Back Yard Noun Hunt

For reading and language arts, we went on a back yard noun hunt, played the POP for Sight Words Game and made up stories about the animals that live in our yard who love our vegetable garden, bird bath and fruit trees.

Earth Day Poem

Earth Day
By E. G. Lenac

Nature is in danger
With something no ranger
can stop
With a cop
The ice is melting
And the heat is sweltering
If the trees fail out
Aginst this Carbon bout
of Earth-Sickness
The quickness
of
the destruction
of Nature
will
increase
And our saftey will cease
And we will cough and wheeze
We must help
Nature fight the
coming storm,
which some have sworn
to fight,
like Nature's knights
And if those succeed
Nature will need
them to keep it up
for it will stop kids saying "S'up?"
"Why aren't you helping the earth?"

Mysterious Island, The Rise of Evil # 2, Chapter 1, English/Language Arts

Mysterious Island:
The Land of Mutants

Chapter 1: Jungle Terrain
“The ship has gotta be around here somewhere!” I cried in frustration. I had been trekking for hours through a dense jungle, looking for the ship that was to take me home. I was on vacation on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. There was a clearing ahead; I could see the sun breaking through the trees. A Giant Sequoia tree was rooted in the center of it. Wait a sec—a Giant Sequoia?! They belong in California; anyway, this was a rainforest!
It was soon apparent that the Sequoia was not the only misplaced thing. I soon came across a troop of lemurs, an Asian Elephant, and more Sequoias. It wasn’t until nightfall that I found the ship, and even then there was bad news.
“I’m sorry, but the ship has broken down; there is a hole in the side, the engine is broken, and the Luxury Liner GPS is dead,” said the captain gravely. “I trekked for two hours, fell into the ocean, and tripped on the ramp all for this?!” I said angrily. “Oh no, it wasn’t rhetorical,” I said sarcastically as he opened his mouth. Now it was his turn to lose his temper, “I—fine, just explore the island as we fix this.”
I went out of the captain’s cabin, down the steps, and admired the jellyfish pool, that is, until I fell into it. “Ow—oooh, ah—OUCH!” I tried to say as the jellyfish stung me, but only a large bubble emitted from my mouth. I finally climbed out of the pool as a particularly venomous-looking jelly floated towards me.
I soon discovered some things that looked like a tank full of bubbles. Then I realized that they must be the pressure tanks.
I went down the ramp, past the beach, and in the opposite direction than which I had come.

The island was stranger than I thought. And that was including when I found a run down building with a sign that read, “PIGS WILL DESTROY THE WORLD!”
I found my cabin, which was a wreck. The furniture was ripped and the painting was torn by a bloody (?) scratch.
The rest of the cabins were deserted and ripped to shreds. There was one with a small amount of blood on the floor, and that was the one that had been mysteriously deserted during the night a week ago. Cabin 11 was gone completely, replaced with a small lean-to. It had a sign that read

The Shack

“Weird and weirder,” I mumbled.
Even deeper into the jungle, the biome changed from Tropical Rainforest to Boreal Forest. A Voice spoke in my head, saying, “Rykov, Rykov, Rykov…”
I ran forward, and nearly broke my nose on a hard concrete wall. It looks like a small lab, I thought, as I walked to the ice-cold metal door. I opened the strangely unlocked door to find a small man sitting on a bench. There was a clear, glass pen, full of—dinosaurs?! “What is going on here?!” I demanded of the man. “They took… one of them… destroyed the… most precious… AAAAAH!” the man screamed, “Help! Destroying… DNA changing… Grrrrrrr…!” the man roared.
I looked wildly behind me. There was a hole in the roof of the lab, and a strange, Caucasian white blur with red streaks, I only caught a glimpse of it before it climbed quickly up into the hole in the roof.

I ran out, ran through the Boreal trees, and through temperate trees, before I realized the biome had changed again. I was in a thick woodland. The ground rumbled, and a shape lumbered out of the gloom.

English Lesson 36 Poetry

Christmas by E.G. Lenac
In this joyous time of year
A tear
Falls from your cheek
As the old and the meek
Gather peacefully in the center of town
And look into the brown
Of an old tree’s bark
And sing ’till the old start to cough and hark
And when the shining stars twinkle
And the leaves start to crinkle
Under your feet
It means that justice and joy are no giant feat
Because the joyous time is near
At the end of the year.

The Things at Oslane Swamp, The Rise Of Evil Series # 1, Introduction and Chapter one, English week 24 - 26

The Things from Oslane Swamp:
The Incident at the Oslane Genetics Lab

Introduction
You are probably sitting somewhere safe, unaware that all the horrible things that you think aren’t real, are real.
Oh yeah, ghosts are just the beginning. There are genetically mutated humans that inject a serum into you that is so powerful, it makes your very DNA change you into one of them. There are demonic primates that are so ruthless, that giving them a dead human is like giving a toddler a giant bowl of sweets. And there are aliens. Aliens stranded on Earth and aliens on the planet Typhoon. There are troops of green Reapers with deadly tentacles on Uranus’s moon Miranda. And there are unnamed blue aliens roaming Area 51 and the Mojave Desert this very second.

In the first book of the Rise of Evil series (This one), we are focusing on the demonic primates, known as Shadow Demons, Demonite Chimps, and Skunk Apes. These are all genetic experiments on Gorillas, Chimpanzees, and a few live Bigfoots (More on that later) gone horribly awry. They took refuge in and around a lab in Oslane Swamp in Texas and caused many “Mysterious” disappearances.

In the second book, Mysterious Island, another mutation arises: Mutated Humans. These creatures have swollen nerves and veins that stick out. They have uneven arms; one is normal (But lacking fingers) and the other is tipped with a foot-long claw that injects a serum into you that is so powerful, it makes your very DNA change you into one of them. (As mentioned in the first paragraph)

Book three, Invasion is almost entirely focused on aliens and mutants. These aliens land in the Mojave Desert (As mentioned in the first paragraph) and cause much more than mayhem at the px5 Genetics Lab. The story then moves on through five other labs, each with a new mutant creature, alien, or other science fiction being.

Rykov, the fourth book, has information that the author does not wish to give away.

Paranorma, the fifth book, is focused on cryptids and paranormal humanoids.
It begins when an aerial mermaid-like creature is sighted during a hurricane in Southern California.

Chapter 1: Mystery and Genetics
“John, I’m afraid that there’s nothing to investigate here. Just because the construction of an office building was aborted because of a few missing workers, there is—”
But I never knew what there was, because I burst out, “That’s EXACTLY why I’m here!”
“Well…” said the construction manager slowly, “Just don’t say anything to the media. I don’t want to bring attention to the fact that there have been ten disappearances in one—” he covered his mouth. “Ten!?” I blurted out, “In one what?”
“Week,” replied the manager simply.
I got on a free Jeep ride and stopped at the construction site. It looked strangely deserted, but I reminded myself that it was aborted. I looked inside and was greeted by strangely red-tinted concrete, and large, enclosed, circular stone walls with bloodred zigzagged stripes. There were two jutting stones on one that worked perfectly as footholds, and with the help of my hands, I looked over the wall.
What I saw almost made me fall backwards and crack my head. There was a worker there, dead but standing up, with his head ripped off. That explained the red concrete. Blood. I checked the others. Sure enough, all of the circular rooms had workers who had me their fate in them. I spied a gate and headed for it. Thankfully, I was not standing on anything, because if I did, I would fall off so violently that I would kill myself.
There, staring blankly at me, were the workers’ heads.

I ran out of there so fast that I felt I had broken the speed of light barrier. I didn’t stop until I came to a place some 100 yards away. I was lost. Away from the warm leather seats of the Jeep, away from the sticky ooze of the poor workers’ blood, and away from the confused construction manager. I walked/ran for another 50 yards before I came to a strange building with an apparently airtight door that read
Oslane Genetics Lab
Seizing my last ounces of courage, I turned the door knob, ignoring the loud “beep-bop-bleep.”
With one glance I knew that this was like the labs in Science Fiction movies. There was no lobby, just two long corridors, and a tank full of what looked like legless alligators.
The plaque beneath them read
The Cocc, a Genetically Modified Gecko
Species Gecko Amphibious
“Alright, that’s it!” I said, turning, “I’m leaving!”

But the door had disappeared.

Invasion, The Rise of Evil series # 3, Chapter 1, 2, and 3, English/Language Arts Week 22 - 24

INVASION:
The Rise of Aliens

Chapter 1: Beginning
“Hello, I’m looking for that secret lab thingy in the Mojave Desert? I need to investigate it,” said I to the Jeep driver. “Do you know anything about what happened there?” I inquired.
“Nothing except it happened only a week ago,” said he.
“Were you there?”
“I did work in the building, but I was in the underground part when it happened. When I finally decided to take a break, there was nobody but me and poor old Arnold, the owner, and Stan, the Co-Owner of the lab.”
“Wow.”
“Yep”
He agreed to follow me on my adventure. Little did I know that it would turn into a series of events fit for any horror movie. As we walked along the scrubby trail, peering through the sun for any sign of a building, I saw a ditch. “What happened there?” I asked.
“If Arnold and Stan hadn’t died right after I found them, I probably would know.”
“What’s your name?’
“I’m Stan’s older brother, Remus Douglas.”
We continued in silence, occasionally breaking it with a little conversation.
Remus and I soon found another ditch close enough to the path that we could see inside it. It had a strange blue thing inside that looked like a very wide port-o potty. “What the-” I started, but he finished for me, “I think it’s what killed everybody.” “I think it fell from the sky or something,” I said. Soon we found what seemed to be the entrance to the lab, “YES!” I yelled. It turned out to be the real entrance, which was good, because Remus said that there were a few false entrances.

About 50 feet into the lab, there was a loud rumbling noise, and a violent shaking. I checked on Remus, who had been trailing behind me, and was greeted by a wall of rocks, stretching to the low ceiling. “REMUS!” I screamed. Great. It wasn’t just my friend that was gone, it was also my exit. I let out the most inaudible of whimpers. Oh well, better keep moving.
That’s when I noticed the small, shining computer, right in front of the rock fall. I touched the screen experimentally. The computer wheezed a computer wheeze, like it had been left on but not used. It started showing me a video that went something like this.

The camera jiggled slightly, and captured some form of movement out of a bay window. Then, a deafening sound and a violent jerk of the camera signified an explosion. Another glance at the bay window caused a video double take. There was a large ditch that was not there a second before. Then, strange, blue creatures started pouring out of the ditch. The supercomputer next to the person holding the camera beeped frantically. 31— no, 32 messages, all at once, all saying the same thing, “They’re aliens! Coming out of a UFO! They’re attacking the base!”
Then, the strange blue creatures appeared at the glass door of the person holding the camera.
After that, the screen went black, then blue, to show nothing else was recorded.

“Yikes,” I whispered out loud.
About ten minutes later, it hit me that I had a camera, and I hadn’t photographed the port-o-potty thingy. There was a way to get past that rock fall. I had dynamite, and some cherry bombs, and a gun. But, if Remus was still alive, I would kill him if I blasted the rocks.
Or, I could destroy the wall.
And hat’s what I did. I used a cherry bomb, and walked out to the desert. The ditch was still there, but the thing wasn’t! Okay… so that was the UFO… it must’ve flown away, I thought. It then struck me that Remus was only blocked off of the main lab…he was right in front of the entrance. He could’ve gotten out! I checked the hallway, but nothing was there but a pair of bloody legs and the rock wall. Before I could let out my bloodcurdling scream, a voice whispered in my ear, saying “Rykov,” over and over. The legs started moving! My mouth opened in a silent scream as they came over spat some red liquid at me in the face. I had just enough time to photograph them. My vision blurred, and I dropped the camera. I think I blacked out.

I woke up seeing in black and white. I was in a totally different place; a tropical rainforest. There was nothing around me, except… REMUS! Just when I was about to greet him, a large beam of liquid shot from past from my shoulder. His top half disintegrated, and only his legs were left. It started running towards me, and I ran in the opposite direction. I was still seeing in black and white. The legs suddenly caught up with me. I ran faster, as tropical trees whizzed past me, the legs caught up once more. I could not run any faster, and was suddenly overcome with a wave of drowsiness. I stopped, and the legs spat liquid at me in the shins.
I jumped up from the cold, hard floor of the hallway, seeing in color again.
Maybe this place is like Oslane Swamp’s Lab, with extinct critters. Or maybe it’s like Mysterious Island, where it’s full of mutant creatures and humans. Or maybe it’s a combination of all those things, I thought.
There was a splash behind me, and a pool of silvery substance appeared in front of me.
It looked like silver sour milk, and seemed to glow. I touched it. My feet left the ground, and my body was thrown into the pool. All was black… until… there was light, warm sunshine shining over a hillside.

Chapter 2: A Few Old Faces
I, managing all my strength, got up.
The first thing I saw was a teenage girl and three men, looking curiously at me.
I thought I had appeared out of nowhere in their eyes, so I started, “I can explain—” but one man stopped me, “Don’t bother. I see you found a teleporting pool. It was strange though, because nobody’s seen one since the incident at Isla Nublar.” “Sorry we haven’t introduced ourselves,” said another one, which looked exactly like the famous astrobiologist Rick Johnson. “I’m Rick Johnson,” he said. Another one said, “And I’m Scott Rykus,” said another man. “I’m Ashley Minerva,” said the teenager. “And I’m John Hammond,” said the old man, who had owned Jurassic Park twenty years before.
“Really? Where is this? Is it some kind of genetics zoo? Or is it ‘A safe place where dinosaurs and mankind can meet in peace,’ and then kill everybody?” I said, looking at “Dr.” Hammond furiously.
“Oh, let’s just say it’s an extraterrestrial/paranormal/genetics/cryptid park,” said Scott. “It’s called I–CHUS. Investigation: Creatures and Humanoids Unknown to Science,” said Rick, looking at me for any sign of reply.
Hammond took off for the nearest gate, probably the entrance to the park. “Welcome,” he said, opening the gate with a flourish, “To Alien Park.”
There was nothing there except a computer and some very tall brick fences. I looked questioningly at Hammond, my loath of him increasing rapidly. “The species database!” he beamed.

Scott touched the screen. It lit up. The Windows Vista logo came up, followed by a login screen. He typed in I-CHUS (In caps) and pressed enter. The desktop did not come up when it was booted up, Internet Explorer did, leading to an HTML file labeled “Database.”
“The last seven files’ picture and text are corrupted,” said Rick, “Which is sad, because they are some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy.”
The first page read:

Creeper
The Creeper is not an alien but actually a mutated pair of human legs wired with all organs necessary to live, only the heart, lungs and brain. It shoots purple acid that makes you a Creeper, and red acid that messes up whatever part of your body it touches. The only antidote is water.

“Creepy,” I said.
“Neeext,” said Scott, getting his old humor back.
The next page was about…

Purple Alien
Purples are aggressive forerunners of the famous Grey Aliens. They travel in swarms, driving UFOs called drones, with massive Gillmen (Giant robots) at their every command. Their purple coloring is present because of genetic experiments on each other, which slowly became permanent.
They are very, very, very aggressive towards humans and other alien species, and can rip you in two.

“Of course!” I said, smacking myself.
“I’m colorblind! I thought the purple aliens I saw in the video were blue!” I said.
“You saw purples?” asked Ashley.
“Yes! They were on a video that was taken a week ago during the px5 Genetics Lab incident!”
“Great,” said Ashley.
“What?” I said.
“Don’t you read?” said Ashley, “They rip humans in two!”

Ravenger
The most may not know this, but “Ravenger,” is Godzilla’s second name.
With giant size, spikes, and attitude, Ravenger (Or “Zilla”) is a radioactively irridated Dilophosaurus, with two giant crests on the head, and long spines.
error ravenger2.rtf_cannot_be _found_error_code_2387

“The last part is corrupted,” said Ashley. The others were sitting on the bench, toying with some kind of program on a laptop.

“As Scott told you, the last seven are corrupted files,” said Ashley, “But I’ll show you them anyway.”
The code that appeared on the screen was:

desktop/my_pictures/park_files/jersey_devil.bmp

“Jersey Devil? But that’s…” I said hurriedly.
“…Suposedly real, right,” said Ashley.
“Not just that, it’s an alleged ‘Alien on Earth’!” I said.
“Yes and so is…” whispered Ashley.

desktop/my_pictures/park_files/dover_demon.bmp

“Dover Demon? But…” I said loudly.
“Shh…” hushed Ashley.

desktop/my_pictures/park_files/hobskinville.bmp

“Lemme guess, Hobskinville Goblin?” I said wearily.
“Ding ding ding,” said Ashley grimly.

desktop/my_pictures/park_files/mothman.bmp

“AAaaack! What are you thinking! You can’t keep Mothman in a zoo!” I said.
“I tried to tell that to mister Scott Dare-a-lot,” groaned Ashley.
“Well, there are three more corrupted files and two more working files—” began Ashley, but was interrupted by a piercing blast of high-pitched sound and the sound of something gliding.
“I think Mothman got out,” I said to Ashley, grimacing.

Chapter 3: Into the Gloom
Mothman was gliding above us, with bloodred eyes and a menacing black mouth with yellow, shark-like teeth. His wings were a light gray, and his body was a darker shade of gray. It promptly screeched again as it saw that I had a cut on my shoulder. But it stayed were it was, probing Ashley now. At that moment, there was a splash behind me, and I caught something glittering out of the corner of my eye. A teleporting pool! I thought frantically. Hammond came in, looking worried. Mothman was still floating above us, and Hammond screamed when he saw him. Mothman, startled, dove for Hammond, his red eyes flaring. I grasped Ashley’s wrist and pulled her into the pool.

Ashley and I found ourselves in a dark submarine, barely big enough for us. Pitch-blackness surrounded us as we looked out of the windows. There was a sharp intake of breath behind us, and we froze. I turned around slowly, and saw a woman with a white lab coat, and bloodshot brown eyes with glasses. She checked her watch nervously. “You’re late! It’s nearly midnight!” she exclaimed. “We’re late? We got here by accident!” I said worriedly. If this was a mind-controlled person… “You can’t just find a teleporting pool, you have to make one!” she said. I thought this was crazy. “Let’s see if we can find some sea monsters. We are exactly 5,127 meters below sea level. This is so exciting! John Yearling in my mini-sub!” she said excitedly. “Your last name is Yearling?” Ashley asked, as giant formations of rock flew past and the lights turned on. “I’ve kept it secret from the public so people don’t go looking me up in the phonebook,” I said. The sub came to a halt on the edge of a deep ocean trench. “What ocean is this?” I asked loudly. “The Pacific,” said the lady with the lab coat.
“So that is the…?”
“Marianas trench? Yes.”
And that’s when I saw it.
Falling away.
Into the darkness.
I quickly sketched it, because I couldn’t possibly describe it:

It hit a sharp rock and exploded.
The pieces flew everywhere.
And released an extremely neon orange liquid.
The water gained the thickness of maple syrup.
It then became thin again.
“Holy cow!” I said loudly.
Too loudly, I thought. There was a disturbance in the water, and something red on top and white on bottom flicked out at us. Ashley screamed.
“Giant squid?” suggested the lady-in-the-lab-coat.
“Nope,” I said, “Bigger, and stronger.”
Something red swished in front of the sub. A pure yellow eye, ten feet in diameter, with no pupil, blinked at us. Ashley screamed again.
“Yup,” I said, “Bigger than a giant squid.”
“That’s no sea monster…” said Ashley.
“It’s a…” started the lady-in-the-lab-coat.
“KRAKEN!” I screamed, as the critter turned so we could see the creature’s toothed beak.
“Launch sub-pods!” I screamed.
“There aren’t any!” yelled Ashley.
“Launch sub-pod!” yelled the lady-with-the-lab-coat.
We clambered in, but the lady-with-the-lab-coat wouldn’t fit. “Just stay behind and protect the sub!” I screamed. I drove the sub away from the enraged, 70 foot long Kraken. Ashley’s 17 year-old brain and my 19 year-old brain both figured out that Krakens were dumb. Really dumb. But so were we, because I decided to try to distract the 70 feet long Kraken with an 8 foot long MINI-mini-sub, and Ashley agreed.
Turning around the sub, we zoomed toward the Kraken. Ashley pressed the red DO NOT TOUCH UNLESS YOU ARE IN GRAVE DANGER button. A huge torpedo was shot out of the top of the sub, striking the eye of the monster. It stopped abruptly, and fell into the gloom. “That takes care of that,” I said. But, I watched in horror as the sub sank, due to the fact that the Kraken’s tentacle was stuck to it. Sub and monster alike slowly sank to the bottom of the trench.

“Yipe…” I said.
“Yes….” Ashley said.
“Oh, gosh…” I said.
A shadow had swum in front of the mini-sub.

The Revenge of Typhon Chapter 1, English/Language Arts Weeks 9 - 20

The Revenge
Of
Typhon

~ Demigods and Titans: Book # 1~





By E. G. Lenac






I am Attacked by Killer Fish-Kids

My name is Evan Matt Lenac, and I have a brother named Caeden. He’s two, I’m 9 ½. My cousin/half-brother, Jack, is 12. My dad married my Mom and my Aunt, so they both had kids with the same dad. My Mom has a new husband, John. While he was my dad (and he still is) instead of my other dad whom-I-don’t-know, mom had Caeden.

I must’ve been coughing in my sleep, because when I got out of bed and climbed down the stairs, Mom said, “Hey Ev, could you go back to your room for a sec? I heard you coughing.”

I apparently fell asleep again, because I woke up to a loud knocking on the door “Evan!” my Mom said, “Come out!” I got up, finally noticing my stomach, and bounded down the stairs.
“Seriously Evan!” Jack (who lives with me) exclaimed, “You’re acting like its Christmas!” “Oooooooh, sorry,” I said sarcastically, “I didn’t know it was a rule to not be hungry. Anyway, it’s almost Christmas.”
Mom said “Now boys… let’s all eat, I have dinner ready,” she looked at our surprised faces and said with a small laugh, “I mean…breakfast.”

We were halfway through our meal of cereal when Caeden started crying. “I’ll get him,” said my Aunt, Alison. Though John (“Dad”) was the one to get him.
Later, after we finished breakfast, I got up to do homeschooling on the loft computer with Jack. “Evan,” Mom interrupted, “I enrolled you in a new school, a public one. Allison did the same with Jack,” my Mom said, “I promise you; it’ll be a lot of fun!” She also said, “You’ll be going there tomorrow; so you can do your homeschooling for today.” I shrugged.

I struggled through Math (Jeez, long division is hard!), ate lunch (Boiled eggs, mmm…), breezed through Science (I learned about erosion in second grade!), and aced Social Studies (Ancient Greeks).
I ate dinner, then went upstairs, crawled into the bottom bunk, and passed out.

I woke up the next day when Jack cannonballed out of the top bunk, onto me.
The clock read 7:01. Can’t be late for school.
Caeden screamed something like “EWVAN! CO BACK!” as Allison took Jack and I out the door for school. I didn’t have time for breakfast.

First, I don’t like buses. I’ve only been on one once before. Yeah, the no-safety-belt part is cool, but it makes me get this feeling in my gut like I’m falling at light-speed off the Chicago Sears Tower.
Second, I don’t like to be in public all the time.

School was the best of both words, so I decided to walk there. Using street corners and smelly alleys, I got there faster than you can say “Windows XP Professional.”

Once we got to Hartnet Middle School, Jack went wacko. His eyes bugged, and you could almost say there was something cartoony about him. Were there little moons and stars flying above his head? Did his eyes glow in the dark? I saw that he was staring at the building.
That was the tackiest paint job I’d seen in my life. Bright orange, acid green and flaming, neon blue. I knew it was a crazy paint job, but not that crazy. IF you are scared of colors, it would make you act like that, but I couldn’t figure it out (especially since Jack just unfroze and stared at me back).
“What the-.” He said, looking past my shoulder, but it was too late. “STAMPEDE!” I screamed, as a parade of kids got off the bus.
“-heck,” Jack finished. “That was close,” I said. The bell rang. “We’d better go in,” I suggested.
If the outside was bad, the inside was worse. There were rows of prison cell-like lockers, a Dr.-Frankenstein’s-lab type Principal’s office, and a Dentition Center that looked like Dracula’s Castle.

Once we got to Math, there were about thirty-five guys, and twenty-five girls.
Everybody stared at us when we sat down.
I leaned over and muttered in Jack’s ear, “Welcome to Jurassic Park.” Jack snorted.

Later, after Math and Science and English and History, we went to the gym.
On my way, I heard a voice. “Elate edaw…” I was in the doorway of the gym before I realized I had understood it perfectly: “Come here.” Somebody wanted me, and I was gonna figure out who. “Elate edaw,” “Elate edaw,” the voice chanted. I ran into the gym and almost crashed into the opposing team of basketball players. “Ave,” the biggest teammate said. The others smiled and bowed creepily. I stared at them. They looked like thirteen year-olds that had been mutated with Dr. Frankenstein DNA. Once again, I had a delay in understanding them. They had said, “Hello.”
Creepy. Now they were probably going to start giving me wedgies.


Everybody was in the gym.
“Okay, basketball time.” The coach had a metal ball cage full of basketballs, and emptied it into an enclosed area, like a ball pit. “Your goal is to lift all of the basketballs out, and at least try to get one in the hoop,” the coach said, “In one minute.”

Then something happened. The other team grew considerably larger, five foot ten, six foot three… but it didn’t stop there. They kept growing until they were seven foot two. The coach said, “C’mon, thirty seconds! Jeez you haven’t moved at all!” like he didn’t see anything wrong.
Then the strangest thing of all happened. Like a humanoid lake monster in a Sci Fi movie, they sprouted shark tails and dorsal fins.

Now let me tell you something. What is worse than a five foot ten teenager with bloodshot eyes and the air of someone who wants to give you a wedgie, is a seven foot two teenager with bloodshot eyes, shark fins, very sharp teeth, and the air of someone who wants to give you a wedgie.

I did the only logical thing. I screamed, “AAAAAAAH! HEEELP!”

They started stalking forward, shark tails thrashing. I started to become woozy. I didn’t have a weapon, will, or conscience.

***


“Oh, you’re awake at last!” I heard someone say, as I regained conscience. “I wonder how long he’s been awake.” Someone was hurrying into the room. “Wh- where am I?” I croaked. “You’re just in the school doctor,” she said.
Without warning, she put a needle in my arm that worked as a tranquilizer. My head hit the pillow, hard.
I woke up in my bed. I looked at the clock. Midnight. I looked out my window. I felt a strange urge to get out there and find a safe place. That sounded nice. I decided to pack. I scribbled a list down on a piece of paper: Food, Water, assorted blankets, precious things, and a box of cookies. That sounded nice. I thought, hesitated, and scribbled pen, paper, and envelope.
There. Now the trouble was getting it, getting out, and getting past Jack. Jack followed me secretly downstairs though. Once everything was in the pack, I flung myself outside.

It was cold. It was windy. It was… Jack!
“What’re you doing here?”
“Following you!”
“Fine, come with me to… wherever we’re going.”
“You don’t know?”
“I’m working on it!”
We continued in our negative conversation for the next block, until Jack said, “Fine. Just stop snapping.”
I suddenly cut across an alley. There. That red building. That place seemed safe. “D’you wanna go there?” I asked Jack. I figured he’d take it rhetorically, but he said, “Sure.”
We walked over. And…
“It’s deserted,” Jack said.
I muttered ‘great’ and moved on.
“Y’know what? This was a crazy idea anyway,” Jack said. I agreed.

"Evan… Evan!" Someone was shaking me.
“Wh-what?” I asked dumbly.
I was in the gym room, surrounded by teenagers that were out cold, and a very surprised coach.
The venture had been a dream.