First Place
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I've been resting for more than a couple of weeks now, resting here I remember the joyous rides I use to take, l t d race across mountains, I was like a horse, fast, I had the eyes of fury, but I was—am gentle. I remember many faces, every day a new one would come and go, sometimes I'd see familiar faces. I'd passed by worn out places and beautiful sights, I'd see myself in the reflections of windows. Never was I challenged, or frightened, but, that all changed on a dark night when I knew everything was going to change. I remember this day most often, I get reminded most often when I hear trains honk their horns nearbv. Sometimes I get reminded when I see people get off the other trains all happy with no care to the world. not worried about what's to come but in the moment because they had just been on a magical ride. Sometimes I see my old pilot, Mr. John Smith, he just walks by me and hops on a diffèrent train, as if he had never steered me, nor' been there when we were challenged. And most of all I get reminded when I see families walk by, and the kids stop and stare. they usually point at me and ask, "Mommv what happened to that train?" Most mothers just keep walking as they grab their kid's hand in a hurry to get them away from me. Most fathers just stand there and just like their children wonder what horrible thing could've damaged me so bad. Maybe it was because I was in such hurry, I didn't see what I was doing or maybe it was the cave who did this to me—no wait, it definitely was the cave. I remember the excruciating sound as the cave cut my ribs. I tried to fit through and crawl between, all I could hear was people screaming frightened to what was happening. I tried to fit through, I really did, the cave, however, wasn't giving me a hand, he cut me, it was like that feeling when you attempt to dive in water and end up landing on your back, you can't see the redness of your back, but you sure can feel the burn. Well, that's exactly what happened, and since then I haven't been able to maneuver, they say that I'm dangerous and no longer useful. Sometimes I do feel like I'm just taking up space at the station, I've heard rumors, they want to get rid of me, take me to the dump they say. And sometimes I do feel that someday, someone will come and replace me and if I were to be taken away and destroyed I wouldn't be as surprised, I had it coming, no one ever makes the mistake I did. When I heard the screams not only was I frightened but the screams gave me the feeling that I could get through the cave, the screams gave me hope, they were the sound of living, and maybe yes, I knew people were getting hurt and bleeding, I could feel their blood stain my carpets and I could hear and feel their hearts beating but that heartbeat kept me going. Mr. Smith gave me all he could. he couldn't do much. he couldn't call for help, he didn't have a plan and my mind just wasn't in the right place. Out of all the things that could happen, the worse one has always been death, and maybe I jinxed it that night. He was a little boy, maybè seven or eight, I remember when he got on, he jumped right on me, he told his mother, "Momma, I can't wait to see Auntie Marie, Cousin Lu, and Uncle Frank, oh what joy mother!" I knew he was foreign, his voice sounded much different from my usual pick ups around the town. They must've been for England or a place even farther. Oh how omnipotent he made me feel, he being happy made me happy, I was filled up with joy twice as much as his. I remember someone knocked on the door to the cab, I didn't know who the man was but he said with fear and worry in his voice, "Sir Smith? There's something wrong, it's a boy, he's dead. His heart was nearly beating out of his chests, he stopped breathing after a while." The man then took hold of Mr. Smith's hand and said, "Sir, please promise me you'll get us out of this mess. I hopped on this train in hopes to see my family, I've been off fighting, please sir, don't let me di--tt Mr. Smith then stopped him mid-word and with a voice gently spoken, he replied, "I promise that I will try my best, I won't let anything happen to us—and Betsy, oh she's been running' for seven years now, she ain't letting me down. Mr. Smith•s words gave me hope, then I knew that I couldn't let him down or let anyone else fall and die like the boy while riding this train. However, the people went mad, eventually, my smoke and steam filled the air and all I thought was, please don 't die on me, please, I'm Irving, I'm sorry, please forgive me. At this point, I was even more frightened, I wish I could say that there was light at the end tunnel, but this tunnel was as dark at the night sky ahead of me. I had hope but as each minute passed my hope faded, just like the night sky. At one point I saw the sun rise and it was finally morning, who ever thought I'd be the one to ride right into a cave, the daylight helped a lot more than you'd think. I told myself that I wasn't going to spend another night here but that sun gave me the strengths I needed. Mr. Smith hollered at me with all he had left in him, "Come on Betsy, I'm giving you all I got!" Maybe if that sun hadn't come out that morning, I don't know what would've happened to me and everyone else that was there. We made it out and eventually I returned to my station, yes, with a broken roof and a run out engine, but I made it back and in that moment that's all that mattered. Either I'm tired of this madness or this is really happening but Mr. Smith is walking towards me, "Hey Betsy. I know I haven't been 'round much, but oh darling, don't I miss you. Betsy, I hope you're happy as much as I am. Wanna know why I'm happy? Well, I'll tell ya' Betsy they ain't gettin' rid of you. You're staying right here and you're not going anywhere anytime soon." To hear Mr. Smith say those words me made feel like I'm finally happy to be where I'm at. After living an absolute nightmare, I am no longer scared or worried, I'm calm and finally at the place I was meant to be at in the first place. |
Second Place
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When I was a young boy, my mom was obsessed with decorating the house. She wasn’t really an interior designer, and the house was never the best haunted house during October. Nevertheless, my childhood home never had the same décor for long.
During the spring time the entire house was filled with flowers, giant posters of bunnies, endless eggs. After Easter, the house piled up with a roaring summer jungle with little statues of tigers on every shelf, stand, and table. Once July began the tigers and lions were slowly replaced with American flags and the colors red, white, and blue. During autumn leaves and hay covered the walls, with pumpkins and ghosts added in October and then from there the mountains of pumpkins replaced with Turkeys and Pilgrims. However, by far my favorite time of décor was winter and Christmas. The entire Christmas season was when my mom went all out. Our entire house was filled to the brim with little white lights (yes, even on the roof) and a huge inflatable Santa and Reindeers and Penguins greeted you (even though penguins are from the South Pole). These were all great and all, and perfect to give a big hug but in my opinion these all fell flat to my favorite item to ever lay in my house, the snow globe. The snow globe sat on a little table in the corner of my living room, during the rest of the year that space was usually occupied by a beige lamp. For one, the snow globe was huge. I’m talking about a foot high snow globe. The snow globe had an entire world scenery in it, something you could stare at for hours on end, looking into Santa’s workshop. Of course the snow globe acted as any other snow globe, if you held it upside down and gave it a shake the entire North Pole went through a beautiful blizzard (that is if you could pick up the heaviest snow globe in the entire world), but the orb of winter had a few other features. On the little pedestal that carries the sphere part, there is a little train with elves, toys, and rolls and rolls of gift wrap surrounding the ball. If you picked up the sphere though you got the best part of the snow globe a little knob. If you cranked the knob for a good twenty seconds a Christmas music medley would play. That wasn’t all though, the train on the snow globe would dance in a circle to the beat, leaving you shaking the globe, setting it down and listening to the music as the train rode around the snowing scenery. Every night when I had the chance I would walk out from my room, past the Christmas countdown, past our silky stalking’s hanging on the fireplace to the snow globe. I would grab the monstrously large globe (which I was proud of having the ability to carry) and twist the knob in the middle of the bottom of the globe’s pedestal. I’d twist, and twist, and twist until I heard a soft clicking sound. I would release, letting the first note of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” put my other hand on the globe and shake. I’d rest the snow globe on the table and watch it, staring into the center of the orb until the music slowly came to a slow stop. Then I’d grab the snow globe, and do the entire process again, until my mom yelled at me, or Christmas ended. |
Third Place
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The day was drawing to a close, and the Grimsley family was walking down Hollywood Boulevard. It was our only day in Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, and we had definitely had a long day. We had ridden many rides at that point in the day; we were almost ready to go back to the hotel. The last ride we were going to ride was Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, and I knew I was going to wimp out on it.
Why, you might ask? The answer is simple. I hated scary rides. I was like this ever since my first time at Disney World. On my first trip, I was too frightened to ride on Goofy’s Barnstormer, the kiddie coaster, the Snow White dark ride, or even go into Rainforest Café. When my sister tried to drag me onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, I cried for an hour. When I rode Splash Mountain for the first time, I was so pale in line that my mom thought I was going to faint. I was awfully intimidated by any ride that had a drop, a loop, the dark, or any parts that would qualify as “slightly thrilling”. Over the years, my family realized this phobia of my mine and briefly stopped their attempts to make me ride any of the “big boy” rides. Another thing that was obvious was that I was not about to change. I was still scared of Splash Mountain and Space Mountain (at 11), and knew I wasn’t going to ride any of the big rides on this trip. I had already decided earlier that day that I wasn’t going to ride Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, my parent’s favorite ride at Walt Disney World. It encompassed an eighty foot drop, three loops, a sixty mile-per-hour launch and the added suspense of the dark. You couldn’t’ve asked of a worse ride for me; I was obviously not going to ride it. However, a part of me wanted to ride it. My friends had told me about this ride: the suspense of the launch, the stomach-in-your-throat feeling of the loops, the thrill of the dark. This part of me knew I would probably be teased among my peers if I didn’t ride the ride. That part of me, the side that was an extreme thrill-seeker, had a different opinion than the rest of me: it wanted to ride the ride. We stopped about halfway down Hollywood Boulevard, the path that takes you to Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, to part ways; my mom and my brother to the roller coaster, and my dad, my sister and I were going to head to a gift shop near the ride. My mom made one more futile attempt that she knew was probably pointless: “Trey, do you want to ride Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster?” “No ma’am. I think I’m gonna look for a T-shirt in this gift shop.” My mom let out an exasperated, disappointed sigh and a shake of her head, and with that, left with my brother. I walked into the gift shop with Emma and my dad. I started to look around at T-shirts, but one in particular caught my eye: a blue shirt with a laughing family riding a roller coaster together, and a title of “I survived Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster!”. All of a sudden, I felt a deep sense of regret. Then, an opportunity arose. An opportunity for the part of me that wanted to ride the roller coaster to grab hold. So it did. “Hey Dad? Is it too late to go meet up with Henry and Mom to ride the ride?” I blurted out. “Not if you can go quickly. Go, now. Run!” he answered. I quickly ran to the entrance of the ride, and sure enough, my mom and brother were just about to get in line when I caught up with them. I was still frightened as I ran up to them, but I knew I should ride the roller coaster and face my fears. When we were waiting in line to ride, my heart began to beat faster and faster and faster. What if the ride is super scary? What will happen if the ride starts and I don’t like it? How will I stop the ride? These questions, along with many others, squirmed around in my head as we stood and waited. Towards the end of the line, we walked into the room where the trains loaded. Right before we loaded, we had a clear view of the train in front of us, which launched from zero to sixty miles per hour in two seconds, sending screaming passengers into the dark tunnel ahead. As you can imagine, this made me even more terrified. I shakily got into the train and lowered the restraints down over my shoulders. You can’t turn back now, the voice in my head told me, so you might as well enjoy it. As we cruised toward the launch area, I was nervous, but started to relax, thinking that I might actually like it. And I was right. As soon as we launched forward, the adrenaline kicked in, and I smiled throughout the whole ride. As soon as I got off, I wanted to do it again. After the second time riding, we had to leave the park. I knew that I had to get a souvenir first, however. As we left the ride, I went back into the gift shop and got a new T-shirt: the blue one with “I survived Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster!” on it. After riding Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, I rode all the other rides at Disney World without hesitation. I even rode the monstrous Expedition: Everest ride in Animal Kingdom. I was so happy I had finally rode a big ride at Disney. I still love Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster, and even today, I wear the T-shirt, every once in a while. |
Honorable Mention
Hannah Walker "Stellar" |
Nothing was the same for Violet King after she lost her brother. She fell apart, constantly thinking about him and wondering why it had to be him. She spent most of her days wishing for him to be back by her side, causing trouble like when they were young.
She was alone now, sitting in an empty apartment. It was almost bare, white walls and white, porcelain floors. Violet removed all of her brother's belongings and packed them up. Sitting the boxes in a spare room, locking the door and throwing away the key. It hurt too much for her to look at it. Looking at his room, untouched from the last time he had left it, was just sad reminder that turned into wishful thinking. Violet hadn’t slept in two days, and her food intake was little to none. Her figure was gaunt and depressing. She hadn’t moved from the same spot on her bed in a little over an hour, and her muscles strained as she twitched slightly. She blinked. Without thinking, almost mechanically, she leaned back slowly, laying her body down against the white sheets of her twin bed. She uncrossed her legs and spread them out, her feet hanging off at the end. Her eyes closed slowly. It took her awhile to fall asleep. She still wasn’t used to the silence. The constant reminder that the life that lived in the King household no longer existed. Violet missed the rock music Oliver would blare at night, even though she’d yell for him to turn it down. She missed the way he’d wake her up early with a pot of coffee already brewing, and the way he would constantly talk about anything that interested him that day, or something that he’d been working on. She thought about all these things until she eventually fell into a deep sleep. --- The room was barely lit, the only light source was a bright orange lava lamp that glowed on the bedside table. The blankets on the bed were crumpled together from not being made that morning. Equipment, wires, and a sleek black guitar scattered the floor. Violet gasped when she recognized the room. Her heart pulled apart at the seams, and she squeezed her fingers into her palms. “Violet.” It hurt even worse to hear his voice. She wanted to turn around, but everytime she did, he wouldn’t be there. It drove her mad, to hear his voice and not be able to see him, to ask him if he’s okay, and what life was like; just to catch up with her brother. “Listen, Violet, you need to listen to me. I don’t know how to stay longer, but I need you to know that I’m here, I’m real.” The familiar voice stopped, and she woke up. --- Violet was drenched in sweat; it plastered her hair to her forehead and her shirt to her back. She attempted to slow her breathing as she draped her legs off the bed. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, reminding herself that it was just a dream - a nightmare even. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep for at least another day, and she dreaded the thought of it happening again. --- The air was clean and fresh - crisp with the scent of nature. There was a creek bed, surrounded with rocks and warm dirt. It felt like simple paradise. Violet sat next the the riverbend, her toes gently rested on a large smooth rock under the water. She breathed in deeply, at home in the silence. Violet knew the place: the river behind her family’s home in Montana. “Violet.” Her peace was shattered; her heart beat quickened and her palms became sweaty. “You’re not real. You died,” she whispered. “You’re not real. You died,” she repeated, over and over, hoping to wake up from the dream. “No, no, you need to listen to me I didn’t just die, Violet. I’m in a whole other place. I need to explain to you, but I need you to stay here, so I can.” Violet was hesitant as she turned around. Thoughts raced rapidly through her mind; she knew she would regret seeing him, although she did it anyway. Her heart broke. She felt as though it splintered, tearing at different angles. “Oliver.” She said, her voice weak and astonished and barely over a whisper. “ Hey, I don’t have long I’m still getting a hang of this. I need to explain this. This may sound crazy, but you have to believe me.” He paused waiting for a response. She nodded slightly,hanging onto his every word. She studied his features. His hair was same dark chocolate color. His eyes were the same bright hazel. His voice was the same deep and soothing voice She missed everyday. “I’m not really dead.” Violet’s brows furrowed, instantly becoming doubtful, her sliver of hope that this was real slowly began to rip away. “Well, I’m dead in your world, but there’s an afterlife, Violet. It’s real. My soul, my body never died. I’m really here, it’s really me.” “But, how…” Violet trailed off, not sure what she was asking. “This is my subconscious, it’s not real.” She said forcefully, attempting to comprehend the situation. “That’s where you’re wrong, Vi. It may be your dreams, but I’m still out there somewhere. I’m not exactly sure right now, but I’ll figure it out. I’ll figure out how to get you back. I promise; you just have to stay optimistic. You have to move on for now. Start your life again, Violet.” Her eyes stung, and her nose tingled. A tear fell down her cheek. “I miss you so much, Oliver. It’s so quiet without you here.” Violet hiccuped, quickly covering her mouth and closing her eyes. Oliver looked to the ground, guilt clouding his subconscious. “You’ve gotta stay strong. I know my sister, and I know you can get through this.” Violet couldn’t talk, she only nodded and stepped closer to him, pulling him into a hug. His touch felt real, which made her believe Oliver was really standing in front of her. “I love you, Oli.” She choked out. “I love you too, sis.” Suddenly, his warmth disappeared, a cold breeze from the water hitting her, pushing her hair off her shoulder. Several minutes passed and she wasn’t crying anymore, instead, the corner of her mouth tilted upward into a small smile. Whether it was her unique subconscious telling her to move on or truly a work of science fiction, she’d gotten her closure, and that’s all she ever needed. |