By Cassidy Patterson “Welcome to the Golden Crest, traveler!” An older guy dressed in a red suit with a golden pin greeted Raya. He had dark hair and chestnut colored skin. “Inside of that room is a mystery obstacle course. Once you pass it, you will need this.” The older guy opens a black leather box in front of Raya and takes out a silver key. “This is the key to the treasure chest. And this is the only one that you'll get, so don't lose it.” He says, handing Raya the s

By Calvin Boykin Jr. It was Monday evening, Jacob was in his room playing NBA 2k26 on his PlayStation 5. It was raining really bad, when Jacob heard thunder he jumped up and noticed a leak coming from the ceiling. The ceiling began to cave in and the house started to flood. Jacob and his mom could not do anything. The water eventually flooded the entire house. Jacob and his mother couldn't hold their breath that long in the water. Jacob and his mom were screaming ‘’ help hel

Written By: Fayha Zia “Dad! Dad! Dad!" my little brother Dylan bellowed across the crystal-clear beach. The sand here was so soft that I could sink into it like quicksand. A couple of people glanced at him, wondering why he was bothering to yell when the only thing you can hear is the sound of other people’s chatter, the waves crashing, and seagulls cawing in the distance. “Hey buddy, quiet down! We don’t want anyone catching us here. You know that, D,” my dad swiftly passed

By Dawayne Johnson In the dark hour of the night, I feel the breeze against my skin from the late autumn night. The moon shines against my face, creating a shallow glow as I close my eyes and bite my tongue to hold in the tears slipping from my eyes. I whimper, muffled by the sealing of my lips and the hands over my mouth. I feel the pain in my stomach, the deep, sharp, agonizing pain inside of me. I can feel it morphing into a creature almost like a snake with no way to k

By Laila Brown Hello everyone! Some of you may have seen Jurassic Park. In the movie they talk about De-extinction. Today I'm talking about actual real life De-extinction. De-extinction is a biology that brings back animals from extinction by cloning, back-breeding, and genetic engineering. There are many ways scientists can De-extinct but the most famous and interesting way is Genetic Engineering. An important step is building the base for the animal. One thing they won'

By: Crumb Dingle-Dongle LVIII Revised By: Benjamin Wesley Revisor’s Note This is three days of the journal of Crumb Dingle-Dongle LVIII’s journey for a missing potion bottle. Crumb is an 11 year old Goblin (11 years old for a Goblin is like being 21, so Crumb is of legal drinking age for a Goblin). He is a surface Goblin and has lime green skin, big triangular ears sticking out the side of his head, and had three hairs on his hair. Crumb has a pet rock crawler, a gray lizard

Written By: Israel Rose I do not know what is going on but it is scaring me. It is scaring me so bad right now. This has never happened to me before and I think I am crazy. I should have listened to my mommy. She said not to talk to the old man at the playground because he is crazy, and that we won’t go there unless he is gone. So she told me to just play in the backyard but I went to the playground anyway because it was just across the street. And I talked to the man and he

by Madeline Hausladen Waves of sand stretched out indefinitely in each direction, occasionally broken up by flats of cracked earth. It was an incomprehensible pattern of terrain that I would never understand. I wouldn’t even dream of it. The sun beat down in dreadful little rays and the air shimmered in front of me. This heatwave was worse than usual. I hopped off my sand-cycle and pulled my helmet off. It was silent. I could only hear the whistling of the wind. And then t

by Henry Monack Loading file… Load complete Entry 82 Day 56 Food is running low,the companies have not responded to this request to send either resources to at least survive on Ironmoon or fuel to leave. =+=+=+= Loading file… Load complete Entry 83 Day 57 The companies have finally responded to my request. Unfortunately they won’t do anything about our crisis here on Ironmoon. No fuel, no soil, no food, no livestock, nothing. The won’t send anything, so we’re left only a sma

Luc Grayard He was dead. My best friend Robert Smith was dead. I watched as they lowered his coffin into the ground. It was dark, oak wood and there was a little silver cross on the lid. There were only two other people at his funeral. The priest talked quietly as rain pattered down on the casket and into the cemetery. The priest rambled on about Robert's life and how God was with him now. But all I could do was stare at the wet lid of the wooden box, and think about the bo

by Lucas Meneses-Vaughn Reginald Harrington was a wealthy man who was the owner of the most luxury watch selling company in the world. One day he decided to have a business meeting that only a handful of people will be able to join. “I request only seven people be here at the meeting. Me, my wife, only the head maid, and butler, and Peter Ashford, Mat Mirculles the second, and finally Gerald Hox Jr. Am I understood?” Reginald questioned in his spiteful tone, that has beco

CW: mentions of rape, homicide Dylan Sarandos Despite it all, she keeps going. Despite remembering his shouts, despite the claims he was an “innocent man” (He wasn’t, really. Who did he think he was? Asking children to ride with him in the car, insisting–pressuring–women to close the distance between them) She knows she did what she had to. So, despite this bottomless feeling in her chest, she keeps going. Images flash in her mind: An object, no, a person soaked in red sub

By. Charlie Miller Every morning she fishes on the dock with her feet dipped below the water, her hair matted and rough from the salty air. I sit next to her most days, singing a song while whistling what would be the instruments. I'm not sure what the song means, it's in a different language, but my father taught me when I was just a boy and still I sing it in memory. I sing it in her presence. I like to watch her smile as I do. The ‘Song of the Sea’ is what it's called. W

By Hanna Whipps On their grizzly couch beside the window, with tears repaired with shoddy patchwork and red thread, Rick used Tony’s fur like a throw blanket, melting into the warmth he radiated as he slept. For hours, little Tony laid peacefully sprawled across Rick’s chest, each pair of his gangly legs bumping up and down with each breath he took. Through the curtains, the sky rose. Lights flicked on, cars pulled out of driveways. Rick devolved himself to the comfort of li

by Mel Eshleman Position: 4:45PM Fri May 22 Request to access mainframe / backspace backspace backspace I forgot you were omniscient; I’m sure you can see me typing this now, and I’m… backspace backspace / Shit, let me just— that’s better, hold on, I’m sorry, wait, this is— the patter of pressing a button / clu-clunk / chime A programmed, monotonous voice on the overhead speaker spits: “Access Granted” Now that I’ve got that set up, I don’t need to use my keyboard anymore.

CONTENT WARNING: Contains potentially triggering images of suicide and depression. TiedStrange By Calder Moore He called her name. She did not answer. He turns on the lights. He did not see her body, hanging from the rafters. Strange, he would have said, strange how the knot is tied. She swings above him, a pendulum reminding him of the time. He checks his watch; a small drop of water hits the glass. He ignores it, sighs, and leaves the house. She was cold, so she took a show

by Camila Fitchitt Through the window, the sun had almost set, but lamps lit the room softly. A little of the light filtered into the space behind the curtain, where the girl stood on her tiptoes against the wall. She looked down at her friend’s socks: where her own were dark, fit for the shadows, her friend wore socks with bright neon rainbows. The girl swung her gaze to her friend’s face. Their eyes met, and the girl’s finger brushed just over her mouth at the sound of fo

by Evelyn Danna A young girl walked down a desolate street, her pink unicorn backpack bouncing with each step. She was careful to stay to the side of the road, should any cars pass by; her mother always told her to mind the road. She rarely saw any cars, nowadays, but she stayed to the side anyway, just in case. It was early in the morning, and her bag was like an iron weight on her shoulders as she trudged down the long road, the sun bearing down on her relentlessly. It