Aurora Borealis

Author's Note: I've always wanted to see the Aurora Borealis, but I haven't been that far up north to see one. So I decided to write a poem, but in an interesting way. I mean, it isn't exactly in my point of view because I never had a dream with that in it, but it still could happen... Anyways, I do wish to see it one day. 

Up to the north we went

All warm in our car

We drove and drove

From far away

To the place where

Beauty lays

I look from the car

Into the sky

I see nothing but blackness

Plus a few stars slightly glowing in the distance

My Mother says, "Wait patiently

And it will come."

But as I wait

I grew very tired

As if a bus

Had run me into a wall

So I slept

Like a bunny

Suddenly I was shook

Just softly

Something barely brushing me

I look up

The car roof is gone

And beauty is showing

The lights dance around

All happy like on Christmas Day

The lines of hues of blues and greens

Flow in an ongoing system

That never stops

I didn't want to look away

Of course though I had to

For I had woke up

With a violent jolt

I was back to reality

The sun is creeping into my room

Like a cat to a mouse

Although I do wish

It was for real and not merely a dream

The Northern Lights

Are waiting

For me to come

I am here

A Bumpy Ride

Author’s Note: This is a short story that I wrote so that I can write a little bit of  a character development on it. I tried to make the characters change a lot, but not something that has already been written. It also was a challenge not to go overboard with the writing because I love to write <3 My character development for this piece is below:

In this story, although Ashley is the main character, Kevin was also the main focal point. He changes like a day from dark to light due to Ashley. Even though it really doesn’t seem like Kevin would change, he did. This story that I wrote reminds me greatly of my brother. He’s so much like Kevin that it was a little scary, but I did make sure that Kevin was even more “extreme” because of course my brother isn’t that crazy. Only a brief reflection of each other. Sometimes he runs throughout the house when he’s full of energy, but other times he’s sitting nicely in a chair without even moving at all. Connor is kind of up and down, just like Kevin. But in the end, they’re both wonderful, and my brother. (I only have one.) Back to the story, though Ashley affects Kevin just by being there. I can relate this to many things, but the most I can relate it to is my brother and me.





Early in the morning, before many people were awake, I slipped down the stairs of my house as silently as a black cat, hidden by a few remaining shadows that were left by the night. Looking at the window outside, I was quite surprised to see the scene. All of the color seemed to be sucked from the earth, the blue sky clashing against it. I could see gray clouds rolling in from the horizon that will soon blend with the rest of the world.

I tip-toed back up the stairs again, hanging up my fluffy robe. Today was a big day for me, and the weather sure wasn’t helping the nervousness. My very first babysitting job is going to be for a family on the street in the back of our house, Noodle Avenue. I’m not exactly sure if I really want to babysit kids, but I think it will be fun. Besides, I need the money to save up for college, not to mention things on the side such as clothes, and just things that I buy when I see them.

When I walking into the McDealie’s house, I didn’t exactly know what was coming for me. I hoped that I had brought enough to keep the kids occupied in my backpack.

Kevin opened the door once I finished walking up the brick path. “Mom, there’s someone here for you!” his yell would have been able to be heard from one hundred miles away. The screech hurt my ears, and I found it hard not to cover them. Then he charged up the stairs and pounded on a door until Mrs. McDealie came to the door. He was obnoxiously chewing a piece of gum.

“Oh, I must apologize for Kevin, he’s a bit rambunctious today. Please come in,” she motioned with her hand to enter. Tying my hair back, I looked around for Rosey, a perky four year old girl. Without any luck, I walked into the living room to find Mr. McDealie holding Opal, the three month old baby. She was so unbelievably cute, but... she was drooling. That’s absolutely disgusting. I could hear Kevin pounding on the floor upstairs. Sighing, I asked Mr. McDealie what time they were going to leave and come home at, plus things like when the kids go to bed, when they eat supper, what do do, etc.

“Here’s a list,” he said, handing me a piece of paper, “Make sure to follow everything on it.” Then he gave me a look that said something like, “You mess with my kids, I’ll mess you up.” It was really pretty scary. I was happy when the McDealies left in their small car to the SteakHouse for their anniversary.

What scared me the most now was if something happened that I won’t be able to call them or maybe not even contact them at all. I mean, I wouldn’t want to disturb them. Hopefully that won’t happen...

“Tag, you’re it!” screamed Kevin at the top of his lungs, practically shoving me to the ground. I watched him as he bolted back up the stairs again. I sighed, seeing that he probably wasn’t going to calm down. Then I remembered something- maybe I could just let him sit in front of the TV.

“Kevin, do you want to watch TV?” I asked. flipping through the channels to see if there would be anything appropriate for him to watch. Racing up the stairs behind him, I found Rosey and took her back down the stairs to play Barbies with her and fed Opal while Kevin watched TV. Luckily I had found a fun, educational show that wasn’t violent at all. In fact, it was rated G.

Except Kevin kept fake burping and attacking Rosey. It was very difficult to break them apart when I also was holding Opal. Finally, I was so exhausted that I looked at the clock and noticed it was 5:30- time to start making supper so it would hopefully be ready by six. I plopped Opal in her lavender bouncy chair so I could prepare some kind of meal out of macaroni and cheese.

Good thing the kitchen counter where I was preparing the gloppy meal was looking over the living room because Kevin started to shoot the TV with his Nerf Gun. Even though he wasn’t shooting the actual TV, just the stand, and they were little foam bullets, I knew if Mr. McDealie found out, he’d throw some kind of mental fit. I took it away from him after the last warning. But as soon as I’d turned my back again, he was out with another one! We kept playing this “game” until I couldn’t take it any longer and there were ten Nerf Guns up on top of the fridge.

“How many do you have?” I asked him when I was ready to explode with frustration like soda after a Coke bottle that was shaken up with a Mentos.

“I’m not telling,” he said in a rather creepy voice which was at the same time very mischievous. Sort of like this face that I love to use when texting my friends >:D
Although I like to use it on my phone or over the computer, it’s much better to see it on the screen than in real life.

As you might have been thinking, supper was just a disaster waiting to happen. Kevin was blubbering with his mouth open and Opal was smearing cheese all over the wall. It was a hassle to clean it up with just a wet washcloth- it felt as impossible as climbing Mount Everest.

Before long, I had Kevin, Rosey, and Opal sleeping in their proper beds. I must have tuckered Kevin out because even though he complained, he was out like a light. Although, I wish I could’ve spent more time with Rosey- she was a really sweet girl, and I know she likes to be with me. Maybe she’ll rub off on Kevin. Now that I’m actually saying that, it sounds pretty strange, with Rosey being the younger child...

The next morning, after Mrs. McDealie payed me kindly for taking care of her crazy kids, she said to me, “Kevin says that he had a really good time last night.”

I was so shocked I thought I was going to fall over. “He really said that?” I managed to get out.

“Of course he did! Would I lie to you?” she questioned with a puzzled look on her face.

“No... it’s just that it doesn’t sound like him.”

“That’s exactly what I thought! Now, you should probably run along home now, Ashley.”

“Yeah, I think I should.” The grayness of yesterday was washed away by a sea of color. The sun rising above the houses was spewing streaks of orange across the sky. It almost blinded me, but I didn’t care one bit because what Mrs. McDealie said had put me in the best mood that I had been in a while.

Over the next few days, I had been gathering up a present for Kevin because I was so surprised he had actually changed just a little. I thought that maybe this gift would go a long way just as my mom always used to teach me. Finally, it was done, so I brought the huge surprise over to the McDealie’s house.

“May I speak with Kevin?” I asked as Mr. McDealie answered the door. He gave me a look like: What the fluff? But he called for Kevin to come.

“Hi, Ashley!” he looked pleased to see me. This was seriously a first.

“Hi. I brought you something.” I handed Kevin the hand-wrapped gift.

He laughed, opening up the Nerf Gun. I was happy with myself- I thought it was perfect. Except he said, “Thanks, but I have a lot of these.”

“That’s okay, because I also brought you something else,” I said, handing him a large bag which contained many things. “Except you can’t open it just yet. Wait until I go off to college, and you can think of me.

Kevin gave a pouty look, but muttered a thanks anyways. I guess he was still glad to receive yet another Nerf Gun. Although I’m not so sure about his parents. Grinning, I hopped across the beautifully carved stepping stones on the way back to my house.

Creative Ending

Author's Note: I thought this story would end this way because I think it would be only logical if the purple slime sucked out his soul- the thing that made everyone different from each other. 

Molly peered around the corner to see if what she feared what happened did. Realizing now that of course it would happen, she sadly started to walk home. She dreadfully wished Troy would be his old self. The rocks collided into each other as she kicked them with her feet, bringing up dust. Coughing, she tried to remember if her brother, Kyle, would be home yet.

Meanwhile, at the school, Mr. Mason felt something he hadn't felt in a long time- sorrow. But he couldn't undo what he had done, and he never could. Troy was now taken over by a creative-less alien- they all were. Although Mr. Mason didn't regret one bit about letting that happen to the other kids he had alien-ized, he wished there was something he could do. 

An Alternate Ending

Author's Note: During the writing lab, Mr. Graf asked us to write a prediction to what might have happened at the end of "Thank You, Ma'am" if the last sentence hadn't been "And he never saw her again". Look at my word choice for this piece. I've been working on it lately, because I'd like to get a 10 in that category.



He barely managed to say “Thank you” before she shut the door.

Roger was too astonished to do much right then. He tried to think what to do with the money. Although he had told the lady he wanted to buy a new pair of shoes, many different thoughts came into his mind. Of course, Roger was a changed young man, so he knew he had to use the money wisely.

Roger headed back down the street to a small market Mrs. Jones had dragged him past. Now, he hadn’t ever actually been inside any kind of market, but he knew what it was relatively like. Paint was peeling off the sign so no one could ever read the sign. He slowly walked through the fabric doors.

The air inside smelled delicious, nothing like Roger had ever smelled before. There were fresh bushels of various fruits laying about, bread baking in the ovens in the back, and different material goods being sold throughout the market. Fresh bread was being taken out of the oven, and Roger felt like a magnet had been attracting him to it, lead by his nose. He let his feet whisk him over to the other side of the market.

“What’ll you have?” asked a woman with a wide variety of different kinds of bread.

“Um... whichever kind,” Roger shrugged. The lady handed him a loaf of bread that looked so delicious it made his mouth water. No, he told himself, This will be brought back to Mama and Gabriel. The rest of the nine dollars and ninety nine cents clinked together like a new pair of high heels knocking on the wooden floor of a mansion during a dance.

What Roger had told himself came true, as he traveled back to the run-down shack that was a make-shift home for his family. The roof was almost completely ripped off, which made the cold pretty much unbearable in the winter. Even though the roof was gone, there were still plenty of patches of grass growing to make three small beds. It was definitely close to nothing, but it was home, of course.

“Oh, my, is that... fresh baked bread!” exclaimed Mama. “Where on Earth did you ever get a penny to pay for that? Were you lucky and found it on the ground?”

Not knowing whether to tell her his experience with Mrs. Jones or not, he said, “Actually, I came across a 10 dollar bill. That was only a thousandth of what I found today,” Roger exclaimed proudly.

Mama looked so happy he thought she was going to cry. “Wow. That’s just... wow. I’m so happy, this will do so much for us.” she leaned over and practically squeezed the breath out of Roger. He was very glad to see that it felt great to give, and that’s what he was going to do.

Roger, a Changed Person

Author's Note: During the writing lab today, Mr. Graf wanted us to write a few paragraphs related to the story "Thank you, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes. This demonstrates a character analysis/development from the writing rubric.


In the beginning of the story “Thank you, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes, Roger was a dirty, cold hearted thief. Rough was him homelife, where no one was there, and no one cared about him. We know he was a thief because he tried to steal Mrs. Jones's pocketbook. He had admitted that there wasn’t anyone at his house, giving off the feeling that he had a rough homelife.

What Mrs. Jones’s did to Roger made him rethink his life and society. She gave him love. Although it was tough love, he hadn’t ever felt anything like it before, so it didn’t matter. Roger was curious to why she had been treating him that way, so he hung around instead of running off. Another reason why he stayed was because he wanted to earn her trust. Eventually, he did earn her trust completely, and she gave him ten dollars to buy new shoes.

Now we know that it didn’t say so in the story, but Roger most likely became a whole different person. He could’ve found a job, been a successful man... there’s a lot of things that he may have done at the end of the story. This is what we’d think, however, because of what had been written in the story. Mrs. Jones changed Roger’s life.