Writing Contest Finalists

The Surprise

What could it be? I thought. Something really tiny was wrapped in tissue paper. I picked it up to discover…nothing.

“Great!” I yelled out to the world, “I missed iCarly for nothing! A tissue? I’m not sick! Whoever left this…you’re crazy!”

I grabbed the box and stomped inside. Even though I had missed only a minute of commercial break, I was still really upset.

Ever since I started school back in kindergarten, kids had made fun of me and picked on me. I hadn’t made a single friend throughout my school career. Now I was in middle school, and things hadn’t gotten any better.

The only comfort I found was in books and TV. I would pretend to be a character in the story and forget about my real life. That was why I was so upset when somebody rang the doorbell and left the tissue, I remembered my real life with no friends. I was an only child, so it wasn’t like I had ten brothers and sisters. I was alone…friendless.

A few hours later, I was reading a book and trying to pretend that I was in the story, when a thought suddenly hit me. Throughout my whole life, whoever I’d tried to befriend would talk to me for a while and then completely ignore me the next time he or she saw me. Some people changed the way they looked and the clothes they wore, so they could be popular. For me, that wasn’t an option. What was an option though, was changing the way I acted toward others. I had a quick temper, and I admit I was pretty bossy. If I was able to fix that, maybe people would accept me for who I am.

For the rest of the weekend, I minded my temper and tried not to be as bossy. When school started on Monday, I stepped off the bus, confident with the new me.

A few days later, a girl named Kaylie walked up to me, smiling. I managed to smile back, when I normally would’ve returned the smile with a scowl.

“Hello,” said Kaylie.

“Hi,” I said, suspicious that she might start making fun of me.

“Did you get the note?” asked Kaylie.

“What note?” I asked. “Somebody left a tissue on my porch, but I didn’t get a note.”

“The note was on the tissue,” explained Kaylie.

“What did it say?”

“Want to be friends?”

I felt a sudden surge of joy run through me as I grinned.

Smiley

“Whoa, a poem and a smiley face,” I said sarcastically, not seeing what else was there.

I tossed it aside and watched the rest of iCarly. When it was over, I looked back in the box and read the poem:

This treat is for you, we hope you’ll enjoy.
The idea is simple, one we hope you’ll employ.
This box was delivered to you by a friend down the street.
We hope you did not see them as they made their retreat.
Smiley, a neighborhood friend, has come to brighten your day.
Someone, somewhere, has selected you to receive treats this way.
You must display Smiley on your door, so all can spy,
That you have already been visited by this happy little guy.
Then fix three boxes with goodies, like the ones given to you.
Ring three persons’ bell, leave each a box, and make them happy, too!

After I read the poem, I saw treats in the box. This idea was really clever. This was going to fun. I went out to see who didn’t have Smiley on his or her door yet and decided on the three houses. They were the Carsons, the Tearneys, and the Willis couple. The Carsons just had a baby, and I wanted to congratulate them. The Tearneys just moved into our neighborhood, and I wanted to show them that we were a kind, hospitable neighborhood. The Willises were an old couple that needed to know someone was thinking about them. At each step, I was having more and more fun.

I bought the surprises. Then my mom and I drove around the neighborhood to plan the best execution routes. The anticipation was building, and I was very excited.

I decided to go to the Tearneys first, then to the Carsons and the Willis couple. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and put on dark clothes and a hat. I had to be very well camouflaged to not be seen. We drove around the neighborhood—all of them were home. I rang the Tearneys’ doorbell and hid. After the coast was clear, we drove away. We did the same for the remaining houses and used different routes.

I wasn’t able to see their reactions behind closed doors, but a few weeks later, everyone was buzzing about Smiley. Many people were saying how fulfilling it was to give and were raving about what a cool concept Smiley was. I talked to my own friends about it, and they all agreed that giving was better than receiving. I was proud to be able to say the same thing…iCarly was a repeat anyway!

Angel

Inside, there was another little box. The first thing I saw in the little box was a note: “Please do not open until September of next year.”

The decorations on the box instantly reminded me of my creative BFF Madeline. Though I knew the box couldn’t have been from her. She was currently in the hospital with Leukemia—a cancer of early-forming blood cells. During the last few months, she has been at the hospital a lot. I was scared for her. I pushed that thought out of my head and put the box in my room. I wondered whom it could’ve been from.

Later, I decided to go and visit Madeline at the hospital. I brought some homemade cookies. When I got to Madeline’s room, she was sitting on the bed, reading. When she noticed me, she gave me a huge smile. While eating our cookies, we talked about everything BFFs talk about. She said she was getting bored at the hospital. I thought, I should visit her more often.

And I did. I made it a habit to visit her every day after school, even if it was only for a little while. I stayed longer on weekends. Still, I missed her between visits.

On her birthday, I made a picnic for us with all of her favorite foods and a small cupcake. She really enjoyed it.

One day, the doctors said that she’d be fine and finally let her out of the hospital. But not too long afterward, she had to go back in. I was confused and didn’t quite understand what was going on. I watched as Madeline became smaller and weaker each week.

Some nights, I cried myself to sleep. Other nights, I stayed up the whole night thinking about what I knew was coming…Madeline’s death. I knew she didn’t have much time left. I thought about the good times we had together, like all the summers we spent splashing in her pool. She was always there for me no matter what.

During the second week of January, Madeline died. I had lost my best friend. The floor underneath my feet seemed to fall. I tried to move on, but it was hard.

The following September, I was cleaning my room and found the decorated box under my bed. I opened it, and tears began to stream down my face as I looked inside. There were a bunch of pictures of Madeline and me, and little mementos that sparked up so many good memories. Then I noticed a note:

Dear Rachel,

I miss you. I wrote this note to let you know that I am your guardian angel. You used to help me so much. Now it is my turn to help you. I’ll always be there for you.

Love,
Madeline
 XOXOXO

I smiled knowing she was watching over me and that we were going to be best friends forever, no matter what.

Back to Where I Started

“What is it?” I asked myself.

It was carefully packaged with cotton balls and bubble wrap. I picked it up and examined the gift. It was shiny, that’s for sure. It was a watch with six black buttons and one red one. I pressed the red button. A rush of colored wind came through the open doors and windows of my house and started to circle around me. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t. The wind circled faster and faster, and then all of a sudden, it stopped.

After a long pause, I finally stuttered, “Wha…w…what was…that?”

“Wa?” said a small voice.

I slowly turned around to see who was behind me. I could tell that she had gotten dressed by herself this morning. She had on one blue sock and one red sock, her skirt was backwards, and only half of her hair was tied up in a ponytail.

“Mac?” I was in disbelief. She was shaking. She had seen everything.

“What was that?” she asked me.

“Um…nothing,” I lied. I was panicking. I didn’t know what to say.

“Mac, can’t you see I’m busy?” I questioned.

“It’s Mackenzie!” she corrected. I rolled my eyes.

“Right, right, go away,” I said.

“Fine!” And she left, without another word.

I sighed. I should have handled that better, but I needed answers about this watch thing. I didn’t have a choice. I needed to ask my older brother for help, so I went downstairs and knocked on his door—the one with the sign: “GENIUS AT WORK.” But I changed the word “genius” to “nerd.” Man, did I get punished for that! I knocked softly.

“Billy, are you in there?” No answer.

“What are you doing?” said a voice behind me.

I jumped, and there he was. He was short for his age and didn’t look like my “big” brother. He wore a sweater vest and neat pants, and he didn’t care if his hair wasn’t the coolest around.

“Um, can you help me Billy?” I asked. He smirked.

“No!” he said and walked away. I rushed after him.

“Billy, please, you gotta tell me what this is.”

He turned toward me, rolled his eyes, and took the watch from my hand. He scanned the item with his eyes.

“Time, year, date?” he questioned. Then he looked up.

“It’s a time machine!” His eyes gleamed. I grabbed it from him.

“Then why didn’t I go anywhere when I pressed this big red button?” I asked. Billy smiled.

“Because you didn’t enter where you wanted to go.”

“Oh.” I blushed.

“So…” Billy nudged me. “Where are ya gonna time travel to?”

I thought about this for a while. I could see my future and fix it if I didn’t like it. I could go to the Old West, the day of my birth, Mom and Dad’s wedding, the time of the dinosaurs…

“I know!” I screamed.

I ran upstairs to my room and closed the door behind me. I entered the time, date, and year. I put the watch on my wrist and pressed the red button. My windows burst open, and a strong gust of the colorful wind came through and circled me.

I looked at my watch. 3…2…1.

A bright light seemed to spark from my watch. Everything was quiet. My eyes were shut tight. I could only hear my heart beat and my breath shuddering. I slowly opened my eyes.

“It worked!” I squealed, “It worked…I’m here!”

As fast as I could, I ran to the living room, jumped on the couch, and turned on the TV. The host said, “Up next…iCarly!”

“Yes! I didn’t miss it!” I said.

I had time traveled back in time to watch the iCarly show. I’d missed it because I had answered the door.

Ding Dong. It was the doorbell. I looked at the door and laughed.

“No way, I’m not getting that.” I looked at the watch on my wrist. “I already got one.”

The Stone of the Wolf

A necklace: It was a thin silver chain with a charm. The charm was a smooth stone with a very strange marking on it—a swirl. I put the necklace around my neck. I traced the engraving and followed it to the middle with my finger. Then the swirl started to glow. Powder came out of the necklace and flew into my body. I felt a burst of freezing coldness go through my body.

I then felt something growing. My jeans and T-shirt were now a silver dress, down to my knees.It was the color of moonlight. My simple sneakers were now fresh silver boots that looked like they had just been on the runway.

I looked at my reflection in a puddle on the street. I had changed. I saw a girl with silver hair, grey wolf ears, and a grey wolf tail. I felt my head…wolf ears. What had happened to me?

I looked like some freak—a mutant wolf girl. I paused as I took out a note from the bottom of the box. It was written in delicate letters: “You must use your unique abilities to fight the aliens; you now have the genes of Grey Wolf.”

Okay, I thought, that explained the wolf ears and tail! But what aliens?

I gasped. A lizard-like creature was in front of me. It was huge and had fire-red eyes that seemed to drill holes into the street. There was another note in the box. It said, “Moon Echo.”

“Moon Echo?” I wondered out loud. A silver rod appeared in front of me.

Okay!

“Moon Echo!” I yelled.

Pure energy shot from the rod. I could feel it vibrating. The lizard creature screeched and then dissolved. I had defeated it.

A figure appeared in front of me. It was a boy, and he looked around 18.

“I am Ryan,” he said. “You are the chosen one. As you already know, you have the genes of Grey Wolf. You must protect this world from aliens who wish to make the earth their own. Once you defeat all the aliens around you, you will return to your normal form.”

As if on cue, I returned to normal. Ryan disappeared.

I guess I’m a hero now! I thought.

I was excited, yet scared. The fate of the world depends on me—just one wolf girl. I won’t let Earth down.

A calm wind blew my hair like a thank-you. The sunset and wind calmed my nerves. Just then, I realized I had missed iCarly!

Well, some things are more important than iCarly…like saving the world!

Mirabelle

The weirdest thing I had ever seen stared up at me. And I mean stared…like, really stared…with two eyes. Make that two tiny eyes—the eyes of a tiny person.

“Is this for real?” I mumbled, examining the microscopic little girl who looked about my age.

She was no taller than my pinky with tiny—or big in her case—blue eyes, blond hair, and a thin frame. She looked like the smallest Barbie doll ever created.

“Look,” said a tiny voice.

I jumped and fumbled, almost dropping the box. That’s when I realized it was the tiny person speaking.

“If I’m going to be living with you, could you at least not study me like a lab rat?”

Wow. Tiny girl, big attitude. Oh, well. I was too fascinated to notice. Could this really be happening to me?

“Um, sorry,” I practically whispered. “Why don’t we go inside?”

“Anything to get out of this dumb box,” she said, flipping her hair with an itty-bitty hand.

I whizzed past the TV, where iCarly was still on. I didn’t care about that anymore. I had a teensy person and a lot of questions to ask her!

Up in my room, I let her out of the box with shaking hands and dropped her into a small wicker basket on my desk.

“More captivity?” she asked, wrinkling her tiny button nose. “Thanks a lot!”

I rolled my eyes. Whatever, I had to ask her my questions.

“Who are you? What’s your name? Why are you so tiny? Are there any more of you? Why were you on my front porch?”

She held up her hand—hey, was that a French manicure I saw?—to stop my rapid-fire questions.

“Calm down! Calm down! I’ll tell you!” she said, taking a dramatic pause and smoothing her tight pink T-shirt. “My name is Mirabelle. I guess I’m tiny to you because you’re so big. Of course there are more of me. How else would I have been born?”

She stopped for a moment. Her tiny lips curled up into a smirk.

“And why was I on your front porch? I don’t know. I mean, yesterday, some huge guy in a white coat scooped me right out of third period math class, put me in a box, and dropped me off here,” she finished with a flourish, flipping her hair.

“But there’s got to be more. There’s got to be,” I said. I just knew Mirabelle wasn’t telling me the whole truth.

“There might be,” Mirabelle smiled. “And I’ll tell you sooner or later. But for now, you’ll just have to wait and see.”

I smiled. I knew Mirabelle and I would get along just fine.

High-Tech Helping Powers

With just one day, I chose to use these magical powers to help the poor and homeless children. I chose to use my magical powers in two of the poorest places on earth—India and Africa. To each poor child I met, I gave food, clothes, and shelter.

In India, an orphan child had lost her parents to a big flood during the monsoon season. I decided to use my magical powers to find her loving adoptive parents. For the few hours that I was with the poor, I took their pictures and got their information.

After I finished my work in India, I realized I only had 16 hours left. I flew to Africa. Some kids were dressed in rags, digging through trash bags to look for food. The rich kids were teasing them. To each of the poor kids, I gave clothes, food, and the power inside to not listen to those rich kids.

For two seconds, I stopped and thought. Look at all these poor children and compare their lives to ours in America. We are all humans, and each of us should be treated the same way.

I felt I was doing the right thing with my magical powers. I had one more thing to do before I left Africa. I took their pictures, got their information, and flew back to America with only a couple of magical hours left.

At home, I created a web site quickly. I uploaded their pictures and typed up their stories. Using my powers, I sent out as many e-mails as I could to big Internet companies. My web site was all about how to help each of those poor, homeless children.

I might not have helped everyone, but now other people could see the web site I made and help, too. The only thing that could go wrong is people not caring enough to respond. But I hoped the personal stories and pictures of each child would encourage them to consider it. And that’s pretty magical!

Making a Difference

There are so many things I would want to do for the world if I had amazing magical powers. If I only had them for a day, I would have to pick and choose because there are too many things that I would want to change.

First, I would stop the wars that are happening in the Middle East and other places in the world. Since I could only use my powers on one person at a time, I would go to the leaders who started the wars and get into their minds with my powers. I would make them fix the problems between their countries and stop their soldiers from fighting. This would be the fastest way to stop the war. If I went to the soldiers to stop them, I wouldn’t be able to get to them all. And the leaders would just get another army after a while because the problems would never be resolved.

Next, I would go to poor countries, such as Africa and the Caribbean, with my teleportation abilities and give the people necessities like food, homes, clothing, and wells for water. I would only be able to do so much though, and I’m sure people would plea for help—which would be hard to ignore since there are millions of people in need. Fortunately, if I also gave people animals, the number of animals would increase over time because the animals would have young. There are many uses for animals.

I would also go to the governments around the world, especially dictatorships and communist governments. The trick is to change the rulers because the rest of the world follows and accepts what they say. This would not only help the countries I change, but the whole world because everyone is affected by bad things happening around them. Not everyone would appreciate these things being changed, and governments and wars might slip back to the way they were. This also applies to poverty after resources are used up and more babies are born. Even if I only help the world a little, a little improvement is still better than nothing.

If everything does slip back, people would still be motivated to stop wars and poverty—they would’ve had a glimpse of what the world could be without these things. I might only make a little change, but the world would have hope and motivation.

Predictions

“Ana, could you get my water?” my grandma asked in a raspy voice.

“Sure, Grandma,” I told her. As soon as I left the room, tears started to pour, even though I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. Grandma and I had always been so close which was why it was so painful to see her in bed with cancer. Every breath she took made her weaker and closer to death.

As I hurried down the steps into her kitchen, I noticed an exotic, divine little girl. Normally, I would have called the cops—or at least asked for her name—but I just stood there as though she were paralyzing me.

“Why are you crying?” she asked in a beautiful, musical voice. It sounded like she already knew.

“My grandmother is sick,” I forced myself to say.

“If you could have a power, what would it be?” she asked. Okay, I thought, that’s just random! But then again, she herself is random.

Thinking carefully, I said, “To predict the future.”

Then I would know when Grandma would die and be with her.

After that, she just gave me a piece of paper. It read: “It only works for 24 hours. You can only help one person.”

“What does this mean?!” I asked, but she had vanished.

I looked at the paper again, reading it carefully. Then I knew.

“Oh…my…gosh.” Just as the words came out of my mouth, I fell to my knees while everything around me fell into darkness.

I walked into a familiar house and saw a man rejoicing, holding a paper that said, “Cancer.”

Suddenly, I was back at Grandma’s house. I then ran to my neighborhood, putting all the puzzle pieces together as I ran.

I have my ability for 24 hours, it can help only one person, the man found a cure to cancer, and he was my neighbor.

“What do you know about cancer?” I demanded as Henry happily opened the door.

“How did you know?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“Just tell me!” I said, beginning to feel angry.

At that moment, I fell to my knees again, and we were with Grandma. The little girl was standing beside her. They said in unison, “Ana, save me!”

“Or forever suffer great remorse,” said the girl.

So this girl has cancer, too?! What was I going to do? I can only help one person! I felt a need to help the girl because there was something magical about her. I grabbed Henry by the arm and ran to my grandma’s kitchen. I demanded that Henry give her the medicine. He did, most likely because of my weird behavior and this godly little girl.

I fell to my knees and had a flashback of everything that happened that day.

I got up to see the girl gone. My grandma and my mom were standing behind me.

“Where have you been, Ana? Grandma has been cured by a miracle!” my mom said.

In disbelief, I hugged my grandma. Then she thanked me in the same glorious voice of the little girl.

Globally Known

One thing was for sure, having magical powers does not always pay off.

It all started one day when a man named Maxim arrived at my house. He told me, “I have been watching your good deeds since you were born. Now, I am awarding you with magical powers that can be used to help people.”

He believed I can help the world…in just 24 hours! I wanted to try my best. The first thing I was going to do was stop global hunger.

I flew over to Central America and sprinkled food dust all over the fertile land. In about a day or so, they would have food. I began with the land of a man named Talien and moved on to everyone else. Then I went off to the rest of the world!

The whole world had food. Now maybe, just maybe, I could add lots of freshwater rivers into dry areas and bring rain to deserts. First, I went to Africa, the hottest continent. Each person was going to have a small lake in his or her backyard. Who was I going to start with? I wondered, Oh! Mazzini, my African pen-pal!

The whole world was watered, and there was only one more thing to do…stop global warming. My powers let me breathe in space and repair air patches and ozone layers.

Oh, no! I had only one hour left. Dear goodness.

I thanked the good Lord for my special ozone vision. I was able to see exactly where to bend the lines and repair the ozone. Time check: Only thirty minutes were left. I had better hurry.

I was about to reach the surface of the Earth. It was hard to believe that I saved the whole world in just 24 hours. It was a great experience, and sadly, my hours were already up. It was amazing. I repaired the ozone layer! Hopefully, everyone was happy and overjoyed at the good fortune…

Ohmigosh. Everyone hated me.

I accidentally grew food on some people’s houses and poured water on their driveways! I was so unhappy. I thought I had saved the world. Sadly, I couldn’t go back and change anything. My powers were gone.

A few minutes later, I received a letter from a young girl in Tanzania. She was so excited about my help! It read:

Dear Cassidy,

My family is very happy that you helped us by bringing food and water. The lakes are great. We have one to bathe in and use as a swimming pool and the other one for drinking water. Thank you for all you’ve done. Oh, and thank you for the global warming repair, too. Now no one will die and burn to a crisp!

Thanks,
Aniela Sorenson & the rest of the Sorenson family

Oh, well wasn’t she sweet. Good to know that I had helped one family.

I got more letters that day. I helped everyone. And you know what? It felt great.

The Heroine

Cassidy awoke in the night. She squinted at the luminescent green letters. 10 o’clock. The air hung, enveloping her. Cassidy stared into the velvety blackness. Was she hearing things? Well, what she did hear were small voices shouting.

“Help!”

“Save me!”

“I need you!”

Sluggishly, Cassidy trudged downstairs. She tiptoed to the front door. She left the house and entered the crisp of the night. Cassidy was able to pick out a voice. She followed it. She followed it out across the sea. Suspended in air, the supernatural girl watched in shock at what lay below her. Cassidy hovered above a small village in eastern Africa. It was a city called Darfur in the country of Sudan. There is genocide.

Do you, reader, know what genocide is? I’ll tell you. Genocide is like a war, except one side is very powerful, and the other side is completely innocent and helpless.

Cassidy watched in horror as children were taken from their parents, houses were burned down, and much worse things that I can’t bring myself to mention. Cassidy tried to shuttle people to safety, but alas, her powers only affected one person at a time. Instead, Cassidy got the government of Sudan to quit stabbing their citizens with evil and injustice.

She placed one of the people in charge—someone who would be able to lift the veil of evil from not only that city, but as far as the eyes could reach. She created a democracy and got the people back on their feet by building houses out of the debris lying around. By this time, the sun had just peeped its golden eyes on them.

Cassidy left the villagers with their newfound knowledge. She heard more cries for help. Some small, some large. She ran. On her way to the next voice, Cassidy came across a man who didn’t ask for help, but needed it. (Sometimes, people who really need help are the ones who don’t ask for it.) He was choking. Cassidy did the best she could, but then she remembered her powers. The magical girl sputtered some words, perhaps a spell. The man gasped.

“Oh, thank you!” he breathed. “Here, take my stand!” He rolled a chrome cart to her.

“What’s this?” she asked baffled. She lifted the lid to find frozen hotdogs and buns.

“Oh, thank you!” she squealed.

As Cassidy flew off, she heard the man’s faint voice saying, “No! Thank you!”

By then it was noon. Our heroine landed in southern Asia. There were children there. Children who claimed they had no food because their parents died of AIDS. Cassidy glanced at the silver cart.

“Well…”

She gave into the fact that she had just ate the night before and that these kids haven’t eaten for months.

One by one, she heated the cold cylinders of meat and handed one to each child. Now all she had left was one defrosted bun. It was 6 o’clock. Oh, how time flies! Cassidy had to get home.

Cassidy landed at home from the midnight blue sky. As she was about to walk through the door, Cassidy felt something tangling itself in her legs. She looked down to find an emaciated, striped tabby. Cassidy held out her palm. In it was a bun—her last bun. The cat gobbled it down and purred.

Cassidy walked inside and trotted up the stairs. It was 10 o’clock, and her powers were gone. Cassidy crawled into her welcoming bed.

* * *

Cassidy woke up to the sounds of puttering life outside of her room. She skipped happily downstairs. Worry then painted Cassidy’s face. She thought of all the people that still needed saving.

Cassidy then planted trees, volunteered, saved up money to send to others, and even did the simplest things like recycling and turning off the lights. Why did she do this? She did it because Cassidy still has her powers, and so do you.

Together, we can donate money, organize food drives, donate toys, volunteer, and even do the smallest thing like turning off the lights or just being nice. It’s all about helping and caring for others as we would do for ourselves.

As for me? This is just the beginning.