T.W.I.N.E.

"Untitled" by Desiree Barnes

David Slaying Goliath by Peter Paul Rubens

I was sitting in the park writing an essay

when I heard someone shout. "Somebody,"

help!" My essay forgotten, I ran towards

the voice. "Hey, leave her alone!" I

shouted. I had just interrupted a bully

trying to beat up a kid. "Fight someone

your own size," I added. The bully

was a big kid. I figured he was a

football player. "Alright. I'll fight

you if you think you're all that." He

came at me but I dodged. A police

cruiser came by and intervened. I

walked back to my essay and then headed

home satisfied with what I had done.

~poem inspired by dialog~

"News Flash! Catastrophe is Coming!" by Desiree Barnes

"Mr. President! Come quick! Something just landed in the middle of the ocean late last night. We have to go! Now!"

I stood from my seat as my secretary burst into my office.
"What happened, Ms. Byant?" I demanded.

"I'm not sure. But a major catastrophe happened! Millions are dead or missing! We must flee to the middle of the country!"

Just as we got to the plane, people began to drop dead around us. "Lord, preserve us!" I cried out before I, too, dropped dead.

"Laser Show" by Marie O'Grady

Last night was crazy! I mean, there were laser light shows, explosions, screaming and panicking. I couldn't believe it. When the thing happened, everyone was in an uproar, running as fast as they could and screaming. They never came up with a slogan for last night's disaster, but watching these weird creatures kill nearly everyone was amazing, both in an awesome and totally scary way. My dad was out of town, so he's probably okay, but who knows? Not me. My mom tried taking my older brother away from one of the things, but they were both eaten. It was grody, man!

At least I know that my little brother and I are okay. We have to hide though. Now some of these things are friends of mine. They started to like us, me and my brother, and didn't think that we deserved to die. That could be because I lead them to a group of the stupidest and moost annoying people I know, and they were willing to let me and my little brother survive because we supplied them with a big herd of moving food. Like I said, it isn't all bad; it sucks that big brother and Mom are gone, though. There's probably, maybe, one hundred thousand people left...but hey, whose counting. Gotta go now. Little brother is trying to get into the sleeping chambers of the things. I don't want to lose him, too. Until the next disaster, be careful out there folks...it's ugly.

"The Talking Critter" by Marie O'Grady

Musical Cricket by Henry Walter Bates

I'm sitting at my desk in my room.

I'm working on my latest project.

I'm hearing weird noises coming from outside.

I'm walking to the door.

I'm opening the door.

Once the door is open, I see my mother

crouched down talking.

"You're such a cute little fellow."

"Mom, who are you talking to?"

"Just a little cricket."

"Okay...why are you talking to a cricket?"

"Because it started talking to me."

"Hello." I jump. "Who said that?"

"It was me, a friendly little cricket."

"Crickets don't talk."

"Well, neither should birds, but they do."

"That's because they're parrots; they're smart birds."

"Well, then that makes me a smart cricket."

"Whatever; mom have fun talking with your little friend. I'm going back inside."

I walk inside and work on my project pondering

on the talking cricket and my mother talking outside.

"Since when do crickets talk?" I ask myself as I write it

down for my next writing project.

~poem inspired by dialog~

"The Gimme Gimme Bird" by Haley Ryan

Blue Heron (plate 79) by Eleazar Albin

I was swinging in the park with my younger cousin, when

I looked over and saw she had a bag of

popcorn. As I swung by I said, "gimme, gimme." She

looked around and then went back to eating popcorn. On my

next pass I said, "Gimme Gimme" again. This time

my cousin looked at me and asked, "Did you hear that bird say 'gimme gimme'?" I said, "No, I

was saying 'gimme gimme.'" She

looked at me for a while and then said, "So

you're the gimme bird, would like some

popcorn?"

~poem inspired by dialog~

"The Apocalypse" by Haley Ryan

Melting Volcano by Georgia O'Keefe

No one thought it was more than a mountain, just a place for dare devils to climb to the highest point on earth. On June 23, 2013, we all learned differently. Some hikers had gone to climb the mountain. My dad was one of them. 5 days later they reached the top. What they saw was not the top of a mountain, it was a pit of boiling lava. Today is the day after the explosion that destroyed over half of the earth's population. This is my journal of life as one of the few people who survived.

Entry 1:

My family died in the explosion. My dog is all I have left. I cannot leave the house because the air is filled with ash. Any hope I have of finding another survivor has been dashed.

[End of Entry 1]