key and opened the door. Vladimir gasped trying to catch his breath while chills went up his spine. The room on the other side of the door was filled with pictures of Vladimir from cameras, newspapers and etcetera. There was just about every picture ever taken of Vladimir all over the walls around the square dimly lit room.
Vladimir felt a cold hand come down on his shoulder. He swung his head around to see Jack in the middle of a swing with a golden axe aimed straight at his head. Vladimir quickly ducked, ran out the door and into the hall.
The hall just seemed to keep on going and going but nothing changed. It was like he wasn’t even moving; he was running as hard as he possible could. And yet, he stayed in the same place.
Jack just watched Vladimir struggling as he slowly walked up with the heavy axe dragging behind him and a grim look on his face. Vladimir suddenly had an epiphany and realized there was an open window right beside him… He ran and miraculously jumped through it.
Vladimir never looked back, just ran as fast as he could down to the police station. When he got ther
e he explained everything to them.
The police went and checked out the house but they quickly realized there was no one there. There was also no furniture, no nothing in the house. The police did find out that the new neighbors weren’t moving in until later that week.
Who attacked Vladimir and why the mystery remains unsolved.
***
Realm
Justin Li
KABOOM!
Smoke filled the whole room but it quickly dispersed out the new hole the explosion made through the school building.
“Hey what did you do?” the girl yelled while balling her fist.
“What do you mean? You’re the one who did it,” I screamed back while fanning out the remaining smoke through the broken down wall.
You might be wondering what’s going on and who’s this girl who caused this explosion? But first I’d like to tell you who I am. My name is Wes and the girl is Jenna and we’ve been friends ever since elementary school. But since the start of middle school, she’s been nothing but cold towards me.
Now we’re in high school and we’ve grown up. My jet-black hair is slightly spiked, not like when I was younger and I was forced into a bowl cut by my grandmother, over my brown eyes.
As for Jenna she was the only one who actually changed. A lot of people think that she is the most beautiful girl in the entire school with her amazing blonde hair and her dazzling blue eyes you can never seem to look away from as if you were in a trance.
That’s only ‘cause they don’t know her as well as I do.
She’s the devil, forces me in to doing anything she wants and that explosion was just another one of those things. Jenna asked me to help her with school but the thing that makes everything even better for me is that we go to a school for magicians in training. Some people may think magic doesn’t exist, but there are many schools around the world that teaches magic. Only those who have magical talent can see: without it, your eyes can’t pass the school’s barriers and you can only see the trees around us and an empty lot.
“All right, let’s not use that spell. I found this old one behind the book shelf anyways.” Jenna brushed at her hair where it stuck up after the explosion as if nothing happened.
“Hey, are you sure we should use that thing? The scroll’s got a magic seal on it? Besides you already messed up that last spell.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Shut up that was your fault! And don’t worry. You’re always a baby about these things. Look, the seal is worn down so I can break it with no problem.”
This was the worst thing she could have ever done. As she broke the seal the scroll instantly opened up and the words lit up like stars so bright it I could barely tell what the words said. Somehow Jenna was unaffected. Before she was able to recite the spell, everything went dark and a deep raspy voice spoke.
“You have unleashed a forbidden spell. You have no authorization and you will be punished!”
The voice bellowed at us as a dark hand reached out of the scroll. Without thinking I ran up and pushed Jenna out of the way and was grabbed by the hand instead. I was dragged through a dark void. As I swirled around, I eventually lost consciousness.
When I woke up I was in the middle of a dark forest, where the trees were all gray and dead with branches ready to fall with their withered leaves, hanging there, swaying back and forth. I looked around to get a better understanding of where I was.
When I looked up at the sky, it seemed different. This one was red and had an overwhelming feeling to it, as if it was sizing me down. I finally realized I was not in my world anymore. As if on cue, to prove my thought, snickering surrounded me as goblins with green leathery skin and wearing nothing but cloth, walked out of the shadows with clubs at the ready.
“We found Alpha worlder! We found Alpha worlder!” A goblin yipped as he jumped and clapped his hands.
“Hey, hey, we can get out of this place if we eat him, right?” Another goblin spoke up, jumping from one leg to the other just as excited as his friend.
“I heard that too. Plus he smells good. Let’s do it!” The biggest goblin charged.
I didn’t go to magic school for nothing; I instantly blew him away with my wind magic and sent him flying into four other goblins. They stared at the toppled pile and turned towards me again, this time ready to attack. They all charged me at once, but Jenna didn’t get me to help her with magic just to blow me up. I was the top mage in school and I wasn’t going to let some small fry goblins kill me.
I erupted fire out of the ground and turned half the goblins into ashes. Taking out the rest was even easier. Earth magic was my specialty, so opening the ground and pulling in the rest wasn’t even a challenge.
Now I was the only one left standing, or at least that’s what I thought. It seemed like this new world didn’t want to leave me bored.
All the noise I’d made attracted something even bigger. A fiery, red-scaled dragon roared in the sky above as it dived down towards me, but this wasn’t going to stop me. A little ice magic and I could beat this thing easy. But of course that was only a thought. The void that threw me here must have drained a lot of my magic and now I was just a sitting duck.
When the dragon was only inches from hitting me, a giant spear of ice skewered through the beast, turning him into a giant icicle. I leapt out of the way, dodging the falling dragoncicle that exploded as it hit the ground.
“Don’t move!” Shouted a voice from behind. “What’s another Alpha worlder doing here?”
I turned around to see a girl with magic ready to kill me. She had gorgeous straight brown hair, stunning green eyes and she also looked to be the same age as me, I was still awed at what just happened and found myself speechless.
“Do you not understand?” She raised her magic. “What are you doing here? This time she sounded even more irritated.
I quickly told her what happened and she seemed to actually listen. Unlike Jenna who would just look the other way and rolled her eyes. But it might have been because she was deciding whether or not to scorch me.
“All right I’ll accept your answer,” she said, finally dispelling her magic.
“So what did you mean when you said I was an Alpha worlder?” I was relieved to be still alive to ask. “The goblins were saying the same thing.”
“An Alpha worlder is someone who comes from the human world. And seeing as you can use magic, it seems the magic you tried to use was a high class forbidden spell. Now you’re being punished for trying to use it and that just means we’re in the same boat.” She must have used a forbidden spell too, though I wasn’t sure if she just stumbled onto it like we did or if she was trying to do something. But whatever it was it didn’t really matter. Now I was safe.
“Thanks for helping me. I’m Wes.” I stretched my hand out.
“Glad to help. My name’s Mai.” She shook my hand.
After our little intro, we started encountering monsters like crazy.
“Man, why are there so many guys coming out?” I huffed.
“It’s ‘cause now that we’re together our scent is stronger so more monsters are showing up. They seem to be getting stronger too.” Mai explained as she took a breather.
“Dang, this is gonna be tou—” Before I could finish, a troll burst through the trees and roared.
“Hah! I finally found you and you’re going to be my ticket out!” The troll ripped a tree out of the ground to use as a club. As the troll charged, two more rushed out of the forest, but Mai was already set for a fight and slicked the ground with ice, tripping up the trolls and sent them sliding. I used a tidal wave and smashed the trolls with water. As it hit, Mai assisted perfectly by encasing the trolls now with ice. We were the perfect team.
“Looks like we won.” I said with growing confidence.
“Ha, won? You’re not even close!” The troll sneered. “You can never leave and even if you kill one of us there are many more behind them! We already have an army coming this way! You can’t kee
p us from your world and eventually it will be-” Before the troll could finish, Mai crushed him.
“C’mon let’s keep going.” Mai said “I’m not letting any monsters into our world.”
We kept running into more and more monsters but we had to keep going. We were losing mana and we couldn’t keep up fighting forever.
“We need to rest somewhere, I’m getting too drained.” I said.
“There’s a little entry way into a cave over there.” Mai pointed it out “But the monsters will easily find us if we’re not moving.”
“Don’t worry, I got this one, follow me.” I made my way to the cave.
“What are you going to do?” Mai asked.
“We should be fine if I hide our presence.” I said.
“But if you do that, you’ll have to stay up to maintain it.”
“It’ll be fine. Just rest and we’ll be out of here soon.”
“Bu-“
“No buts!” I said pointing my finger at her “One of us needs to be fully rested. If anything goes wrong, it’ll be better if you have all your mana. Okay?”
“All right, fine.” Mai sighed, finally giving in. As she went to sleep, her head slowly tilted and rested on my shoulder, her beautiful brown hair falling over her delicate face. I couldn’t help but smile. Even with everything around us. I still felt happy. But I began to wonder if both of us will get out of here, and if we would get out together.
***
After Mai woke up, we began moving again and not long after we hit a wide open field. Right in the middle was a large magic circle that looked incomplete. Something was strange. It felt like it was pulling me in and I didn’t want to ignore it. I moved towards it.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait. This doesn’t look right.” Mai tried to argue. When we came closer to the circle, Mai’s eyes widened.
“Hey what’s up?” I asked seeing that Mai was shaking her head.
“I recognize those patterns. That’s the spell I was sent here for. Why is it here?” She looked concerned and shocked. Then a horde of monsters charged out of the surrounding forest.
“So this is the army they were talking about.” I said, nerves finally showing up. A large figure walked past the cluster of monsters. He looked like a ghoul or a demon with a dark mist surrounding him and a very large sword to his side.