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By: Jessica Goode

The Original Ghost Town

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Table of Contents

The Beginning of the End…………………………………………..3

An Adventure through Pitch Black………………………………….14

A New World………………………………………………………….17.

The Abandoned Inn…………………………………………………….

The New Ones……………………………………………………………

Too Scary to be True………………………………………………….

The Dead Body……………………………………………………….

He’s Risen………………………………………………………………

The Hunt………………………………………………………………….

The Chase……………………………………………………………..

Our Home is Here Forever………………………………………………

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1.

The Beginning of the End

Every day he was picked on and pushed around because of his size. You’d think in all those

fairytales, he would be the one that gets the beautiful princess by slaying the dragon trying to kill her. “This ain’t any fairytale kid.” The man had said right before he grabbed the little boy by the neck collar of

his now brown T-shirt, and dragged the little boy down the many flights of stairs.

She was a dreamer. She always had her head in the clouds. Every day she finished, at the least, one book.

At recess, she would pretend to go on an adventure, or solve a mystery.

“Why don’t you imagine that you can get through this without screaming?” The man had said right before

he violently pushed her down the long hallway.

She kept quiet, and unusually still, unless she was asked a specific question that couldn’t be answered by

simple shake or nod of the head. She had kept it that way for her whole 14 years of strange and unrealistic

life. Until now, when she was hollering for help, drowning in tears on the floor, and begging for her life.

“Crawl back into your dying hole.” The man had said right before he closed the big metal door and locked

it.

From October 31, 1993, parents lived in horror each and every day and night. With their children in their

arms, they would sit in their small, usually run-down homes crying in fear for what they knew would

come sooner or later. No matter where you were that moment, you could hear screams around every hour.

Though, I can tell you, there was an upside. No, I’m jostling you, there wasn’t. There was only luck. A

small molecule of luck that was buried in fear, hatred and thoughts other than, RUN! Run for your life!!

“Mommy, Daddy, help!” Shouted the 6 year-old little boy. He was already down three flights of stairs,

and at the time of night it was, he had no more energy to go down the other six. His brown curls bouncing

as he was dragged by his now blood-stained T-shirt. His eyelids swiftly closing over his pale green eyes

and his mouth only being able to say a couple words. The last thing he saw was a large, 7 foot tall, black,

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rusty, old door with a key stuck in it horizontally before he drifted into the pitch black background of his

sleep.

……………………………………………

Her eyes were getting weary, and she had marks all over her body. The blood from her stab

wound trickled down her face. She tried with all her might to pull away and break free from the strange

man’s strong grip, but he was too strong, and she was too tired. She kept trying to stand still, hoping her

night blue and black sneakers would create some friction on the cold, hard concrete, but the large cracks

just kept her tripping and falling. Her sensitive scalp was a bright red as he fiercely pulled her long golden

hair that went down to her waist.

Her neck was sore from her head’s tilted position, and her lime green headband was pulling itself

to her scalp and sliding off. Ever so now and then, the man would stop and let her pick it up, and other

times, she would have to risk the hard tug to quickly bend down and pick it up. She was freezing cold in

the cold, hard building surrounded by trees, and the cold mid-winter wind and snow. It had no windows,

nor skylight. Therefore, it was a piercing pitch black. She had no shoes, and she was sure she had frost

bite on her big toe. Her arms were a pale white from the brush of wind none stopped by her night blue

sweater with a pink peace sign in the middle, or her tight blue jeans with butterfly shaped pockets.

As the kept walking down the long, dark hallway bordered by small, silver barred cells filled with

some up to 9 children screaming for help, coughing, or dead. Every cell the passed by, she got tenser. Her

shoulders scrunched up to her neck. Her teeth clenched hard, and her eyes wider with more tears. Yet she

knew not to cry. She knew not to give him what he wants.

The continued on their long, painful journey down the black hallway, and then stopped. She

looked up and squinted her eyes, letting the built up tears overflow down her face and splash on the

ground, but hold on to the others until she knew what was in there.

It could lead to the outside world. Maybe he saw me and didn’t need me, so he’s throwing me out.

Maybe I’ll be able to see Johnny, and Rooney! And Marie and Caroline! And Mama and Papa! She

thought as a small, quick smile popped on her face. He opened the door and shoved her inside.

………………………………………………..

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She sat in the corner of her cell staring at the ceiling with her blue, tear-dried, mascara flooded her eyes.

Her legs were up close to her and her arms wrapped around them.

“Please help!! I’m in here!” She shouted with her deep, groggy voice. She pounded on the concrete wall

with her blood-covered hands. “Please! Help! Lily, Alex, Johnny!” Her black, strapless scull shirt with

the built in glovettes wasn’t enough to keep out the blistering freezing wind. For the first time in her life,

she hated black. She hated black. She hated the new moon. She hated the howling of the wolves out in the

forest, behind all the trees surrounding. She hated the cooing of the owls high in the trees. Starring at her

through the solid walls. She hated the thought of Kidnap and Kill, her favorite horror movie. The thoughts

and memories of scenes from the movie rumbled in her head until all the pieces fit together perfectly,

naturally. She was going to die.

She kept yelling and screaming when she heard the heavy metal door shut hard. She went silent,

snuggled closer to the cold corner of the cell, and put her head down in her knees, waiting for the man to

find her, and the pain to come wildly, as if it too was attacking her.

She waited patiently, still, and quiet with her eyes still closed, and her head still down. But, she heard

nothing but the small whistle in the wind that forced itself into the heavy, hard wall, and into her frozen

ears. She silently shivered at the cold wisp of mid-winter wind that followed the cold high-pitched

whisper. But that was all she heard. In the cold mid-winter wind, the cold corner, yet the warm air

circulating around the space underneath her arms cradling her head, she drifted off to sleep. Right after

her dream started, a loud noise woke her up. Her head jerked up, and her body was shaking with fear.

Tears started forming in her eyes, even though she knew it was coming.

………………………………………………..

She looked around the cold, dirty cell for anything to drink. The screaming had watered her throat dry.

The room was bare. In the far right corner of the large, two-roomed cell were some bare, metal bunk beds

with heavy, yet unstable bolts, and she was afraid to sleep in it. It was facing front and around one meter

away from the back wall with a small, moss-covered ladder on the bottom bunk. Behind the bottom

bunk’s head board was a small, three-legged table with pink and a furry forest green bubble gum stuck to

the bottom of the base. Between each pair if legs lay large, abandoned spider-webs. On the top, the small

table’s dirty glass was cracked and had bullet holes in it. It looked as if he had stolen it, and the table went

through a lot. It had a burnt yellow rose designed border around the edge with some gray spots to

highlight that it was harshly used. She went over to it to hopefully see a glass of water, but all she saw

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under it was the hard, stone ground. She backed away slowly as if under it was a large, dead rat instead of

concrete. Her eyes wide with tear-jerking fear and her head tilted to one side. She turned around towards

the back wall with an opening leading into the next room. She slowly came upon it, her eyes on the wall

in search of any shadows lurking in the night. But there was none. She came to the small, narrow opening

and placed her hand on the corner of the edge. The sharp, chipping edge pierced in her skin, leaving a

stream of flowing blood in its place. She kept her hand steady in its place but placed her back to the wall.

The cold surface also pierced through her skin. She closed her eyes and took a deep, meaningful breath,

and poked her head around the bend. She looked around, narrowed-eyed and suspense fully for

movement, but all she saw was another pair of bunk beds, but already crashed down. Another table, but

this one was dark green, plastic, and had four legs. Kind of like the outside porch table, or ones you’d

bring to the beach. On top was a wooden bucket. It had split boards lining the outside with a black iron

band wrapped around the bottom and bolted with rusting iron bolts. She didn’t give it a second thought.

She rushed over to the bucket, hopefully not empty, until she went tumbling over onto her back on the

hard concrete floor with a loud thump.

Her eyes were closed, but the background wasn’t black, it was bright white. The spotlight was on her as

she was lifted up into the lightning streaked thunder clouds. The music playing was the sound of a

beautiful harp, and the little moving dots were not blobs, they were angels. Golden angels lifting her up to

heaven. The songs played over again, and the angels kept dancing until something woke her up. Until

something made her eyes pop open. It was the sound of soft footsteps coming closer. And the sound of

sharp metal scraping against sharp metal. But before she had time to get up, she saw a shadow hovering

over her, and a sneaker right next to her head. She closed her eyes, and started to weep. She sat up and

turned around. With a quick movement, she jumped back with a sharp, startled scream. She starred in

wild horror as a dead body lay there in the moss covered ground. Sweat beads rolled down her face, and

the tears followed right after. She starred in horror, and then came back to reality. She stood up and froze

in her position. She didn’t think she could move another inch her back hurt so much. She started to weep,

as she slowly sat down. She took off her long-sleeved, green shirt with a red rose on the front and set it on

the wet ground. It automatically sagged as the heavy water from the puddle soaked the shirt inside and

out. She turned around so she could see her back. It hurt a lot, but she needed to see how bad it was. She

turned around and there, smack down in the middle was a bruise the size of a baseball. It looked tie die

with all the cool colors in there. Blue, black, and purple mostly all over her back.

I probably shouldn’t have looked. She said to her pain struck self. She turned back around and grabbed

her shirt. The left over water that didn’t get a place on the shirt trickled down to the floor. She arranged

her hands in a horizontal position and turned each side of the shirt in different directions. Water flowed

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out as it was a scale model of Niagara Falls. The water was cold between her fingers, too cold. So, she

decided to set the shirt down and wait, a year, before the shirt was dry. She slowly sat up, trying not to

move her back that much, and brushed the wet mud off her pink skinny jeans. She walked over to the

body and decided to examine it. It was all covered in fungi so she decided to just focus on the head. The

person had short brown hair with flipped bangs. His eyes were a milky, chocolate brown and his nostrils

were flaring. His mouth was closed, but he had perfect, thin lips. His head was oval shaped, and his chin

was stubby. After a while of searching, she thought he looked familiar. She squinted hard and squatted

low, not caring about the pain. She searched the body when the memory flashed back to her. She had seen

the boy on a lost poster. With his photo on the top of the paper! She dug through her pockets for the paper

of him that was still up she had taken from the bus stop this morning. She took it out an unfolded it. The

words were blurry, and the picture had chewed gum on it, but it was still able to be recognized. She held it

up to the boy’s head. Perfect match! She looked down at the very bottom of the page was a star. Next to it

read,

*$500 Reward if found alive*

She gulped, folded the paper and put it back in her pocket.

If found alive? She thought to herself. She stood up and went into the other room to lie on the top

bunk to get some sleep. The surface was freezing and hard against her back’s bruise. She decided to turn

towards the wall and close her eyes. Just as she did, a shadow towered over her. She popped open her

eyes, and looked over her shoulder. She let out a terrifying scream that unfortunately, no one heard.

………………………………………………..

She held the sharp stick up to the body shape and then let it fall to her side.

“Hello?” She whispered in a soft tone of voice. “Hello? What do you want?” She said again in a high

strained voice.

“For you not to hurt to me, sir. I’m sorry!” The body said as it curled up into a ball, and closed its eyes,

waiting silently.

Sir?! The person with the metal stick thought to herself as one eyebrow went up.

She kept standing there with the metal stick by her side, wondering whether to continue with the

plan and get it over with, or keep asking questions and risk her life.

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………………………………………………..

She kept laying there with her eyes closed hard and her hands up towards the vignette of a person

with a knife, when she heard silence. No movement, no sound, just heavy breathing.

“What do mean sir?” They asked. “I’m not a…” But they didn’t finish. They just sat there with a

suspicious smile on their face.

“Hello. Please get off the bed.” They said, and she obeyed. She quickly jumped off the bed, not worrying

about the pain, or ladder. They stepped out of her shadow and showed themselves.

They were a girl. She was a very beautiful young woman. She was about 14 and a little tall for her age.

She had long, wavy black hair, with white highlights, and a gray head band. Though it looked as if it had

been tugged, pulled, and scissors attacked her hair. But, it still looked pretty. Her forehead was covered in

cuts and bruises, yet the rest of her body seemed okay. Except for her knee, which on top lay a huge

scratch, like she had fallen on the concrete floor as the man dragged her in here also by her hair. Her eyes

were blue, a solid, sparkling blue with a black-as-coal pupil, black eye shadow, and black eyeliner. Her

nose was small, and right in the center of her face. She showed no smile, but she had plump lips smeared

with black-as-pitch lipstick with the color stained on her lips. She had on a black, strapless scull shirt with

the built in glovettes. It had gray colored fish-net glovettes with black crossed lace attached on to the

glovettes and her top. Her top was all black with a white scull with red eyes in the middle. The right

sleeve was hanging off her shoulder, but a white bra strap was next to her collar bone.

Her pants were black skinny jeans with rhinestone sculls on the back pockets, and a pile of bones on the

bottom of each leg on her pants made of rhinestones. She had on black knee-high boots with white laces.

“Hello.” she murmured, still not showing a smile. “My name is Miranda Valsheir. Now, what are you?”

She said crossing her arms and licking her lips as if she was delicious.

Wow. Miranda’s rude. She thought to herself as she said her name.

“My name’s Katelyn. And I’m not a what!” Katelyn spat at Miranda.

“Okay. Sorry? So, what’s your last name? Duh!” she spit back at her.

“You don’t need to know. Besides, it’s Hogur. Katelyn Hogur. Doy!” Katelyn threw back at her.

Miranda rolled her eyes and shifter her weight to her left leg.

“How old are you? And how did you get here?” Miranda asked.

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“I’m nine and why do I need to tell you how I got here if you’re here, too?”

“Because I kept trying to get away and kept calling for help, so he knocked me out. Besides, I bet

you don’t know either. So, why’d I ask you in the first place?” Miranda said as she shrugged her

shoulders and looked at her finger nails.

“I do to know! I know more than you know, that’s for sure.” Katelyn said. Again, Miranda rolled

her eyes back at her, and continued looking at her nails, painted with a beautiful black coating of nail

polish.

“I do! What’s 9x7? Don’t know, do you?” asked Katelyn, and stuck her tongue out at Miranda.

“63. Any more questions?” Miranda asked sarcastically. Katelyn’s sophisticated, know-it-all

smile turned flat. She started weep, and went back up the ladder to the top bunk, where hopefully,

Miranda couldn’t see her.

She turned onto her side and rested her head on her crossed arms and started to cry hysterically.

Miranda rolled her eyes, but looked up at Katelyn. She UN crossed her arms, and went up after Katelyn

who continued on crying.

“Look. I’m truly sorry. It’s just that I’ve been here since last week, and I’ve gotten used to no one

being here. And I’m not good with little kids. I have two older brothers that graduated from high school

when I was in 6th Grade, so I’m a little bad with little children, cause’ I’m the youngest.” Miranda said

looking away and crossing her arms again. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes to force back the

tears of the thought of seeing her family again. But, unfortunately, she was unsuccessful. Her mouth

opened and so did her eyes bringing a rainstorm of tears down her face. She cried and cried. The tears

wouldn’t stop, even with her hands covering her face. Miranda was crying so loud, she didn’t even notice

that Katelyn stopped, and was facing Miranda.

Katelyn put her hand on Miranda’s shoulder and whispered, “It’s okay.” Miranda stopped crying

and looked up at Katelyn. Miranda’s mascara was running down her face leaving two streaks that looked

like tire tracks. Katelyn giggled, and Miranda looked at her with a small smile and a questioning look on

her face.

“Oh. My, um, mascara. Right. It’s running down my face, isn’t it?” Miranda asked, and Katelyn

nodded yes with a smile. Miranda took the edge of her shirt and wiped off the mascara and giggled, too. It

didn’t come off, the mascara just smeared, but she left it there on her face. Katelyn scooted closer to

Miranda and put her head on her chest. Miranda sat there a moment and froze, then put her arms around

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Katelyn. Katelyn started crying with her head still on Miranda’s chest. The tears soaked through her shirt.

They were warm and felt good on her frozen chest. Miranda then started crying, also. Tears flowed down

her face and down Katelyn’s bare, bruise covered back.

Miranda sat there, crying with her arms around her new small friend. Her arms grew tighter

around her every minute. Her tears became heavier every minute, and her anger towards the monster that

put her in there became stronger every minute.

Miranda kept sitting there, and the trickle of Katelyn’s tears drifted her off to a night’s sleep.

……………………………………………..

“Miranda? Miranda! Wake up! Please! Miranda I think I hear someone!” Katelyn whispered as

she shook Miranda to wake her up. Miranda sat up quickly and snapped her head toward Katelyn.

“What?!” She asked annoyed. “What is it? What did you need to wake me up at 4 am for?” She

kept asking.

“I think I hear something. Like footsteps. I’m scared.” Katelyn answered. She scooted up closer

to Miranda, and buried her face in her chest.

“I don’t hear anything.” She said, and put her hand to her ear to emphasize her point.

“Why not?” Katelyn asked as she hopped up and down.

“What do you mean, why not? Because I can’t hear anything why not. I’m sure you just had a bad dream

and now you’re remembering part of it.” Miranda said, putting her hand down. “Now, go back to bed. I

am.” She started laying her head down again on the hard metal bed. When she was starting to sleep, and

her eyes were finally closed, again, something awoke her a second time. But this time it wasn’t Katelyn

scared. It was a loud rapid pounding on the door. Miranda sat up and accidentally woke Katelyn up with

her.

Oh, shoot! Miranda thought as she heard Katelyn groan.

“Miranda, what is it?” Katelyn asked sleepily as she stretched her arms. Miranda didn’t answer. She just

stood there with her back to Katelyn and continued walking towards the door.

“Hello? Hello?” Miranda whispered in a strained voice.

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“Open…the door!” boomed a low, angry voice. Katelyn started silently coming down the ladder, and hid

under the bottom bunk. For she remembered that voice as she was being tossed in here. The voice that

had broken the belief that maybe she was going to get out of this place. And Miranda recognized the

voice, too. The angry voice that had threatened to kill her if she had disobeyed up to one order.

“I said open the door!” they boomed again.

“I can’t!” Miranda shouted at them.

“Why not?!” they asked.

“Because you locked me up in here.” She said matter-of-fact.

“So? Just open the door.” they said, getting angrier.

“You don’t get it. You locked me up in here with a key. I don’t have the key. So I can’t open the door.”

Miranda said as she licked her lips and silently laughed.

“You trying to act smart?” he said as the keys in his hand rattled as he tried to find the right one.

“That depends,” she said back at him. “Are you trying to act dumb?” Just as she finished the question, the

door swung open and all they heard was something hitting the floor, like a big piece of metal. Miranda

ran back and joined Katelyn under the bed. Katelyn was crying and snuggled up close to Miranda, and

closed her eyes. Miranda closed her eyes and listened hard. She heard something stand up and wipe

something on what sounded like cloth. Then, soft footsteps. Getting louder and louder. A small cough that

sounded as if it was coming from a little boy, about 7 years old.

“Hello?” The small, high-pitched voice called from one room over.

Oh! No! They’re going to see the dead… But Miranda’s thoughts were cut off by a long scream followed

by running loud footsteps and them running up the ladder to the top of the bed.

Katelyn had stopped crying, and was now ready excited to go see the new kid.

“C’mon, Miranda,” Katelyn whispered, “It’s not the strange man, we know that much. That much. THAT

MUCH! Let’s go see who he is and get to know him better.”

“One. How do you know it’s a boy? Two. I’m not taking any chances. You can go! And three. IT’S a

child, but it still could think we’re helping the strange man and try to kill us with the metal rod I left up on

the bed.” Miranda stated.

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“But we’re not helping the strange man. He locked us up in here, too.” Katelyn said, frustrated.

“But that kid up there doesn’t know that. To him, all those kids out there screaming and hollering for help

could be helping him,” Miranda said. “He knows just as much as you did when you first came. You didn’t

know I was there. When I jumped up on the bed that scared you.”

“That’s because it was dark out and you looked tall, like a man. And you had that metal stick in your hand

that looked like a knife.” Katelyn said a little louder.

“You’re right. That didn’t help.” Miranda said, agreeing.

“Well, I’m going, whether you stop me or not!” Katelyn said as she crawled out from under the bed.

“Hello. My name is Katelyn. What’s yours?” She asked to him. There, in front of her eyes, was a cute,

dimpled, little, curly-haired boy.

He had big, brown curls that went all around his head like a pillow. His skin was very pale, almost white.

He had big, brown puffy eyebrows right above his big brown eyes. His lips were plump and an orange-

red. He had a short, chubby neck with a low neck collar for his long-sleeved red-brown shirt. His legs

weren’t long. And at the bottom of them were black and blue tennis shoes with no socks.

“My name is Adam.” He said shyly while twisting his finger around each other.

“How old are you?” Katelyn asked in a small voice and bended down so they could see eye to eye.

“I’m 5.” He said. Small droll came out of his mouth.

“I’m 9. I’m older than you. HA!” She said, and stood back up straight. Katelyn turned around when she

heard an attention getter. The original throat clearer. There in the middle, with her hands crossed again

was Miranda. Her eyes were narrowed and her head was down and hidden in her shadow.

“Well, it seems you all have met each other. My name’s Miranda. And I’m fourteen. So, I’ll be in

charge.” She lifted her head, and her face was blank.

“His name is Ad…” But Katelyn’s sentence with Miranda’s snooty comment of,

“That bed isn’t sound proof. I heard him say his name.” Katelyn’s mouth closed and she went silent.

“Sorry,” she whispered. When Miranda looked up, and Katelyn turned around, all they saw was the empty

bunk bed. No little boy.

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“Where’d he go?” Katelyn asked.

“How do I know?” Miranda said. She uncrossed her arms and they started looking around. Under the

bunk beds, underneath both bed side tables. In corners and in the large hole near the door. Adam was

nowhere to be found.

……………………………………………..

After a while of searching, they concluded it was hopeless. They sat down on the concrete ground next to

the door with their backs to the wall. Katelyn rested her head on Miranda’s shoulder and closed her eyes,

and Miranda rested her head on the back of the wall.

“Race you to the water.” Katelyn said lifting her head up and looking at Miranda.

Miranda looked up at her and asked, “What water?”

“The bucket over there on the green table.” Miranda kept starring with a puzzled face.

“You know the wooden bucket. The one in front of the dead body.” Katelyn said turning her hands in

circles around the other.

“Oh! That bucket. That isn’t water.” Miranda said looking away from Katelyn and up at the giant metal

doorknob.

“What is it, then?” Katelyn asked a little worried for the answer.

“A bucket of oil.” Miranda said back, casually.

“Why is there a bucket of oil?” Katelyn asked.

“Because when he first built this place, oil was covering the ground. It wasn’t enough to sell, so he put it

in a bucket along with some of the shiny stuff that he hopes soon to sell.” Katelyn said.

“That makes no sense.” Katelyn said.

“I know. His brain doesn’t make much sense. Look what he’s doing too little kids.” Miranda said. But

instead of it being a joke, both went silent and looked down. They didn’t speak a word until something

rang in Katelyn’s ear.

“Miranda, do you hear that?” Katelyn asked. Miranda looked up at her with a puzzled look.

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“What?” Miranda asked.

*“It sounded like, crying.” Katelyn said as stretched her neck to try to look over the thick wall. The crying

continued and got louder and louder every second. After the thoughts of the conversation they had just

finished drained out. They remembered what…who they were looking for in the first place. They looked

at each other and starting running to the other room and tracked down where the source was by going

different directions to see if the crying got louder of quieter, and by calling out his name several times.

“Katelyn! Over here!” Miranda called, and Katelyn looked up.

“What? Did you find him?” Katelyn called out while she ran from the other room where they were sitting.

Miranda paused and shoved her black hair away from in front of her eyes and put it behind her ear, and

said “No. Look! I found an opening to the outside world!”

2.

An Adventure through Pitch Black

Katelyn rushed over to under the single bed located in the other room. Miranda was on her belly

pointing to a large hole about two feet wide and a foot tall with rough edges and the rest of the

concrete on the sides of the hole were hollow.

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“C’mon.” Miranda said as she started squirming out of the hole. Katelyn grabbed her boot to

keep her from going out.

“Wait!” Said Katelyn.

“What!?” Miranda shouted, and squirmed out of the hole. “What!?” She said again when she was

fully out and starring narrowed-eyed at Katelyn. “Do you want to go first?”

“No.” Katelyn said in a soft, silky voice. “I just didn’t think we should leave Adam here alone to

defend himself.”

Miranda took a deep breath and looked at Katelyn who was still looking like a little puppy dog

who didn’t know he didn’t do anything wrong, with an aggravated look.

“One. If he didn’t want to be found, we’re not going to force him to be found And I’m not going

to spend the little time I have trying to find him. I’m not going to spend another minute in this

old, dirty, cell. And two. I survived being here all on my own, so he…” But Miranda’s fact was

interrupted by Katelyn’s sentence of,

“But you’re older than Adam. He’s six. You’re fourteen.” Katelyn yelled. “You know what to do

in case of a problem. Or what to do when that man comes in. All he would do is scream, cry and

yell and that would make the man even more annoyed. We can’t just leave him.”

Miranda’s attention turned to Katelyn. Her annoyed face went away but then came back as she

said, “Fine. Go get him.” Miranda said and lay down on her belly again, ready to go through the

hole again. While Katelyn was gone, Miranda rubbed her side. The hole was tighter than it

looked. The crying started up again, and then got louder and louder.

She found him. Miranda thought. A bonk from above made the bed vibrate, and the crying got

louder. Katelyn set Adam down on his bottom and put her hand on the top of his head and

pushed his head down towards his belly button. She pushed him under the bed for Miranda to

catch him, and she followed in after him.

“Okay. I’ll go first, and wait outside. Then you push Adam in like you did getting him under

here. I’ll get him and we’ll wait while you go. Okay?” But before Katelyn could answer Miranda

said, “Good.”

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Miranda stuck her head out the whole and stuck her hands through so, if something was found,

she could pull herself along. She frantically search in the snow for a stick or a long tree root that

she could grab onto to. The air was crisp with a freezing wind. The snow was falling frantically.

It gushed in her eyes a pile at a time. She kept searching until she finally found a twig that was

stuck in the large blanket of snow. She got a good grip on it, and pulled herself out.

Once she was all the way out, her body sunk into the deep snow, until it reached her shins.

“Okay! I’m ready. Send him out!” Miranda shouted, trying to be louder than the roaring winds.

He quickly pulled himself out the same way Miranda did and rushed to her.

“Okay. I’m coming out. Wait for me!” Cried Katelyn. She crawled out a little slower than Adam,

but it was still pretty fast.

“Okay. Is everyone okay? Lets first try to get as far away from here. This way.” Miranda said.

She pointed towards a small gap between two red oak trees. Adam tried to hold Miranda’s hand

but she tugged it away.

“Here, Adam.” Katelyn said, and held out her hand for Adam. He grabbed onto it tightly.

……………………………………………..

After a long while of pain and cold, they decided to take a break. Their lips were frozen,

so they decided just to use hand movements to tell each other where they should rest. Katelyn

pointed to a patch of brown grass, not covered by snow at all because of the large tree protecting

it, big enough for Miranda and her and have Adam on one of their laps, but Miranda didn’t even

look at it, she was too busy digging a hole through the snow and the small puddle of wet dirt to

climb into and protect them from the high winds to sleep for the night. Miranda’s won.

Adam was already half asleep by the time Miranda, and Katelyn was finished with the

hole. Her hands were numb, but it was worth it. The hole was large enough to fit all three of

them laying flat, but real close next to each other, and tall enough to keep the wind blowing over

them.

Miranda stepped in and lay flat on the bottom of the hole.

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“So, how is it?” Katelyn asked from above her.

“Um…fine. Why?” Miranda asked, looking around. She stretched, and then turned on her

side in the middle of the hole.

“Well, aren’t we sleeping in it, too?” Katelyn asked. Adam had his head on her forearm.

His breathing was shallow, so Katelyn figured he was already asleep.

“What?! No! This is mine. You wanted that little piece of grass over there.” Miranda

said, then rested her head on her arm and closed her eyes.

“But I helped you build it! Me and Adam deserve to sleep in it. That grass won’t keep the

winds away!” Katelyn hollered down at her.

“Oh well! You helped me. That was something nice. It’s called volunteering. That’s

where you don’t get anything in return.” Miranda said with too much attitude Katelyn could with

stand.

“Please? It’s cold. I can’t sleep in cold.” Adam said. Miranda cracked.

“Fine. But next time, you make your own place to sleep.” Miranda said. The tone of her

voice made Katelyn roll her eyes.

……………………………………………..

The night was cold, even with them protected from the winds. All of their teeth were chattering,

and their bodies were practically blue, even when they were huddled up together.

The night went by fast, even though none of them could sleep much because of the loud howl of

the wind, and the freezing temperature. But sooner than they knew, the sun’s warmth peeked through the

gray clouds beyond the horizon. But they didn’t wake up, for in their new world, everything was

darkness.

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3.

A New World

“Wake Up! Wake Up!” Yelled Katelyn. She kept shaking Miranda, but she kept

her eyes closed. “Wake Up!” Katelyn said again. She slapped

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