Elijah Lee

"innocent cute DEMON FULL, BONE CRUNCHING, BRAIN RACKING, BLOOD SUCKING, SOUL DESTROYING, NOT CUTE AND INNOCENT YOUNG DEVIL brother" - *An excerpt from "The Day" by Ansh Patel- Read it Here*

'“Whumph whumph.” He whumphed. “ummm...” Do I know you.” I asked. “Wumph wa wa wumph!” it whumphed urgently pointing back the way we came. I looked and saw a bunch of dust being torn up from the ground as if there was a stampede of buffalos coming. “What is that.” I stammered “Wumphywumph.”' - *An excerpt from "Epic Story" by Epic Story- Read it Here*

"Tom lived in a world that all of his friends called the "Pet Vortex". It lived in his locker. Let me rephrase that, it *was* his locker. People dared not to venture in the area near it for fear that even if the locker would be supposedly closed. They were so scared that they would get a concussion from all of the assorted goodies avalanching out of the locker. The only reason that the stuff didn't come avalanching out of the locker and didn't end up spread across the hall was because there was so much crumbled up paper, all of the stuff, big and small got stuck up in it. Soon enough really weird (and generally old people) came flying out of the locker. - *An excerpt from "The Pet Vortex"* *by Chirag Choudhary - Read it Here*

*"Music is created on a blank sheet of silence, desolate, clear, and empty.*
*Art is created on clear white paper, unscarred and new.*
*Hope is far more complex,*
*Hope is created through a great expanse of darkness,*
*Hope is made of fear, oppression, and the absence of Light.*
*The atrocities of the world combine to let its inhabitants Hope,*
*To Hope is to see Life and Love in a sea of Fear.*
*Hope is natural optimism, unrefusable and constant,*
*It has conquered the hearts of the oppressed and lets us wander into the world's darkness,*
*With its Light as our guide.*
*Hope is the candle on a window sill, warm and welcoming,*
*An asylum for the victims of all Humanity's mistakes.*
*Yet how do all the horrible things of the earth simply result in Hope?*
*No one knows,*
*Yet can a reason be found to Hope in happiness?" - "What is Hope" by Michael Scali - Read him here*

"If you can't see it yet, try imagining the population all of New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, California, and Michigan all together going into a store with the products of Sears, Costco, Home Depot, Best Buy, hhgregg, and every car dealership, having a Black Friday sale where everything, ***everything*** is 99.99% off. Yep... that's about it. That being said, there was a lot of confusion. According to my letter, I was supposed to report to Mrs. Maryanne's room, room 2,806,531. The room was really, just a normal class room, aside from the 50 desks, massive chemistry set, chalkboard the size of a house with "

" scribbled on it." - *An excerpt from "Steampunk'd" by Michael Gurnee - Read it Here*

*"'*Mike, do you know what is past this door?' Belle questioned.
'Ummmmm, a room?'
I was intuitive that way.
Belle chuckled and said, "No silly, it is the door to your freedom. Walk through it and see what I mean."
I was a little confused, but I touched the cold metal bar, pushed forward, and stepped into the real world.
But, this was not the real world, it was a cold expanse of dead trees. The colors that were most common were black, brown, grey, and white. I decided that it would be perfect for a post card. I turned towards Fyr and Belle, except they weren't there. Instead, I saw them on the ground, not moving. I glanced up and my heart almost leaped out of my mouth." - *An excerpt from "The Sound" by Brandon Tsai - Read it Here*

"It was one of the darkest of nights ever on Middle Earth. A tall cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows, "It's been 50 years since I have last stepped foot on this retched land," He said, as his ruby red eyes scanned the terrain.
He noticed a slight movement in the trees to his right, the cloaked figure struck out his hand. And by some mysterious force the cause of the movement, an elf, levitated out of the trees harshly.
The elf gave a strangled gasp in shock and said in the elvish, "It can't be! You have been destroyed. Never to return!"
The cloaked figure smiled cruelly and responded, " I have returned to begin a new age, an age of darkness. " With a twitch of his hand, the elf's neck snapped. As he laughed, a great wind swept across the land and blew off the hood of his cloak, to reveal the terrible face of Sauron." - *Prologue of "The Continuing of The Lord of the Rings" by Adam Luo - Read it Here*

"Calvin Degretorio woke up an opened his eyes and heard a slithering sound. He screamed and flew over to his parents. "What happened?!", said his mom. Calvin ran upstairs and his parents followed. Than all 3 of them froze as a slithering and sliding sound was heard moving through the house again. "What is that?", asked his mom. The slithering sound was getting louder. They barred the door with any thing that they could find, like desks and books. Then the source of the slithering was revealed as a gruesome head popped through a jagged patch in the door. The skull was visible in places and it was leaking something that looked horribly like blood. Calvin let out a blood-curdling scream, and his scream got louder as the skull began to talk." - *An excerpt from "The Unrelenting" by Mo Ware - Read it Here*

"Day One :

I've got to tell you something, something so crazy it will change your world. **BUSHY!!!!!!!!** Bushy is the best thing that ever existed!!!!!! Bushy, Bushy, Bushy, Bushy, it's all that I can think about. I don't know how it happened, but it started out as a fun little joke, until it took over!!!! BUSHY!!! Sorry, it's hard to control, but bushy became more and more popular, and it grew and grew until, well it became a...BUSHY BUSHY BUSHY BUSHY BUSHY!!!!" - *An excerpt from "Bushy" by Bobert Wang - Read it Here*

"John Reynolds, American lieutenant was marching with his squad up Eisenhower's Rock, a mountain in Colorado, when he heard it. Gunfire in the distance in the direction of Buckley Air Force Base. Gunfire was not unusual at a military base, but given the fact the gas tanks were igniting and exploding was. Suddenly, a blinding light flashed in the direction of Denver. He knew what was happening." - *An excerpt from "The Red Star" by Brian Kirk - Read itHere*

**The Man**

**Chapter 1**

I was walking along a path. It was a bright and sunny day, and the sky was clear. It was the kind of summer day when you didn't want to do anything, and that was how I felt. But, then again, I always felt that way. Suddenly, a portly man in a dripping swimsuit over a lab coat appeared. I didn't see him coming, but there he was. "How would you liketh to tethst a new inthension?" he asked, spittle flying all over the place. I was too stunned to respond. "Okay, then", he said and disappeared. "But I didn't say anything!" I shouted into the air, my voice finally coming back. When there was no response, I started to walk again in the hopes that I had imagined it. But I knew somewhere in my brain, that it wasn't the case. Disregarding the man's eccentric appearance, I knew that he meant business.
**Chapter 2**

"Really, Mom?" I lay down in my bed and stared at the ceiling. "Yes, really," she replied. "Get down here now!" After I climbed down the stairs, SLOWLY, I went to the mudroom and started doing the laundry. As I laboriously sorted whites from colors, laundered dirty clothes, and folded cleans clothes, I wondered about the Man that I had seen those long weeks ago. It had been 3 and a half weeks since I saw the Man, and even though I had convinced myself that if he was going to do something to me he would have done it sooner, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I had not seen the last of him. As I walked out of the house, having finished the job, I walked toward the Main street. Maybe the Chinese guy's shop would be open. Then I saw it. Just a fleeting glance, a blink of time. I rubbed my eyes, blinked and looked again. He wasn't there. Was it just my imagination, or did the Man just peek behind that bush? For so long, I had forestalled the facts, but here He was again. It was 2 weeks until the next time I saw him, this time sticking his head out of my pet bushy. I jumped out of my chair when I saw him, and he disappeared again. But that was the last time I saw him.
**Chapter 3**

Chores. Water pet bushy, do laundry, clean, etc. As I water my pet bushy, I hear the Man's voice. "OK, here we go!" it said. "Wait," I yelled. I felt a pull on my neck. As I was lifted up into the air, Still holding bushy and the watering can, I heard the voice once more. "Now, which button was it? The green or the red? Oops" I dropped to the floor with a thud. "I'm shtill trying to learn how to work this," the voice said. "Uh, oh." I heard a loud BANG and a mess of wires and metal appeared. Then it disappeared with another loud CRACK. "Pretend like you didn't see that." I was speechless. Then everything went dark, and I remembered nothing else.
"Ahhhhhh!" I woke with a start. I wasn't in my room anymore, it looked more like a hospital without the doors or people. I realized I was still holding bushy. I shoved him away. "Don't worry, you are safe, and Fido will take care of your bushy." A trapdoor opened in the ceiling, and a tiny dog fell to the floor. He scampered to bushy, and uhhh.... *marked his territory*. Then he fell asleep. "Yeah, Bushy will really be safe." I thought. But that's not what I said. "Where am I?" I asked. "You are about to start your adventure." the voice said. "Okay, let's see. Press the blue wire to the green wire, then hold shift and press the purple one. OK, let's start!" There was a loud ZAP! and everything went dark once more.
**Chapter 4 (2nd MP)**

"Mmuph, bushy, green, hey!" I woke suddenly as if someone had pinched me. As soon as I woke, I started to float! I gasped in confusion, then realized that I couldn't breathe! I was stuck in a tank! I surfaced and took long deep breaths. I looked around, but it was dark, and I couldn't see much. I clambered out, dripping, and felt soft moss under me. I walked around, trying to find my way. The walls felt like rock, and they scratched my hands as I rubbed them. Suddenly a bright light filled the cavern. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized that the light was coming from the ball of wires and metal I had seen earlier! The tank I had been stuck in was actually a large pool. Then, I heard a man's voice. "Hey, what are you doing in there?" I started, and the ball dissipated, taking the light with it. A short man holding a lantern stumped into the cavern. Then he saw me. "Ahh, I'm sorry. I thought you were my son. Are you visiting?" he asked. "Uhh, yeah, I guess," I mumbled. "You got lost? Well, we can fix that. My name's Argor. Come follow me. You better put this coat on, because it's about to get really cold." I put on the proffered coat and followed Argor out of the cavern into the tunnel.
**Chapter 5**

As soon as I walked out of the tunnel, I felt a sheet of cold blast my body. The sun was high in the sky, and I felt refreshed. The air was crisp, like a fall day. I inhaled deeply. "If only...", I thought when my thoughts were interrupted by Argor. "I just love that feeling," Argor said, breathing deeply. "Right when you walk out of those muggy caves into the fresh air. Come, follow me." We set out toward a distant spot on the horizon. I felt wonderful.
"Ahhh. Here we are. Home sweet home. Or cabin, if you prefer." Argor's house looked like a log cabin, but much larger. He opened the door and walked in. I followed. We both took off our coats. Argor shut the door behind us and walked farther. "Agran? Are you here?" No response. "He's probably out fishing." "Fishing?" I asked. "Out there?" "The ice protects the water below. It traps the Earth's heat." So I was still on Earth. What a relief. Argor's house was roomy. It was warm, but not stuffy. I still felt the crispness of the air and the refreshing feeling. He led me into a spacious room and sat me down on a couch. "Would you like something to eat?" he asked. "No, I can wait till the fish," I answered. "What's your name?" Argor asked me. "John", I said. "Great", said Argor. "Now, I need to go help Agran bring in the catch. You can explore if you like, but don't get to close to Sharky!" So saying, he left the house, leaving me to wonder who Sharky was. I was suddenly startled out of my contemplation my a sharp boom behind me that rattled the walls. "Hello again! I'm sorry if I startled you," the Man's voice said pleasantly. "Youwhyyoubringmehere?Whereami?!" I yelled, unable to put comprehensive words together in my confusion. "Hold on, hold on!" he said. "Just wait." A blank sensation came over me. It began to get darker and darker. Then, I couldn't move. "Uh-oh," I thought before my thoughts stopped completely.
**Chapter 6**

I don't remember what happened after that heart-stopping moment. I just remember that feeling of slowness, like swimming in molasses. And the Man's voice; calm and fluid. He told me something about a time machine, and how he could control the time stream around his metal ball... and how he could speed and slow it down. Time machine. Time. Time was important...but how? Disaster... So, that's what happened... ... ...
**Chapter 7 (3mp)**

My world reconnected itself with a flash. Everything was back to normal, and no time seemed to have passed. Time... I felt woozy after the incident. Did it actually happen or... Then Argor opened the door, with a smaller version of himself standing beside him. He was holding a long rod speared through about 15 or 16 fish. "John, meet Agran, my son. Agran, this is John."Hi", I said. Agran grunted in reply. "Agran, go feed Sharky then fry some fish for dinner, will you? I must get through some work." Agran lumbered off. Argor then turned to me and said "Will you help Agran? He'll tell you what to do." "Okay," I said and followed Agran into the depths of the cottage.
**Chapter 8**

"Ok, we should feed Sharky first. He's usually hungry at this time of day." "Wait," I said, "Sharky isn't... a real..." "A real shark?" Agran said, chuckling. "No, no, you'll be quite surprised." We walked on through a door and into a small room. Inset into the floor was a large pool. A large pike suddenly appeared at the surface. "Hello, Sharky!" Agran said, tossing one of the fish into the pool. The fish took it and swam away. I realized that the pool connected to the rest the lake under the ice. "See? We call him Sharky because he'll only eat fish. One day, he just showed up and from then on, we just fed him. Come," Agran said, motioning. I followed him through a narrow doorway into a side chamber, through a tunnel and back into the hall. He led me into what looked like a kitchen. He lit a fire in the grate and began to fry the fish. I watched as beautiful aromas filled the room. I realized just how hungry I was.
**Chapter 9**
As we all sat down to eat, I couldn't help notice that Agran and Argor had given me more fish than them. "Wait," I said. "You don't have to give me extra fish, you can eat it!" "No," Argor returned. "We don't need as much food as you. Just eat up. I know you're hungry." I mumbled in thanks. I bit into the fish, and it was amazing. I had never tasted anything better in my life. But then, I nearly choked on what felt like a needle. I spit it out as fast as I could. Agran chuckled. "You must take the spine and bone out, like so." He took a knife and deftly sliced the fish in two than delicately removed the spine. I mimicked him. I bit again and nearly choked again./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\The fire roared merrily in the hearth. We were all sitting on the couch, and talking. I yawned suddenly. "It's late," Argor said, glancing out a window near the ceiling. "Agran, put yourself to bed. John, follow me. He led me up a concealed flight of stairs into a spacious room. "You can stay here." "Thanks," I said, taking in the room. It had some plants in the corner, with a large window overlooking the frozen lake. The bed was comfortable, and the room seemed friendly. Agran left the room and closed the door. I pulled wooden slats over the window and lay down, thinking about everything that had happened to me. After what seemed like hours, I finally fell asleep.
**Chapter 10**

I woke to the soft chiming of wood chimes. After I got out of bed, the chiming continued. I opened my windows after pulling up the shade and saw some wind chimes being pecked at by a small bird; he was no bigger than my fist. After I appeared, he immediately stopped and looked at me with intelligent eyes. "Hello," I said. He responded with a churp, then flew away. I changed, then went down the stairs into the main house. "Hello", Agran greeted me at the table. He and Argor were already eating a hearty breakfast of fresh grains and fruits, and something that looked like yogurt. I sat down then told him about the bird. "Yes," he said. "The bird will come every morning, and ring the chimes. When you open the windows, he'll stop. Usually, he'll become quite attached to the person he's waking. If you like, you can bring him into your room and feed him some of the birdseed near the window sill. He's very friendly." I liked that. I enjoyed being around animals. After we finished, Argor went to the back to manage the garden, while Agran and I went out into the open to fish.
**Chapter 11 (4mp)**

"Ok", I said, holding up a large hammer. "What do I do now?" "Try to punch a circular hole in the ice." I raised the hammer above my head, and slammed it down on the ice. A network of cracks zigzagged across the ice. After two more fruitless attempts, I looked over at Agran, expecting him to be laughing. However, he was already placing lines in the five perfectly circular holes he had made. My jaw dropped incredulously. Agran looked up at the involuntary sound of surprise I had made. All I had done was to grind up the ice at my feet. "Here," Agran chucked. "Try it like this." He showed me how to hit the ice straight on instead of glancing off the ice. I tried it, and the ice immediately shattered. I set up a rod, and I instantly got a bite.\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/"Hello," I said, as we entered the house. "Hello?" Nobody answered. "Argor is probably still in the garden. He can spend hours at a time in there." We walked to the very back of the house and ascended a ladder to the roof. We saw Argor right away. He was enveloped in a cloud of dust. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "Just working on the lettuce!" I walked over to him while Agran strolled over to a patch of pepper. He deftly picked one and munched it contentedly. I helped Argor finish the weeding. His lettuce looked like it was coated in dust. I made a mental note to never eat the lettuce. "Ahhh..." he said. "Let us all go have lunch, shall we?" We began descending the ladder, and then all heck broke loose.
**INTERLUDE!!!!!!**I AM POEM.SKIP IF YOU WANT to CONtiNUE READINg!

I am from nature, it's raging rivers, it's looming trees
It's monumental beauty.
I am from clear ice, immovable mountains, melodious birdsong
echoing across time.

I am from music, soaring melodies
notes, fingers, instrument, sound
song soaring through space
sound hanging in the air
fadingto silence.
I am from friendsfamilypeople supporting mehelping meencouraging megiving me strength to accomplish my goals.
I am from scienceobservation, hypotheses, conclusionsdeduction results from seemingly unrelated dataexperiment and theoryfusing together to becomeone.
I am from codingan exact sciencerandom lines of an unknown languagesystem.out.println();calling functions, raising errors, catching illegal arguments.Pressing runand feeling exhilarated.

**Chapter 12**

The ground rumbled again. I saw as if in slow motion, Argor falling off the building. Everything was so red. The building was on fire. Suddenly, everything stopped. I could move, but everything else was frozen, like a picture. With a jolt, I remembered the ball incident. I whirled around, and there was the ball. I made a grab for it and caught it. Strangely, I felt no surprise for what had just occurred. I felt as if I had known all along why I had been sent to this time and place in the first place. I fiddled with the ball, and the world dissolved around me. Somehow, I just knew what to do. I was now above the ice, looking down on Argor and Agran's house. As time accelerated backward, I watched as their house disappeared. The ice melted into a lake, the lake dried up and trees sprang up. A forest was spawned, then shrank. A huge looming mountain, no a volcano towered out of the ground. And time stopped. This was my stop. A thought occurred to me. If this was time before my birth, how would I exist? I shruged and hoped the Man had thought of that. I now knew what had happened. My job here, no now was done. I returned forward. watching the mountain shrink, the forest grow and die, the lake, the ice. Then I saw Argor, trekking across the ice. I fell, back into the timestream.
**Chapter 13**

I followed Argor across the ice, and wondered where Agran was. It occurred to me that Agran might not exist yet. I followed Argor, and saw where he was headed. Not to where I knew now the underwater volcano lay smoldering, but into the caves where I had first arrived. Ah ha. He disappeared into the caves, and I waited outside, knowing what would happen. He quickly emerged, dripping. I smiled in spite of myself. He hustled across the ice, now to where the house was. Or should I say, will be but won't. As he marked the spot, I ran to him. "Who're you?" he said. "Nobody. Now listen." I told him about everything. He moved the spot of his house over, and I felt happy. I left the timestream, and returned to the house, long enough to see that their lives had been changed by my appearance. "Thank you." the Man's voice, strangely familiar. I realized with a jolt who the Man was. But i'll leave that to you.
**Epilogue**

I lay in bed, breathing hard. Was it real? Had I just saved some cavemen from an underwater volcano about to explode under an ice age frozen lake? It sounded too strange to be true. It was all a dream! I felt myself than turned on the light. Phew.{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}}{}{}Six hours later, I found myself walking along a path. It was a bright and sunny day, and the sky was clear. It was the kind of summer day when you didn't want to do anything, and that was how I felt. Wait.... Then I saw Argor. "How would you liketh to tethst a new inthension?" I fainted right on the spot.

**THE END**