The brittle soil crumbles beneath my boots as I walk along the path to the factory. It’s been five years since my family’s farm was forced to file for bankruptcy, along with most of the farms in the outskirts of the city. When Julian Thorne became king, the soil “mysteriously” became infertile. No plants have grown naturally, and the only way to grow anything at all is to buy an extremely overpriced fertilizer. Nothing else works, and no matter what my family tried, we couldn’t grow anything because we couldn’t afford to buy the fancy fertilizer. The same thing happened to most of my friends. A few weeks ago, we decided that we had had enough. Farming shouldn’t be something that King Thorne can dictate. We came up with a plan: steal the fertilizer formula. I have little hope that we can pull it off, but it had been five long years since and I had to try something. If me and my friends can get our hands on the formula, we can figure out why it works, and how to make the soil healthy again for everyone everywhere. Our plan is simple: get into the safe, get the formula, avoid the guards (more commonly known as storms), and get out. There are five of us, including me (Audrey), Caleb, Elena, Owen, and Liam. Liam and I will go in and get the formula because I’m the fastest thinker and he knows how to break into a safe. Elena will stay outside with our tech and Caleb and Owen are going in to distract any storms and get them off our trail. As I turn the corner and face the factory, I see the others waiting for me. I nod to them, and I turn to look at the huge, grey factory where all of the fertilizer is made. I usually avoid this area because the air tastes like metal, and smells even worse. I pulled my hood over my head and walked toward the massive grey tower. We don't know much, but we do know that the safe is on the third floor on the northeast side, the one we are facing now. Elena sets up the walkie talkies and the tracking devices so that we can all see where everyone is. A group of 10 or so storms walks into the factory, opening the door. Me and Liam take our chance and sneak in while the door is unlocked. We duck into a storage room and wait for the next troop of storms to walk through. They make regular rounds, so once we time how long it takes for another troop to come around, we can move throughout the factory better. Exactly two minutes later, another group of storms marches into the hallway. Me and Liam make our move. As soon as we can no longer hear the heavy steps of the guards, we carefully step out into the hallway. We quietly walk down the corridor until we come across a staircase. As we climb, we hear more storms walking down the hallway both above and below us.
“Alright, so they pass by at the same time on every level. That makes things a lot easier for us,” Liam says to me.
“Right, but we still have to be careful. It is a very real possibility that some of the troops are off schedule."
I check my tracker from Elena, and see that Owen is already on the northwest side of the factory and Caleb is about halfway between us and him: exactly where they're supposed to be.
After the troops pass, me and Liam finish our trek up the stairs until we reach the third floor. We decided to wait for the storms to pass again before stepping out into the hallway and starting our search for the safe. Eventually, we reach a door with a keypad lock on it, which is different from the rest of the doors which have no security.
“That’s it?” I ask Liam in disbelief. “I would have thought it would be more secure than that.”
“Me too, but it can’t hurt to check if and there is still the possibility that the formula is in here.” He whispers back to me as he starts to crack the code. While he is doing that, I use my walkie talkie to contact Elena, who is going to cut the lights so that we can sneak in without anyone seeing us.
After about a minute, the door clicks open and me and Liam step through. Right on cue, the whole room goes dark. Liam and I feel our way through the darkness until we reach a cold metal box that feels like a safe. Immediately, Liam starts to work on it.
“Audrey! Liam! The storm came quicker than expected!” I jump at the sound of Owen’s voice cutting across the walkie.
“You mean storms. There are about twenty or so of them and they are about a minute ahead of schedule. You two need to hide now. They must know that we’re here.” Caleb is usually so calm, and the panic and urgency I heard in his voice scared me.
The lights flicker back on and I turn to Liam.
“Almost done?” I ask him.
Just as I finish speaking, the safe cracks open and Liam grabs the paper inside.
“What are we going to do?” He asked me.
I look around the room for a way we can escape. There is no chance that we can go back out the door we came in without getting caught. I spotted a vent in the left corner just big enough for us to squeeze through.
“Perfect.”
i tried lol 😍
Boy and Kitten by SlyPigglet1 (girl, age 13yr, and while it is finished, she was unhappy to be sent to bed before having the opportunity to edit it to her satisfaction and I feel I ought to, in fairness to her, mention that disclaimer)
Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Boy. Boy was running away from home because he thought his Mommy and Daddy didn’t love him anymore. He built a raft and started carrying it to the ocean. While he was walking, he came upon a kitten lying in the grass.
“Mew, mew, I’m hungry,” it cried.
“Here,” Boy said, “Have some of the milk I have brought with me. I am running away from home. Would you like to come with me?”
“Yes, please!” mewed the kitten. “Thank you very much.” Boy decided to call the kitten Kitten. They walked to the ocean together. When they arrived, it looked like it might rain, but they weren’t worried.
“We will find land before it storms,” they told each other. Soon they were sailing across the ocean. But the storm came quicker than expected. It started to rain, then lightning started flashing, and waves grew higher and higher, tossing Boy and Kitten into the air, as they clung to their small raft. By sheer luck they were washed up onto a sandy beach, soaked to the skin, but unharmed. They found a dry cave and crawled into it, hugging each other for warmth. Boy started crying and Kitten started crying and they were so loud that a man outside the cave heard them. He popped his head in and smiled at Boy and Kitten.
“Hello,” he said, “I heard you crying, so I came to see what is the matter.”
Boy sniffled and told the man about running away and finding Kitten, the storm, and washing up in the cave. “And now,” he finished, bursting into tears, “I can’t get home and my mommy and daddy probably hate me anyway!”
The nice man smiled. “Don’t worry,” he told Boy, “I have a boat to take you home in. Your parents love you no matter what and are probably worried sick about you. I bet they would be very happy if you go home.”
Boy sniffed and said he would come. Kitten asked if he would be able to come, too, and Man smiled down at him and said of course. Man brought Boy and Kitten onto his boat and took them home. Boy’s mommy and daddy were waiting on the shore and hugged and kissed him. Boy promised never to run away again, and Kitten became part of the family. Everybody was very happy and celebrated late into the night.
The End
God Talk by SlyPigglet4 (boy, age 9yr, spelling corrected by me)
The storm came quicker than I expected. The storm came quicker than any of us expected. Ten hours earlier...
"You really believed them?!!?" Tom said angrily.
"It's just too dangerous to go now with all the traffic and whatnot."
"No, it's not!" Tom had been arguing with his father for hours and hours. Finally, Tom gave up with one last huff and then went to bed. Tom had no intention of going to bed. He packed his things and went out the window. He immediately wished he thought to bring a coat. A tree fell down in his path. After 2 hours something bit into his mind so fast it hurt. Tom thought, "God's word is sharper than a two-edged sword."
He heard God say, "Tom...Tom...ask...ask...ask for help once you reach there."
Tom knelt, "Yes, God." and then he prayed, "Dear Lord, guide my path as I work through the struggles of life and help me to do Your will." Eventually, he got there and explained and asked for a ride back home. That afternoon he buckled up and got ready to tell the truth. The point is we should always do what God wants us to do.
The End.
All In Your Point of View by SlyPigglet3 (girl, age 10.5yr, only spelling corrections made by me)
I am Tom DeCat, unluckiest cat EVER. My bad luck started when I was just a kitten. I got dropped on the floor like I was a hot coal and my mom said I was so pink I looked like one. The only thing good about it was I’m not lame for life, like that Mephibosheth guy from the Bible. Actually, now that I think about it, I am lame. Lame with bad luck. But it all changed one day when I walked out of a KittMart.
The storm came quicker than I expected, for as I walked out of the building where I just bought five cans of tuna, I had to get my coat and umbrella out as quickly as possible or I’d arrive at my apartment soaked to the bone. How unlucky. As I was about to set off into the rain, a cat tapped my brown hat. He had broad shoulders, a tan coat, and was significantly taller than I was. But the thing that made me most nervous was a small badge pinned to his breast pocket. I couldn’t see what it said in the light of dusk, plus the rain, but I thought I had seen that shape before.
“Mr. DeCat?” He asked.
A cold chill ran up my spine at the words. “That’s me.” I said.
The tall cat looked me over and took in my features. I was a grey cat with black stripes and wore a brown coat and hat. He was silent for a moment. Then he spoke.
“Mr DeCat, you’re coming with me.”
Right then it hit me like a brick. I did know that badge. Then, out of nowhere, a ginger cat grabbed my paw and pulled me into a truck. I heard shouting as I buckled up and knew we were being followed. How unlucky. I couldn’t believe I was so dense as to think that after all this time C.A.F.--Cooperation of Aggressive Felines–would forget that I found out that they mind controlled and tortured the cats that got in the way of them making money. I used to be a part of C.A.F. but discovered the truth and quit. I snapped back to reality as I realized I didn’t check if I was in a friendly vehicle. Relief washed over me as I recognized four old friends, a black cat with white on her paws, chest, and face named Cricket, a ginger cat named Kattarina, a siamese cat named Tramp, and Cricket’s identical twin brother Mr Mittens.
“Long time no see, Tom!” I cringed at how loudly Tramp said this, but I smiled at his voice. Unlike the cats elsewhere, we–all the cats in Catropolilis–have hair. That’s right, hair. Tramp had a silky pile of sandy hair while the twins and I had black and Katt was a red head. A Beautiful red head.
“Where are we going?” I asked Katt.
“We’re going to the authorities. This has gotten out of hand. Lucky we found you when we did.”
Lucky. Huh. I thought.
Five minutes later we pulled up in front of the Elite Police station. There was a question I needed the answer to, so I asked Katt.
“Katt?”
“Yeah?” She replied.
“How are we going to prove to the EP what C.A.F. is doing?”
“With these.” Katt said as she pulled out six pictures clearly taken with a polaroid camera. The contents of the pictures was of the machines that C.A.F. used. I was dumbfounded.
“How…? Who got these?” I asked.
“I did.” Katt said.
“Katt, I’m amazed! This is no small feat!”
Katt blushed and looked away. “Thanks.” She mumbled.
“Come on, love birds!” said Mittens.
“Before we report C.A.F. without you!” Added Cricket.
We all jumped out and walked to the door. Well, more like ran to the door because it was still raining.
“How unlucky.” I mumbled as we sprinted toward the door. Mittens heard me and punched my arm.
“How unlucky? Are you still stuck on how “unlucky” you are? If you asked me, I’d say you were lucky.”
“How?” I challenged.
“First, you were lucky it was raining because C.A.F. agents don’t like rain. Second, you were lucky we came when we did. And third, you were lucky when you were a C.A.F. agent that they didn’t find out that you knew sooner. I think it’s all in your point of view.”
“Huh. All in your point of view.” I mused as we walked into the EP. I was lost in thought as Katt presented the pictures to the officer. Apparently the Elite Police were already on to C.A.F. and Katt’s pictures confirmed their suspicions.
Three days later C.A.F. was put on trial. One month after that Katt and I started dating, then the news came.
“Katt?” I asked gently. “Katt, what’s wrong?”
Tears streamed down her face as she hung up and put her phone in her purse. Katt rested her head in her hands as she sobbed out the stunning words “Grandpa...died.”
I was shocked. Two days after that Katt’s aunt, Yile, had become a Christian. Three months after that Katt and I walked hand in hand. We stopped and sat on a bench. My heart pounded in my ears as we talked.
Here’s my chance, I told myself as Katt stopped talking.
I got down on one knee and took a ring out of my pocket. Katt’s eyes widened as I asked a question that would change her life, hopefully for the better.
“Katt, will you marry me?”
Her only question was “What is your point of view?”
And I gave an answer that made her smile. “Well, if you say yes, I’ll be the luckiest cat in the world.”
The End
