2021 FCHS Undefined

UNDEFINED
Vol. 18/ Est. 2005
2021 Literary Magazine
Fluvanna County High School

Oladunni Opaleye '22
Justine Rodriguez '22
Elle Dudzik '21
Brooke Napier '23
Cassidy Wagner '21
Amya Perry '22
Megan Russell '23
Skylar Solga '21
Ryan Holman '21
Carlie Leitzel '22

UNDEFINED
2021 FCHS LITERARY
MAGAZINE
A collection of poetry,
prose, and artwork from
Fluvanna County
High School students

Table of Contents
Poetry
03 Tree of Knowledge - Tyler Haynes
03 i give up - Tyler Harris
03 What is the Mind? - Gabrielle Etchinson
04 Fire & Water - Joseph Sloan
04 Fester - Jordan Booker
04 Sunset - Kimberly Bond
05 The Words - Mikyla Trull
05 Selfless - Michaela Clements
06 A Miracle She Is - Hayley Marshman
06 A Song - Conner Small
06 The Garden of Life - Emma Ward
07 Paintbrush - Laura Hernandez
07 Paradox - Alura Ackerman
07 Innocence is Strength - Kaylee Shreve
Prose
08 It Was Nothing - Julia Tomaras
10 Strength - Arianna Todd
11 I'm a Pencil - Somer Sweitzer
11 Dear Covid-19 - Mia Smith
13 And there will be Dragons - Kessler
Potter
16 Change - Haliey Leake
17 Jurassic Park 2.0 - Lauren Kreitzman
20 Fixing a Painless World - Gabrielle
Etchinson
24 The Monster of New Orleans - Kimberly
Bond
27 Song - Conner Small
30 Virus - Joseph Sloan
30 Everyone Has Disappeared - Tyler
Haynes
2

Tree of Knowledge
John Smeds '23
Tyler Haynes '21
Science is a tree of knowledge
that grows and grows.
A tree continues to grow,
never yielding to complacency.
Despite getting bigger with an addition of nutrients,
it continues to add to its collection.
The tree never accepts its work as done.
The tree continues to pull resources
from more and more places.
There is always more to gather,
more to absorb and learn.
What is the Mind?
Gabrielle Etchinson '23
The mind is a clear maze
So clear that you can see
All of your thoughts
And all of your ideas
However, it is also such a maze
Where you get lost thinking
And you don’t know
What you really mean
If you close your eyes
and slow your breathing
Your tangled mind
Becomes a line
The mind is a clear maze
quiet, too quiet
though not anymore
thoughts too loud
breaking down the door
of my newly formed will
and my strength not yet formed
of my taking a stand
and my confidence, stormed
Give up
You can't
Go back
they chant
the voices subside
the quiet is back
nothing is left
in this powerless black
suddenly alone
in my dark, hopeless hole
what's the point in fighting?
i give up, i’m done
Nya Reid '21
i give up
Tyler Harris '21
3

Fire & Water
Joseph Sloan '23
One brings life and prosperity,
while another can bring pain and death.
Which one is best for the population?
One warms people or burns,
while another heals or drowns.
There are pros and cons to both.
Hydration or heat?
Both will always be vital.
Both are limitless for the average American.
Brenna Kidd-Bania '21
Nya Reid '21
Fester
Jordan Booker '21
Hang from the vine of the sweetest nest,
it'll give you everlasting love and a day of rest.
Feast from the fruit that is the most eye-catching,
and let the juices flow in a ravishing current.
Avoid the core as it is beautiful to the eye, indeed a
verdant.
Walk on the path that holds the most rocks.
Take the smooth end and you'll meet a cliff,
where neverending pain flocks.
Go there, you must climb a tree to see the entire
picture.
Mistake it not, blindness and determination can be a
dangerous mixture.
Forget what you read, it was tedious, no?
Falling in love can be just as hard as letting it go.
Sunset
Kimberly Bond '23
Sun falls
Under the
New horizon
So long
Exquisite sight
‘Till I see you again tomorrow night
Olivia Morris '23
4

The Words
Mikyla Trull '21
The night was scary and loud
A bunch of blurry faces in a crowd
But I thought that you would be proud
And even though you vowed
I was still not allowed
Names being thrown like a paper ball
Then I keep trying to sprawl
Onto my side and into the wall
Even though you try to stall
I still try to crawl
Wanting to be a chameleon, blend into the
background
Instead I was in a pound
As I was on the battleground
And then I drowned
With no sound
Even with all my doubt
I still hope you will not come about
But you start to shout
The argument being just like a roundabout
But this was real life, no way out
Nowhere to hide, trying to go into the darkness
And you are being heartless
As I am like a rotting carcass
I have on a harness
To protect me from you and your harshness
Nothing works, hurts so bad
But the fact that you are my dad
And you threw away everything we had
It's like I needed a shoulder pad
To try and get through this, my dear old lad
The pain was unbearable, but you said the words
anyway
You tried to take away my birthday
Trying to make me obey
But here I lay to pray
Trying not to think about yesterday
It hurt me too, no one cares or sees
I'm like a leaf in the breeze
Me screaming “please”
And you keep trying to squeeze
While my heart is starting to freeze
I'm still there, everyone wants me to talk
And I'm just trying to walk
It will be just like a cakewalk
Even though you still sit there and stalk
I will just gawk
I won't say a word, I never will
It is like a professional skill
Even if you try to drill
I will never get a chill
And I will never spill
Marissa Cantu '23
Selfless
Michaela Clements '24
What is the opposite of selfishness?
Maybe it's someone who will share when you are
there.
Someone with snacks and you say "please"
They say, "You're my friend, so, yes, indeed.”
What is the opposite of loss?
Maybe it's when you're feeling down, so they give
you a little toss.
When your friend asks if you want a hug
You just give them a little shrug.
What is the opposite of awful?
Maybe it’s when you start to feel joyful.
You start to feel happy
After you had gotten a little snappy.
5

A Miracle She Is
Hayley Marshman '21
Eyes shine golden upon the sun
Smile brightens planet to planet
Her fair skin cannot be compared
Hair falls to her shoulders like the tide
upon the shore
Loving her is no chore
Listening to her defines fun
To save her beautiful soul I’d dash across granite
My love will never be shared
For her I would go to war
Our souls connect deeper than the core
Falling for another maiden cannot be done
Sweet like pomegranate
With her there’s no such thing as a bad habit
Afraid to lose her is why I am scared
My heart will never again be torn
I have loved her before
Eyes shine golden upon the sun
Smile brightens planet to planet
Her fair skin cannot be compared
Hair falls to her shoulders
like the tide upon the shore
Loving her is no chore
Because a miracle she is.
A Song
Conner Small '21
It spreads around us
A fire we all can see
It takes me by surprise
Burns me
Its colors ever-changing
A glow that captivates
It’s wild one day
Tame by the end of the week
But it’s always blazing
Connecting us
Emilie Jackson '23
The Garden of Life
Emma Ward '21
Life is a garden
Filled with color and beauty
Each plant reaching for the sky
For the light and the hope that we all search for
Each person is a plant
Unique and beautiful in their own way
Different colors, shapes, and sizes
But each alike in one simple and important way
Each plant is alive and growing
Each and every day
Elle Dudzik '21
6

Paintbrush
Laura Hernandez '23
my paintbrush is a lake
holding its water until it dries.
its contents roll down its point
and onto paper when it cries
it is silent when it moves
twisting and flowing like a stream.
it can create anything I want it to, just like a dream
it recreates the world and demands its attention.
but it still messes up and asks for redemption.
my paintbrush is a mirror that reflects who I am
it's my favorite one to use again and again
Nevaeh Hill '22
Innocence is Strength
Kaylee Shreve '21
Tinsley Porter '23
Paradox
Alura Ackerman '24
Like a pig
In a mud hole
Happy as can be
Like a child
With candy
Giggling with glee
Yes, they still have worry
It may go away
That they may be dreaming
Dreaming the day away
Melody Hourihan '23
Never knowing is freedom
Like a newborn baby
Innocence is light
Not weak
But just content
Living in no stress
Innocence is the straw
Holding up a brick house
7

Jackson Landsberg '22
In Redmond, Washington, the city is getting
ready for the holiday quickly approaching them. The
city of Redmond takes Halloween very seriously,
but not as seriously as the youth at King County
High. Yearbook and Journalism classes bite at any
spooky story they can find. A certain student at
KCHS, Selene Booker, is sitting on a lead that she
knows will definitely get the school talking about
her photography. She sits with her friends in the
loud cafeteria that appears silent to Selene compared
to her deafening thoughts.
“Selene, have you heard a single word I've said?”
Selene's best friend, Amy, says in an annoyed tone.
“Huh? Sorry… my bad,” Selene says while still
daydreaming.
Her friends continue to gossip and laugh, but all
Selene can think about is how many minutes until
she can get out of here. Her dad, a truck driver, has
It Was Nothing
Julia Tomaras '24
told her about this forest just outside of the city
with a few abandoned properties in it. Selene knows
it would be perfect for some spooky pictures and
she will do anything for a good photo. She plans to
drive there after school with Amy.
Selene impatiently bounces her leg up and down
as she stares intensely at the clock. The words on
the whiteboard in the front of the classroom mean
nothing to her right now. All she can do is think
about how good those pictures are going to be. She
texts Amy, who is seated only five desks away,
about her plan. Amy will do anything for her best
friend, so naturally, she agrees to come along.
After what seems like forever, the school bell
rings and Selene jumps from her seat. She waits at
the door of the classroom for Amy. The hallways
are buzzing with teenagers ready to go home. Amy
drones on about how annoying AP Lang is and
8

Selene's 2012 Subaru Outback and play their
favorite music. The two best friends drive for around
30 minutes before finally arriving at the forest
Selene's father told her about.
“‘Whispers Forest...’ yeah, not scary at all,
Selene,” Amy says as she reads the sign.
“That's the whole point. My father said that there
were old houses in here, and I don't see any ‘no
trespassing’ signs. So I'm going in,” Selene says
with confidence.
“Well, I think I'm gonna wait out here, S. I feel
creeped out,” Amy says quietly.
Selene stares at her friend for a moment before
situating her camera strap around her neck. She
waves dramatically, mocking Amy's fear of the
forest. Selene looks at her watch and sees the clock
reads 4:15 pm. Amy just opens up the car door, rolls
her eyes, sits down in the parked car, and shuts the
door.
Selene trudges deeper into the woods, stepping
on twigs and crunchy leaves. She can hear a nearby
babbling creek and birds chirping in the tall trees.
She feels her legs become more and more tired after
walking around for what feels like an eternity.
Suddenly, she stumbles upon a beaten up stone
path. She smiles to herself and whispers “Finally,”
under her breath. She follows the path until she
reaches an extravagant house with dramatic
windows. She walks around the house snapping a
few pictures, then decides to walk up to the front
door. She hesitates before opening the door, but
remembers that she needs the perfect picture.
She barely notices the dramatic temperature
change from chilly to freezing cold. Selene
continues to take photos ignoring the shivers
running down her spine. What she can't ignore are
the whispers, which she tries to tell herself are “just
the wind.” Her camera clicks and flashes, but her
photo-taking stops immediately when she hears a
crash upstairs.
Not even a moment later, an ear-piercing screech
rings through the house while heavy feet crash
down the stairs. Selene turns around and begins
running backward in horror as the dirty corpse of a
mangled woman staggers towards her. Selene runs
as fast as she can into the forest as she hears the
lady screeching demonically. Selene frantically
pushes past branches and tries to grasp her sense of
direction. Then, the voices stop and the forest falls
quiet. The only sound is Selene's heavy breathing.
Immediately, she spins around to try and find the
lady. She begins to hear hushed voices all around
her and they start to get louder. They quickly drive
her insane and she lets out a long scream that
echoes through the trees. She runs and comes across
the creek she heard earlier. The creek gives her
hope she will make it out in one piece. All around
her is the lady’s haunting presence. “Am I
hallucinating?” she thinks wildly.
When Selene feels like she can't run any longer,
she sees a break in the trees and what seems to be
the road. She turns around and snaps a picture of
the corpse that's been terrorizing her for at least an
hour. Then she leaps out of the tree line and falls in
the grass.
“Wow, Selene...that was quick,” Amy says while
standing above Selene, who lies panting on the side
of the road.
“Wh-what? I was in there for hours!” Selene
manages to say.
“Selene...it's only 4:16. You were only gone for
a minute,” Amy says with an annoyed face. “What
happened? Did you get any decent photos?”
“It...it was nothing,” Selene slowly says,
knowing nobody would ever believe her. “But I got
the picture.”
Selene and Amy get in the car and sit in silence
for the whole ride to Amy's house. Selene will still
do anything for the perfect picture.
Except for that again.
9

Brenna Kidd-Bania '21
Strength
Arianna Todd
The woeful sky above danced with the sound of
thunder as Ava walked down a dim city street with a
cold, bright red umbrella in her warm hands. She
enjoyed the tranquility of the rain above her as it
landed harshly on her umbrella. The sound of the
rain was the only thing that calmed Ava’s anger and
her hot-headed personality. She thought of the rain
as her shield, a protector, a parent of some sort,
something Ava had never had in her life. It was such
a splendid thing to see--how the harsh rain of
November could calm such a soul as wild as hers.
A chilling, gentle breeze glided across her face,
producing goosebumps down her back, and she
gripped her umbrella a bit more tighter than before.
Ava secretly wished that the wind would brush her
away from the city and her problems. How simple
life would be. Or maybe the rain could just wash her
away into the bay. If it wasn’t for Ava's stubborn
personality, she would have already run away and
accepted her fate, but she was a fighter, a soldier
with so many war wounds.
The shrill sounds of the city engulfed Ava: the
police
sirens, the people chattering about, the far-off sound
of the late train on this very rainy night. You see,
the city buildings weren’t the only things that were
looming over Ava; she had a feeling of longing, a
hankering to disappear just for a day. A vacation
away from her life, if you will.
Once she planned to go through with something,
she would fight until the very end. Giving up
wasn’t in this tortured soul’s vocabulary. Not a
single page in the book which was her life said “I
shall give up,” and it never would. Ever. Ava had
10

to act tough. She had to act strong when she really
wanted to cry a thousand tears into her hospital
pillow every single day of her life. She felt many
times that giving up would be so much easier on her
mental state. Couldn’t she just be selfish? One time,
was all she asked herself a lot when she lay awake
at night. She wouldn’t give up, though, because it
wasn’t her. It wasn’t her personality to just throw up
the white flag. She would fight the disease that was
running through her veins--she just had to hold on a
bit longer.
That Ava was indeed headstrong was without a
doubt. She was willful to the point of not wanting to
admit that she was holding hope in her cold hands.
She was walking on the chilling path with the sheer
need to survive. That was all she knew. Wasn't that
all anyone needed to know? To step forward? To
keep moving forward and fight?
After all, life is a battleground and we are the
warriors.
I'm a Pencil
Somer Sweitzer '23
“Yay,” I think as the little person takes me out of
my box, “it finally happened. I got picked.” I keep
chanting this in my head. As I'm being taken out of
the box I wonder what I'm going to be writing
today. I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I feel
excruciating pain going through my body.
“Ahhhhh!” I scream as I look down to see my
bottom half being chewed away by the evil metal
teeth of my nightmares. After what has felt like a
decade, the pain goes away and I feel the little
person start to write something with my now
sharpened bottom. While I dance across the paper I
am stopped suddenly and flipped over. I feel my
hair rubbing against where I was previously
dancing. While my hair is being rubbed it feels as
though it was being pulled out piece by piece.
Finally, when it stopped, the person holding me
seems annoyed and starts to push on my back. After
the excruciating pain caused by the pushing, he
stops, only to start again, but this time he breaks my
back. “Ahh!” I scream as pain courses through my
body. I look down only to see the top of my body. I
look over to see the person who was holding me
now holding a mechanical pencil. “Ugh,” I thought
as I looked over at the evil pencil, then everything
goes black.
Victor Florance '21
Dear Covid-19
Mia Smith '22
Dear Covid-19, If I were to look at the pandemic
from your point of view, then I would have to say
that the mission was a success. You are most likely
proud to be the cause of disease, death, and
desperation that is currently being seen around the
world. However, you must be able to look at this
situation from the perspective of the average human
teenager.
I personally do not know anyone that has been
affected by you, Covid-19, and I am lucky to be
able to say that. There are plenty of people who
have lost their lives, or the lives of family and
friends.
Metaphorically speaking, however, I do feel like
I have lost my life. I mean that in the sense of how
my life was before the pandemic; my life has
changed so much since that March that it feels like
I’ve taken on a whole new one.
I have had to adapt to an entirely new learning
environment, that being in my bedroom on a laptop.
Personally, I find it more difficult to focus on
academics when there is no way to divide my
personal home life from my more professional
school life.
11

Karly Hance '23
It is more difficult to socialize with friends and
family now more than ever. Even though the internet
makes it possible to communicate with people
without being in the same space, it is still necessary
to have physical interaction with other humans in
order to maintain mental health. Wearing masks and
social distancing definitely help to stop or slow
down the spread of you -- and your germs -- but
there is always still a risk of getting the infection in
public. You cause people to panic in such a way that
causes other people to have things to panic about.
For example, when you cause people to not want
to go shopping in public in fear of catching your
nasty virus, those people will then buy out entire
shelves of groceries. This chaotic
buying causes other people to not have access to
these groceries, and consequently, those people will
panic about their inadequate stock at home.
As someone who has an autoimmune disorder, it
is especially important that I stay healthy and away
from people who may be carrying you. This causes
me, and others in similar situations, to be even more
worried about somehow having germs being brought
to us. If I were to come in contact with you, I would
be more likely to have a severe outcome.
I do have some questions for you, Covid-19.
There is a lot of mixed information in the media
these days, so I figured that I may as well go
directly to the source.
Do you know the cure for yourself, Covid-19? If
so, you should make that information known to the
FDA. If you want them to figure it out for
themselves, that’s fine. I can keep a secret.
How did you prepare for your life of fame? I
mean, before the pandemic, people probably didn’t
even know that you existed. Call me uninformed,
but I didn’t know that your cousin was the common
cold until March. I especially didn’t know that you
two had the same name.
Please write back with the answers to these
questions, along with anything else you want me to
know. You're a poor excuse for a pen pal, but while
quarantining, one tends to get desperate for
socialization.
Sincerely,
Mia Smith
Catherine Napier '22
12

Jesse Eugene Frye '21
And There Will Be Dragons
Kessler Potter '24
I rolled my eyes as I read about the possibility of
magic returning to Dulla. There was no way that
that was happening. It had been gone for over two
years and showed no signs of returning. Oh, well.
One could hope. I started to gather my things
together and stood up, about to leave. As I moved
towards the door, though, a young boy came in
yelling “Dragon! Dragon! A dragon was seen over
the Gray Fields! Take cover!”
That surprised me. Dragons hadn’t been seen in
Dulla for over five decades. Most people think that
dragons don’t even exist. Not me. Do you think that
someone who ran a magical goods emporium
wouldn’t believe in magical beasts as well? No way.
Then the last thing the boy had said hit me. The
Gray Fields. Great, I sighed.
The Gray Fields had been a beautiful forest not
too long ago. When the current monarchs took the
throne, it slowly started dying. As you can imagine,
this led to plenty of speculation about the powers of
the royals, especially the queen. It is now commonly
acknowledged that she is an evil sorceress.
Anyway, I was nervous to cross the wasteland,
but I wanted--no, needed--to see the dragon. It had
long been a dream of mine to see a real magical
creature. You can only read about them for so long
before you start wanting to see them in person. So I
steeled my nerves, grabbed a magical sword from
my shop (guaranteed to kill whatever magical
creature you need) because you never know what
you will come across, and headed across the empty
field.
As I crossed the flat, lifeless, shell of land, I
recalled when this had been a vibrant stand of trees
13

that was full of life. Even in winter, they seemed
alive. The trees were either covered with leaves,
buds, icicles, or snow. It was a gorgeous place, and
when I was a child I loved to run and play here.
When I got older, I would come here and read and
write for hours. This forest spawned my love for
everything magical. Looking around me now, I
wondered who would be cold-hearted enough to
destroy a place that was as full of life and love as
this place once was. I still couldn’t believe that it
was gone.
I was getting closer to the end of the Gray Fields
and back to where there was actual grass and
greenery when I spotted something on the ground
ahead. It seemed to be a large pile of rocks, which
made no sense. The last time I had been through
here it had been completely vacant, except for a
single stream, which was now just a trickle of water,
and a couple of random marks in the dirt from
where people had dragged carts across the land.
This place was so cursed no animals would venture
near it. So why was there something that looked like
a large, gray horse or cow lying down about 100
paces away?
As I slowly inched closer, I started smelling
something odd. It reminded me of the time that my
parents had decided that my sisters and I needed a
“cleansing of our bodies and souls” and took us to
these hot springs near the capital. The springs felt
amazing, but they stank like rotten eggs. That was
the smell I was smelling now. Rotten eggs. As I got
closer, the smell got stronger. When I was about ten
feet away, it practically overpowered me. I wasn’t
sure I could get any closer. Suddenly, the creature
turned and looked at me.
“Wwhhoo aarree yyoouu?” it queried, slowly
opening one bright gold eye.
“Um, I’m Anni,” I whimpered.
The pile of rocks smiled. “I’ve heard of you.”
“Wait, why are you talking differently?” I
queried.
The pile of rocks stretched and moved, seeming
to coalesce into a slightly familiar shape.
“I only talk like that to scare intruders. Would
you like to come into my den and have a cup of
tea?”
That’s when it hit me. “You’re a dragon!” I
gasped.
The shape in front of me laughed a low,
rumbling laugh. “That I am. A Northern Stone
dragon, to be precise. I’m here because I was
kicked out of my clan for not agreeing with the
Head Dragon’s politics.” Noting my confused
expression, she (he? it?) elaborated, “Dragons have
clans and are very into inter-species politics. I had
the gall to suggest that the previous monarch of
Rocklandia was a better queen, which enraged my
father so much he threw me out.”
I nodded as if I understood, then turned to go. “I
see that you aren’t planning to destroy our land, so I
should go,” I said.
The dragon smiled. “Before you leave, let me
introduce myself. I’m Jazi, the former princess of
the Upper Rocklandia clan, now a citizen of Dulla.”
Leaning in towards me, she whispered, “I make a
point of introducing myself to adversaries. It’s
harder to kill someone when you know their name. I
also find that the fact that I’m royalty discourages
most princes and knights.”
I scowled. “There’s a member of royalty whom I
know the name of and wouldn’t mind killing. She
ruined this place.” Gesturing around me, I said,
“This place once was a vibrant, magical forest, but
the current queen, Stelina, sapped all of the white
magic from the entire land, leaving only the black
magic.”
Jazi nodded, “That would explain why I was
drawn to this place. I can sense magic, you see, and
when I was flying over on my way to Starskie, this
area seemed to pull me down. I suppose that this
place has become a magical vacuum. It’s not
unheard of for a place that was very quickly drained
14

of magic to become a sort of void."
Suddenly, her expression turned grim. “Stelina,
did you say? Is this the country that is unfortunate
enough to be saddled with her as queen? I pity you,
little one, Stelina is pure evil. Once, she annihilated
an entire dragon clan because there were whispers
that the clan had said something against her at one
point. You say that it was she who did this?”
“Yes, she did. About two years ago.”
Jazi nodded, then started muttering to herself.
“Clear breach of magical law... over a year, and no
growth… obviously tampered with… dangerous
magic vacuum… pulled down a visiting dragon who
happens to be royalty... yes, I think that that will
work.” Turning to me, she grinned a toothy grin.
“How would you like to go for a dragon-back ride?”
“It would be my dream come true!”
“Then get on!”
It only took us about an hour to fly the hundred
miles to the capitol. When we landed, Jazi
demanded to be let in.
“I am Princess Jazimirah of the Upper
Rocklandia clan, and I demand to speak with your
queen.” Noticing the guard glancing at me with an
expression of disgust on his face, she added, “And
this is my servant, Anni, who has accompanied me
on my trip to your beautiful land.”
Gulping nervously, the guard nodded and opened
the gate. “Go right on in. Her Highness is in the
throne room, two doors down, on your left.”
Jazi inclined her head regally, then swept into the
Great Hall. “Alright, when we enter, just follow my
lead.”
We entered the throne room and Jazi cleared her
voice. “Dear sister, I’ve heard that you have turned
to the dark side.”
Startled, Stelina whirled around. “Jazi? How did you
get here? What do you mean? I never- I didn’t-” she
blustered. Finally, she decided on,
“What are you doing here?”
Jazi smirked. “Oh sister, you know what I’m
doing here. It seems that turning you into a human
did nothing to abolish your selfish tendencies. Now
return the magic, and then you know what I have to
do.”
Stelina looked affronted. “Return the magic? I
have no idea what you’re talking about, dear sister.”
Jazi let out a long-suffering sigh. “Of course you
don’t. Just like you never knew what Mom or Dad
was talking about whenever you made a mistake
back when you were accepted into the clan.”
“Accepted? I have always been accepted. I left
because you all are boring.”
Jazi nodded patronizingly. “Of course you did.
You definitely didn’t leave right after you were
stripped of your powers, name, and birthright and
sent out into the world, and you definitely weren’t
thrown out kicking and screaming that 'It was all an
accident! Jazi framed me! I would never say those
things!'”
Stelina looked pleased. “That’s right,” she said
smugly. “I didn’t and I would never.”
Jazi put her head in her claws. “Stelina, when
will you ever learn? There were witnesses to the
Lower Rocklandia case, so everyone knows you did
it. Everyone here knows that you’re a sorceress, and
there are plenty of people who would gladly stone
you in the village square. The game is over, sister.
You have to give up.”
Stelina shook her head. “Never!” she cried.
“This is who I am!” As she screamed this,
something peculiar happened. A swirling vortex of
color started forming around her.
“As soon as my powers reach full capacity,
you’ll be sorry that you ever looked down on me,
Jazimirah! I will finally be more powerful than my
amazing older sister!”
Jazi shook her head gently. “Stelina, stop this
nonsense now. If you calm down, we talk this out,
and you can simply be banished from this realm,
and go to another one that is fairly nice. If not, well,
I heard that The Well has an opening."
15

Stelina growled, “I’m done listening to you,
sister! Once and for all, I will be the better one! Me,
Stelina!” Her eyes started to glow green, and she
started to rise from the floor. “I will be the best!”
Jazi seemed to steel herself. “I don’t want to do
this, Stel. I warned you.” Closing her eyes, Jazi
started to make gestures with her claws. The
swirling vortex disappeared. Stelina returned to the
ground, her eyes a normal shade of brown.
“What did you do?” she cried. “Where are my
powers?”
“They’re gone,” Jazi said somberly.
“Completely. If you had stopped when I asked you,
you would still have a little bit left, but you’ve
broken so many magical laws and regulations that
anything that you had is gone. I’m sorry, sister.”
Stelina hung her head. “I should probably go,
then. Before I do more damage.”
At that, I looked around the throne room. It
looked like a tornado had blown through. I suppose
in a way, one had. A magical one called Stelina.
Bringing my gaze back to the sisters, I watched
them hug. As they stepped back, Jazi looked down
at Stelina. “You have enough magic in you to open
one portal to a slightly nicer dimension. I will close
it, and you will be trapped for eternity, so pick
carefully."
Stelina nodded, then performed a series of hand
gestures. I felt something like a wave wash over me,
and Jazi nodded. Then Jazi stepped up and made
gestures eerily similar to what Stelina had just done,
but with her claws. Stelina vanished. Jazi turned to
me and smiled. “You won’t have to worry about her
anymore. She knew what she was doing and the
consequences. She was a dragon, after all.”
I didn’t know what to make of that. A dragon?
She had certainly looked human to me.
Jazi turned around and started to leave the room.
“Wait!” I called. “Can I come with you? I can’t
go back to my old life after meeting a real, live,
dragon.”
Jazi grinned happily. “I was hoping you’d ask
that. I suppose we can adventure together. Rid the
world of more evil sorceresses.”
I laughed. “Let's go exploring!
And so we did. And we both lived happily ever
after.
Brooke Napier '23
Change
Haliey Leake '22
Imagine having a best friend that you wouldn’t
have given up for the world. Someone you called
your sister even though she wasn’t. Someone who
kept all your secrets as you kept theirs. Now
imagine all of that changing. The two of you no
longer friends. She went down one path, while you
strayed to another. Both of you went from being
stuck like glue to not being able to look at each
other with decency. Psychologists say you go
through major changes every 3-4 years, so would
that be the reason things change? Did it lie in fault
of your or hers? Or did God hear conversations that
you didn’t?
16

Tyler Christian '21
Jurassic Park 2.0
Lauren Kreitzman '22
The sun beat down harshly on the black Honda as
Harley pulled into the driveway and came to a
halting stop. He slammed the door and trudged up
the walkway, tossing the keys onto the table as he
opened the door and made his way into the living
room.
“Another great day at work,” he muttered
sarcastically to himself. He’d recently been hired at
the Museum of National History working in the
dinosaur exhibits. He liked to think of himself as a
paleontologist, though he knew he hadn’t quite
gotten there yet and he had a long way to go. Harley,
being 19 years old, was rarely taken seriously
because of his age. They laughed at his "childish
imagination," when all he wanted to do was share
his ideas. He was trying not to let them get to him,
and he sure as hell wasn’t going to give up, but he
couldn’t help the dejected feeling he got every time
they looked down on him.
Harley sighed and turned to walk to his room
when he suddenly noticed a door that he’d never
seen before. It was deep red mahogany with a shiny
metal handle. Small vines crept through the gap at
the top, snaking down the side of the door and
wrapping around the handle, and a long, deep,
three-toed slash mark ran along the middle of the
mahogany. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if
he would come face to face with the thing that made
that mark if he opened the door. But curiosity got
the better of him, and he glanced around before
reaching out and wrapping his fingers around the
cool metal of the door handle.
The door creaked loudly as he pulled it open, as
if it was old and hadn’t been opened in years. He
hummed softly in thought as he studied the door,
wondering if his friends were trying to pull some
kind of prank on him, but when he turned to look
through the doorway, all thoughts left his mind.
It was like a whole other world: tall plants with
wild leaves cluttering the ground, and the constant
sound of birds and animals screeching in a way
he’d never heard before echoing around the canopy
above. It was almost calming until a giant reptile
foot crashed down right in front of the doorway,
17

shaking the ground. Harley could only stare in awe,
studying the foot that seemed so oddly familiar to
him. And then it hit him. The reddish-brown scales
covering the three-toed foot. The long, sharp claws
at the end of each toe. It was a dinosaur.
“No way,” Harley whispered, watching as the
foot lifted and the dinosaur continued on its way. He
slowly stuck his head through the doorway, ducking
out of the way when the reptile's tail swung by. He
looked up and up to the dinosaur’s head to see if he
could identify it. It was undoubtedly a large
carnivore, almost like a T-Rex. But its arms were too
long. He recognized the steep sloping neck and how
slim the dinosaur looked compared to other
predators, and realized it was an Allosaurus. He
smiled widely, tears pricking his eyes as he watched
the Allosaurus amble through the trees. It seemed
surreal seeing an animal that died millions of years
ago alive right in front of him; it was his wildest,
most unrealistic dream come true.
He turned to look around, stepping through the
doorway. He listened intently to the screeching of
the other animals around him, sounding nothing like
the stereotypical roar or squawking in movies. There
was no way to describe the beauty of the sounds,
rattling his insides with nerves, yet making him
ecstatic and excited at the same time.
He heard a creature squawk up in the tree in front
of him and looked just in time to see what he
thought was an Archaeopteryx jump from it and
glide to another. An Archaeopteryx was about the
size of and looked like a chicken with colorful
feathers. They had small claws on the joints of their
wings, allowing them to climb trees. They couldn’t
fly, but they could glide from tree to tree. Trees were
where they spent most of their time, allowing them
an easy escape from a predator if needed. Harley
watched it climb up the tree trunk, dig its claw into a
small hole and drag out a bug to eat. He smiled as
the Archaeopteryx put its eye up to check for more
bugs, then glided to another tree to keep hunting.
Harley wanted to go out into the wilderness of
this dinosaur land, explore, and see all the
dinosaurs he had idolized since he was a kid. But he
knew that he wouldn’t survive a day here, and he
needed to go back before something big and hungry
noticed him.
He turned back to the door, only to be met with
more forest. Harley panicked for a moment, turning
circles as he searched for the red mahogany door he
had walked through just moments before.
But the door was gone.
Harley was stranded in a prehistoric forest,
inhabited by big hungry predators that could
swallow him in one bite. He could be smart and
find cover, but he wasn’t going to do that. Harley
made his way through the trees, taking in his
surroundings. The trees were bigger than any trees
he’d ever seen before, with dragonflies twice the
size of the ones he knew zipping around high up in
the canopy. The low bellow of an herbivore
reverberated through the forest, the echo of
multiple others joining in until he realized they
were a lot closer than he thought.
He lowered himself closer to the ground and
crept around a tree trunk, peeking out to see about
fifteen herbivorous dinosaurs milling around,
calling out to each other. He couldn’t quite tell
what they were until he noticed the distinct large
claw on the inside of their front feet, like
Iguanodons. They were still making a ruckus,
bumping into each other and calling out frantically.
He backed away behind the tree a little more,
watching quietly until he noticed what was scaring
them so much.
A Spinosaurus was stalking through the trees
behind the herd of Iguanodon. Its long, thin snout
and the tall, sail-like ridge on its back made it stick
out like a sore thumb beside the herbivores. The
ground trembled as it made its way quietly through
the forest, seeming to avoid the Iguanodons
completely. Curious, Harley crawled from tree to
18

tree, staying in its cover as he followed the
carnivore. It walked down to a river nearby, wading
in until all he could see was its head and sail.
He’d had a theory about the Spinosaurus, that
even though it was a carnivore, it only hunted fish,
and the sail on its back helped it stay balanced and
afloat while swimming. Though not many other
scientists agreed, here was the living proof right in
front of him. He was almost giddy with excitement,
watching the dinosaur climb out of the water on the
other side of the river until only up to its knees was
submerged. The dinosaur lowered its head, sticking
its snout into the water and closing its eyes, standing
so still it almost seemed like a statue.
Harley moved a bit closer, kneeling down by the
shore to watch the Spinosaurus prove his theory
right. This was how they hunted. The end of their
snouts could feel vibrations, almost like a dolphin's
echolocation, so they could locate where the fish
were without seeing under the water, and the nostrils
were higher up on the snout so it could keep it
underwater and still breathe.
Just as he thought, the Spinosaurus’s eyes
suddenly snapped open and it snatched a fish from
the water so fast he would’ve missed it if he blinked.
It lifted the fish and threw it onto the shore, placing
its foot on it so it couldn’t move, and ripping into it.
They were pretty greedy, and picky eaters, so the
Spinosaurus left the fish when it wasn’t even halfeaten,
and walked back into the river to catch
another.
Harley smiled, deciding he could stay here and
watch the Spinosaurus hunt for hours when he heard
a soft chirping sound from the bush behind him. He
scrambled to his feet and away from the little green
dinosaur that hopped out, tilting its head to look at
Harley. It hopped forward and snapped at a fly
before stopping to look Harley up and down again.
He thought it was pretty cute, judging that its head
only came up to his knee. But then it turned and
chirped at the bush, and three more of them jumped
out in a chorus of chirping.
“Compsognathus,” Harley said to himself,
realizing just how much danger he was in. Despite
how cute and small they seemed, there were way
more of them still waiting in that bush, and if they
decided he looked like lunch, they would all
ambush him at once.
He had to get out of there.
He kicked up dirt at the four in front of him and
took off into the thicket, jumping over tree roots and
pushing aside giant leaves. He stopped in a small
clearing, gasping for air and looking frantically for
an escape. What he saw on the other side of the
clearing almost made him collapse in relief. The red
mahogany door sat idly beside a tree, the door wide
open as he’d left it. He made a mad dash across the
clearing, stumbling through the doorway and
slamming the door shut. He stood there for a
moment, trying to catch his breath and calm his
mind. He still didn’t feel safe with the door being
the only thing between him and the dinosaurs, so he
stepped back and closed his eyes, hoping it would
disappear as it had before.
When he opened his eyes, the door was gone,
leaving no trace that it had ever been there. Harley
sighed in relief, relaxing back against the wall. But
just as he turned to walk down the hallway, he heard
a chirping sound coming from the living room, and
he stopped dead in his tracks.
A dinosaur had come through the doorway.
Carlee Cable '21
19

Elle Dudzik '20
Fixing a Painless World
Gabrielle Etchinson '23
“It was a Monday morning that this story starts.
A man named Billy and some of his friends set off to
change the earth.”
“What did they change, Mr. Jack?” Molly asks
him with a gleam in her eye.
“Oh, that’s part of the story,” he says with a
sneaky grin. “You wouldn’t want me to spoil it, now
would you?”
“No,” she replies with a small sigh.
He leans back in his chair and continues the story,
“The rest goes like this…”
Click, click, click! Susan was clicking her pen
nonstop, which was driving Billy crazy.
Pausing the story, Mr. Jack says, “She knew the
clicking was annoying and she enjoyed it, so she
didn't bother to stop. Susan sat at the desk across
from Billy in the office. She had long, blond hair
and looked like a model. Susan was beautiful on the
outside, but she was very rude and expected to be
treated like a queen. She never did her work; it
always seemed to pile up on Billy’s desk.”
“She doesn’t sound very nice,” Molly says.
Billy finally said something about it, “Can you
please stop, Susan?”
With a pathetic laugh, she sneered, “Uh, no.”
Billy just rolled his eyes, got up, and walked to
the break room. He stood there with his old, tacky,
wrinkled suit watching the news.
“You see, Molly, Billy never cared much about
his appearance. He cared more about playing video
20

games and watching shows like Guardians of the
Galaxy. Billy had a lot of acne, buck teeth, and big,
round, odd glasses,” Mr. Jack remarks as he pauses
the story.
“Something out of the ordinary is happening
today,” the broadcaster said. “People from all over
the globe have lost their ability to feel pain. Some
people have lost mental and emotional pain, some
physical pain, and some both.”
Billy just stood frozen. He couldn’t believe what
he had heard. Feeling shocked, with a dazed look
upon his face, he went back to his desk. “Is it true?
Could people lose their ability to feel pain? I don’t
know what to make of this,” Billy whispered to
himself.
“And what’s wrong with you?” Susan asked him
in her normal, uppity tone.
“The news--” he managed to spit out of his
mouth, “the news channel says people everywhere
are losing their ability to feel pain. Isn't it strange?”
“Well, I hate agreeing with you, but yeah, it is
odd,” she replied in a calm voice.
“I think someone should investigate somehow!
But how, is the issue,” Billy said in a curious tone of
voice. “Maybe somewhere in space there is a control
center or planet that can fix it,” Billy continued in an
excited voice.
“Yeah, sure thing,” Susan said as she rolled her
eyes at him. “Even if there is, what are you going to
do about it?”
“Mr. Jack, what is Billy going to do? Does he
have a way to find out?” Molly asks him in an eager
tone.
“Hold your horses! You will find out,” he replies
with a chuckle.
“Well, I do have some connections and I think I
can do something, yes,” Billy said in a matter-offact
tone. Then after a short pause said, “I know
exactly what to do so there will at least be an effort
to fix all this."
“Uh-huh, sure you do,” Susan said, rolling her
eyes once more. She saw Billy stand and walk
towards the door and asked, “Hey, where are you
going?”
“I told you I might know how to try and fix this.
That is where I am going. Would you like to join
me?” he said before immediately regretting it. The
last thing he wanted to do was to be stuck with
Susan in space.
“Uh, n- actually, yes,” she replied with a smirk.
"Now Molly, you have to understand, Susan
didn't agree so she could help, she agreed because
she wanted to get out of work. She had no intention
of trying to help Billy," Mr. Jack tells Molly in a
very serious tone.
“She sure is a bad person,” Molly says,
returning the serious tone and gives a quick, firm
nod of her head.
They hopped into Billy’s car and started driving.
“So where are we going?” Susan asked him as they
headed down the highway.
“We are meeting with a pilot. My friend, Chris,”
Billy told her.
“A pilot? The connection you have is a pilot?
Wow,” Susan seemed annoyed and unimpressed
until they pulled up to a gate for NASA.
“Susan was unimpressed because she believed
Billy meant a pilot at a small airfield. She was
surprised when they came up to the NASA gate and
she then realized how serious Billy was,” Mr. Jack
says to Molly.
“NASA? Does this pilot work for NASA? I
thought you meant an airfield out in the middle of
21

nowhere,” Susan remarked in a shocked tone.
Billy remained silent to her remarks, told the guard
his business, and drove through the gate. They went
through a large parking lot and around to the back of
the building. Billy parked the car, got out, and
started walking towards an entrance with yet
another guard. He visited Chris often, so most of the
workers knew him and let them in once Billy was
recognized.
Susan just followed him, wondering where they
were going. It crossed her mind that Billy might
have been trying to prank her to get revenge for
everything she had done to him. Susan tried to keep
a sharp eye out for anything that might be evidence
of a prank, but she didn't see anything suspicious.
She just kept following Billy and soon spotted a man
walking towards them.
“Hi, Billy!” Chris said with a big smile, “Long
time, no see! What brings you and the lady this
way?”
“Hey, Chris. This is Susan, one of my
coworkers,” Billy told him as they shook hands. “I
was wondering how that project is coming along.”
“Nice to meet you, Susan,” Chris said, giving her
a nod, “Billy, I finished a couple of days ago. I gave
her a test run yesterday. Runs like a dream.”
“During all this, Susan just stood watching the
two discuss this ‘project’. She wanted to know what
they were talking about and tuned out their
conversion trying to figure out what it might have
been,” Mr. Jack remarks.
“We are all set then,” Chris told Billy as Susan
tuned back into the conversation, “Here is your
gear,” he said, handing her a spacesuit and
backpack.
“Well, let’s get going,” Billy said as they finished
getting suited up.
“They walked through a large room with planes
and helicopters onto a launching field. There it was:
the project. And then a spaceship. Billy was amazed
at seeing the real thing. He had drawn sketches and
made plans for Chris to put it into action. Now they
were both very proud of the work,” Mr. Jack
explains.
“I can hardly believe it’s real,” Billy and Chris
said in unison.
“Wow,” is all Susan could say.
“We did it,” Billy said with a proud grin. “Now
let’s go.”
“Where were they going?” Molly asks.
“Remember how I told you Billy liked
Guardians of the Galaxy? Well, so did Chris. They
believed that somewhere out in space there were
places that could control planets and atmospheres.
The three of them were going to space to find a
place that could bring the pain back to people,”
Mr. Jack tells her.
They traveled for hours before Chris exclaimed,
“There’s something! It has blobs of white light
around it...”
“What is that?” Billy asked.
They went towards what looked like a planet and
the light. Chris landed and parked the ship on what
seemed to be an entrance to a cave. They got out
and slowly walked inside. Susan turned around and
saw that the lights were floating jellyfish. “Hey,
look at this,” she told Billy and Chris.
“Whoa,” they said in unison.
“Are those actual jellyfish?” Billy asked them.
“Sure seems like it,” Chris replied.
“Well, enough looking,” Billy told the other two
in a serious voice, “let’s go find out what this place
is.”
They walked in cautiously, wondering what
might be ahead. As they walked, they saw a sign
that read, “Ahead lies 3 control centers, 1 for Time,
1 for Space, and 1 for Matter.” The group was
intrigued and walked farther. They slowly
approached an entrance. Billy was able to get a
22

glimpse of what was inside before alarms went off
and jellyfish came swarming towards them.
The jellyfish were huge and they could visibly see
them preparing to sting. From every direction and
entrance, the jellyfish sped towards them, getting
closer and closer to Billy, Chris, and Susan.
Chris exclaimed, “Let’s get out of here! Quick!”
They ran out, got on the ship, and flew away.
“That sounds scary,” Molly says in a small
voice.
“I expect it was scary,” Mr. Jack says to her with
a comforting smile.
“I can see something off in the distance,” Susan
said to them.
“Oh, good. Let’s try that place. Maybe we will
have better luck,” Chris replied. “Hey, did either of
you see what was in there?”
“I saw a little,” Billy said. “It mostly just seemed
like panels and switchboards.”
“Huh. I wonder what it’s for, but I’m not
desperate enough to be killed by jellyfish,” Chris
said as he flew the ship closer to their next, and
hopefully last, spot.
The ship landed and the group got out. They all
looked around to see if there was anything
dangerous, like more jellyfish. “It seems like it’s
safe,” Billy said, then started walking towards a
building.
“Hey, there’s a sign over there,” Susan told Chris
and Billy.
“It looks like it says ‘Earth. Only 1 may enter.
Leave immediately after your business is
complete.’”
“Well, who should go?” Billy asked.
“Not me!” Susan exclaimed. “I am not going in
there, especially not alone.”
“Billy, I think you should go. All this was your
idea. You can probably figure things out better than
me anyway,” Chris said in a serious tone.
Billy just shrugged his shoulders and walked to
the entrance. He was being extra cautious and
opened the doors. No alarms went off so he took it
as a good sign and walked inside. It was like a
maze in there. “O-ok I can d-d-do this. This is f-ffine,”
Billy spoke to himself in a stuttering voice.
His breath was ragged and quick. With his heart
pounding, he walked down the first hall.
There were many doorways and each had a sign
in front of it, including “Plants,” “Animals,” and
the last doorway which read “People.” Billy
entered that last room, but it was empty. There was
nothing but two more doors. He was going to leave
and just give up, but Billy decided to see if those
were empty too.
He walked towards the door to the left, feeling
hopeless. After all, if that room was empty why
would there have been anything behind the other
doors? As Billy opened the door he saw a big sign
and computers and switches. “Yes! I should be able
to enable physical pain on people again!” he
exclaimed excitedly.
Billy got right to work getting onto computers
and going into different files until he found a
setting for physical pain. The pain had been turned
off, but he fixed that issue with the push of a
button. Billy finished up and went directly into the
room on the right. He did a similar process and
went back to the ship.
“We did it! I was able to make it so people can
feel pain again,” Billy said with a huge smile.
“That’s amazing!” Chris exclaimed. “Now how
about we get back home?”
“Sounds good to me,” Susan replied with a
smile.
“Me too. I miss home,” Billy said with a sigh of
relief.
“The End.”
23

Victor Florance '21
The Monster of New Orleans
Kimberly Bond '23
I was done with my sophomore year of college.
Usually, I came home for a week or so and then
traveled somewhere. However, that summer my
parents didn't want me to travel, partly because they
missed me, but also because I had just had an
appendectomy. I had to leave college early a couple
of weeks prior. I had been feeling sharp stomach
pain, so I went to the doctor and it turned out my
appendix had ruptured. Now, I was planning on just
working at the summer camp this summer.
“Are you sure you want to work at the summer
camp right now?” my mom asked.
“Yes, I’ll be fine,” I said.
“It’s just... you just recovered from the surgery
not even a week ago,” she said.
“Mom, I promise that I’m okay to work at the
camp,” I said to her.
My mom was so worried about me working at
the camp. I didn’t think she understood that I
couldn’t just sit in the house and do nothing. I didn’t
understand why she was making a big deal about me
leaving. After all, it was just going to be a bunch of
little kids playing with each other. Most days they
wanted to go to the beach, which would be fine
because it’s not like I ran the camp alone. Also, I
had worked at the camp every summer when I was
in high school.
The start of camp was the next day. Kids started
rolling in around 9 am. We were told that morning
that we couldn’t go to the beach because there was
something in the water. It was probably an oil spill,
or jellyfish, or sharks. The kids were upset because
normally they got to play with surfboards and sand
toys. I was also kind of gloomy.
New Orleans had crazy weather; it could be
sunny and no clouds one day and a hurricane the
next. It had begun to rain outside. The other
counselors and I put on a movie for the kids. One
little girl came up to me.
“Hey Jadyn, can I sit with you?” asked the little
girl.
“Yeah, of course, you can,” I said. “What’s your
name?”
“My name is Jordan,” she said.
“Do you know anyone here?” I asked.
“No, I’m new,” she said. “Also, I’m just scared
24

of thunderstorms.” She was so tiny. She told me that
she was in first grade.
The rain started to come down harder. My phone
vibrated with a notification from the weather app
warning me that a tropical storm was coming in.
After we finished the movie, the power went out.
We had to take the kids down to the bunker. It was a
room with no windows; that way, in case the wind
picked up, things couldn’t fly in. We had to call the
kids' parents and let them know that we were safe
because most of the parents were stuck at work. The
kids just kept playing with toys and talking to each
other. I walked over to where a lot of kids were
gathered.
“Yeah guys, there’s a monster that lives in the
water of New Orleans,” one boy said.
“No there’s not, Johnny,” said one of the girls.
“Yeah, there is. That’s why we couldn’t go in the
water today,” Johnny replied.
“Johnny, stop telling scary stories to the other
kids,” I said.
“It’s not a story, though, it’s real. My older
brother said so,” Johnny said.
Another counselor named James came to pull
Johnny to the side for a talk.
“Johnny, you can’t tell the younger kids scary
stories like that,” James said.
“James, it’s real,” he said.
“No, it’s not real, trust me. I was told that story
when I was your age,” James said.
Jordan came up to me and told me that she
needed to use the bathroom. There was one in the
bunker, but it was occupied. I told James I was
going to take Jordan to the upstairs bathroom. James
said that he would come with us, just in case there
was an emergency. He helped me up the stairs since
I was still in recovery. The windows were cracked
and the wind and rain were strong. Jordan used the
bathroom and then James decided that he needed to
go too.
Jordan and I waited and watched the rainfall. All
of a sudden, a big, dark creature popped up into the
window. Jordan screamed as James walked out of
the bathroom.
“Jadyn, it's the monster that Johnny was telling
us about downstairs!” she screamed.
I covered her eyes. James looked at me in shock
because we had both heard that same scary story
when we were little. It was real?! The thing in the
window frame looked exactly like the monster in
the story. We looked around at the windows to see
if it had gone away.
Bam! The window broke. Rain flew in and a
black, tentacle-like appendage swooped in and
grabbed Jordan. She screamed louder than I had
ever heard anyone scream before. Another
counselor, named Carrie, came running up and
asked what had happened. We told her that the
window broke and Jordan had flown out with the
wind. I couldn’t say exactly what had happened
because she never would have believed me. James
told Carrie to just stay downstairs and make sure
that everyone else was safe. We couldn’t call
anyone to help search for Jordan because the
cellular lines were out too.
“Come on, let’s go. We need to find her now,” I
said.
“You shouldn’t go, you just recovered from
surgery,” he said.
“I’ll be fine, okay? We need to get Jordan now,”
I said.
We put on our jackets and went out into the
storm. We walked around for a while, looking for
her. Then we saw it: The monster that lived in the
water of New Orleans. It was real, and it was
holding Jordan.
The monster looked at James and me and then
ran into a tunnel that went under the road. I really
didn’t want to go through it, because it was flooded
and inhabited by many different creatures.
“Let’s go... I guess,” James said.
“Okay…” I said.
25

We headed into the tunnel. I didn’t even know
how long the tunnel was. Every time there was a
turn, James and I would follow a slimy trail. Finally,
we reached what looked like the end. We looked
out, and there was the monster, floating in the ocean
with Jordan.
“Hey, give her back!” said James.
“No! I’m hungry and this little one is just what I
need,” it said.
“How are you even real?” I asked.
"All of you kids just thought I was a myth, but
there’s been a small stream of people going missing
over the past couple of months. I woke from my
hibernation and I was very hungry,” it said.
“You can’t just eat people!” James said.
“Boy, be quiet, or I’ll eat you too,” it said. “Now,
if you guys don’t mind, I’m going to have my
snack."
“Stop!” I yelled.
“What now?” it screeched.
“Take me, not her! She’s so young,” I said.
“Are you out of your mind?” James yelled.
“Hmm, well, actually, you would fill me up
more,” it said. “All right."
Before I even moved, it snatched me up and left
Jordan on the dock with James. This had to be the
most ironic moment of my life. I was recovering
from surgery and had to stay here as the myth of the
monster came true. Then it really hit me. I was never
going to see my family again. I had run off every
summer and been at college, so I had never really
spent much time with them anymore.
“Say goodbye to your friends, because my
stomach is really growling now,” it said.
Tears were rolling down my face. I covered my
eyes as it made an awful noise getting ready to eat
me. Then, BOOM! I was gripped tighter and tighter.
I could barely breathe and I was covered in slime.
All of a sudden, I was dropped into the ocean. Then
a rope was thrown to me from a helicopter. I was
pulled up and once I got into the helicopter I
realized that it was Johnny’s dad who pulled me up.
James and Jordan were also in the helicopter.
"Mr. Wilmer?" I said, confused.
“It’s all right,” he said.
We started to fly away and the monster was
sprawled out on the dock, hanging into the water.
“What just happened?” I asked.
“Well, you just helped me and my crew catch
this monster that we had been hunting for years and
years,” Mr. Wilmer said.
Mr. Wilmer just told me all about his research
on that thing. I told him that Johnny was telling his
camp friends about it. He just laughed and
apologized for that. He told me that they were going
to keep it in a glass box and put it in a museum. We
went back to the camp building and it was looking
rough. The storm finally calmed down and later in
the evening, all the kids went home. The other
counselors heard about our little adventure. I told
them that I wasn’t ready to work. They understood,
and I went home to stay with my family for the rest
of the summer.
Brayden McCormick '21
26

Olivia Farruggio '22
Song
Conner Small '21
11:00 PM
We had just fought for the first time. When we
met I would have laughed at such a prospect. I
would have shaken my head and denied that we
could ever disagree. The idea of us in my mind had
been so solid, a steady, heart-driven image of
happiness. Now it seemed we weren’t as perfect for
each other as I had confidently believed. It now
seemed that I would spend the rest of the night
crying, missing the moments that were so calming
when the two of us laughed and lay and talked with
one another for hours and hours on end.
For a few minutes just after our first argument
had ended, I only sat in my car, still in his driveway.
I watched the rain fall along my dark windshield,
listening to each tap of water and imagining all the
other places those bits of matter had been. All the
arguments they must have seen.
Song always loved the rain.
11:30 PM
The drive back to my place started easier than I
had thought. The tears hadn’t shown up yet, and I
was keeping my cool. I was controlling my
breathing, something I was never particularly good
at.
My eyes fixed on the road. The rain was picking
up and my headlights looked like fireworks
reflecting off the wet pavement, spreading waves of
glittering, shimmering light through the downpour
and into the thick patches of trees lining the road.
This tranquil motion of reflection and movement
was what helped me keep calm. If the road had been
empty and dry, leaving one vast stretch of headlight
out in front of me, I might have crashed my car right
there, driving it into a thick trunk that called to me,
urging me to let it take away all my pain, all
recollection of my argument with him.
So I promise, when I say my car crashed, it
wasn’t because I wanted it to. Whether anyone
believes me or not, there was something in the
middle of that road, consuming the rain out of the
sky and up from the pavement like a vacuum. An
evil vacuum.
I slammed on my brakes the moment I saw it, but
it took a second for me to turn the wheel. There was
27

something so surreal and cynical about the way that
mass was looking at me. It didn’t have eyes, no face
or body to convince me of sentience, but it did have
a presence. A presence that was stronger than any
I’d felt before, cold and hollow, an aching, painful
creature. It looked like bone covered in drying,
crimson blood.
The car tumbled off the road and across the
shallow ditch beside it. I could hear the sound of dirt
and rocks spitting up against the car’s undercarriage
and wheel-wells. I could feel a quick shift in the
breeze that wasn’t there. I could feel the impact even
before I hit the tree.
A light flickered in the distance, deep within the
tangle of trees beyond the cracked windshield.
Through fogged vision, delirious and drunk with
pain, I watched that light beckon to me like a beacon
of healing. Tempting me.
But I couldn’t move. I tried my feet first, then my
fingers, but as hard as I pushed, they wouldn’t
budge. Only my eyes swam with motion, jerking
back and forth in a panic. The little firelight from
deep in the woods reflected in them.
Think of him. Song.
I forced the pain from my body, tried as best I
could to shove it back down the road, perhaps to
haunt that thing that had put me there.
My shoulders were the first part of me to move.
They hunched over and brought my head down on
the deflating airbag that was covered in glass shards.
Later I would realize those shards had shed from my
face, and the hot pain that covered my cheeks and
forehead was bloody scrapes.
After that initial push, the rest of me came to
easier, slowly waking up to the pain and discomfort
of broken bones and peeling skin, like I had been
sitting here, alone, drying out for weeks. My lips
were chapped with crusted blood and my eyes felt
like their lids hadn’t blinked in forever. My right
knee was crushed.
But I had to make it to that awful light.
For Song.
12:00 AM
I limped up onto the road for a little inspection of
what caused my near-death crash. Whatever was
there before wasn’t there now, but I knew it had
been. I was sane up until then, and that thing was
looking at me, soul to soul. It wanted me to hurt. It
wanted me to suffer.
12:30 AM
Almost to the light now.
There was no trail to follow, so I kept my eyes
fixed on the flicker in the distance. It was getting
closer, growing warmer and larger through the thick
sheets of falling rain. Through the water it almost
seemed to sparkle.
On either side of me while I limped, the sounds
of shuffling leaves and cracking branches filled my
ears. They hurt already, but these sounds hurt them
worse. These sounds made them bleed. They
weren’t just natural things in the hidden depths of
woods to either side. There was something else.
Deeper than the world I knew before my car spilled
off the road. These things were high-pitched, like a
hundred screams folded on top of each other. Maybe
that’s what they were.
Where am I?
I hadn’t bothered to ask myself that question
until then, until my ears filled with the hateful
language of Hell, until the fractured bones in my
knee began to spread and itch and scrape under my
skin, moving to different parts of my body, cutting
my skin from the inside out. The hateful feeling of
Hell. And in front of me, my idea was confirmed:
the hateful image of Hell.
There was a fire, the light that had brought me
closer. It was raging. The man sitting across from it
looked just as ominous, just as dissolved. He looked
miserable.
“Where am I?” I asked the man whose eyes were
28

fixed on the smoldering fire. It looked like it had
been burning forever. I don’t know why I asked him
that when I already knew the answer. I suppose I
was praying that I was wrong, hoping that I would
still be able to see Song again.
“You know where you are.”
1:00 AM
We sat in silence for a while. I don’t know
exactly how long because time didn’t feel like it
used to. It felt like I had been sitting there for days
before the man across from me finally spoke. The
fire kept burning, though, just like the scowl kept
firm across the old man’s face.
“You look scared, boy,” he said as his eyes
turned up to meet mine. There was complete apathy
in those cold, dark things. “And I don’t blame you.
But you’ll get used to it. That is, if you choose to
stay, of course.”
“Stay?”
“Well, I would make up your mind soon, boy.
Once you enter for good, there’s no gettin’ out. Not
even death takes care o’ you. Your body ages, same
as before. Only difference is you don’t die as your
body starts to decay. You just decay with it.”
“I saw something. On the road.”
“Ah, yes. How old do you think Gia is? She’s
been here as long as anyone I know, and she still’s
lookin’ for a way out. She’s always trudgin’ down
one road or another, hoping someone will come
along and save her. I say, who’d wanna save that?
Well, I suppose you came along, didn’t you?”
The man was silent after that. He quietly returned
his eyes to the fire, watching its steady embers glow
red and orange, crackling along with the layers of
high-pitched moans crawling from the trees around
it.
There’s a choice, I thought. A smile, believe it or
not, even came to my bloody face. I don’t have to
stay.
The woods were even darker now, even louder.
But I had to find my way back to life. Through that
chaos or not, on the other side of those trees was
life. And life was where Song was.
Tomorrow
I’m sitting in my car. Daylight shines through the
cracked windows. Little splinters run around the
glass, each ray of sun hitting my face from a
different angle. I’m my own little disco ball.
The first thing that fills my head isn’t what might
or might not have happened. It isn’t what to do
about my bleeding face or my broken body. The
first thing that fills my head is Song’s face. He had a
way of looking at me that made me feel like the
most important person in the world. His eyes would
focus on mine. His cheeks would turn warm with
red. His eyebrows would relax and the creases along
his forehead would dissolve. He would smile. All I
can see is that face, all the love that’s behind it.
I made it back.
Was I ever even there in the first place?
We had argued. I remember that. I remember
feeling terrible. I remember wanting to die because
of how much I thought I had hurt him. Death seems
so scary now.
All I want is to apologize.
Red lights flash across my face. In my mirrors, I
can see the ambulance, but that’s not what fills my
heart with so much fierce, intense, absorbing
weight.
Next to the ambulance, little tears sliding down
his cheeks, is Song. He’s making that face, calm and
observant and completely in love. Song. The most
noticeable thing about him is his smile.
“Song,” I manage to whisper through numb lips,
but despite all my scrapes and scars and broken
parts, my lips are smiling wider than ever.
Alexandra Fuller '25
29

Virus
Joseph Sloan '23
I am a virus. What can I say? My whole purpose
is to jump from device to device and infect. This has
been the way it's always been for my kind. No one
has ever changed the law; it's always just been
‘infect.’ In my 35-year life, I’ve always felt regret
before I destroy or infect a document. This is
because we viruses don't know why we're infecting
or how it'll affect the person who created the
document. We were just made by some evil people
to keep a balance in the virtual world. Without
viruses, anyone could do anything on the dark web
without any regret, go to any website and not think
about a consequence. Hackers couldn't be stopped
without viruses and the very smart people who
control them.
So today I was employed to attack a simple word
document. I didn't have a choice whether to do it or
not to do it I just had to. So I started with a simple
pop-up ad: "DON'T MISS OUT REAL
ALGORITHM TO FIGURE OUT THE WINNING
LOTTERY NUMBER." Usually, this one works
because who wouldn't want to win the lottery? I was
hoping that it was a kid or an elderly person’s
computer. They're always the easiest targets as they
probably have the least knowledge of viruses and the
lies of the internet. I guess it wasn't one of them, as
whoever it was hit the X in about 10 seconds. So it's
aware of my actions, I thought. The next strategies I
used are some of my best ones. I look forward to
cracking you, I thought to myself as I went through
the applications it had downloaded on its computer.
After about 10 minutes, I found the code to get in
and used it to look at all the applications used on the
word document. I felt the best option was
Grammarly. By using this as my gateway to
hacking, I would be able to figure out what the
person’s name was. So I sent up a pop-up. "TRY
GRAMMARLY PREMIUM FOR 1 YEAR
COMPLETELY FREE,"
Luckily, after about 10 minutes, the person
clicked on it and put in some information. Boom! I
was in. I started going through all the information
that I was sent to get. When I had all the
information it was time for me to corrupt the
document. I was intrigued when I realized that this
was the document that a "Joe Sloan" was writing
his journal prompts for his Creative Writing class. I
realized if he had his document corrupted then his
grade in the class could be in jeopardy. So instead
of destroying the document, I wrote this story so he
could know the true struggles of a virus while
getting a good grade on his assignment.
Makayla Couch '21
Everyone Has
Disappeared
Tyler Haynes '21
Having everything to yourself is great... or is it? I
would not know how long everyone would be gone,
but considering they just up and left, it seemed I felt
like I had a lot of time. When I say "they left," I
meant the whole town. It all started when I woke up
at 12:00 midnight. My mom was saying she felt
weird and my grandpa said he had the same funny
feeling. Then they vanished into thin air. They were
gone.
I immediately went to check if anyone else was still
here, but no, it was just me. Naturally, the first thing
I did was go to the garage and take out my
grandfather’s Challenger, a beaming, red car that
30

growled like it was from hell. I drove that car,
constantly going over the speed limit, up to New
York City. I know it is a long way, but they have all
the nicest things in New York City. Besides, surely
it is not stealing when all those things the people
they belonged to had vanished? The shoes, clothes,
watches, and food would not help anyone else.
In a sense, I had simply embraced the phrase
"manifest destiny." I started to gather weapons as
well, as I knew eventually I would not be able to
live off the food around me. Luckily, all the power
was left on. This would allow me to live at the
height of luxury and in cool houses. At last, I was
finally in control of the thermostat. The only
drawback, however, was that I could not have at
least one person with me, which just shows that
when you have everything, you still don't.
Devin Towsey '21
31

Index
Ackerman, Alura 7
Bond, Kimberly 4, 24
Booker, Jordan 4
Catlett, Benjamin 33
Cantu, Marissa 5
Christian, Tyler 17
Clements, Michaela 5
Couch, Makayla 30
Dudzik, Elle Inside Cover, 6, 20
Etchinson, Gabrielle 3, 20
Farruggio, Olivia 27
Florance, Victor 11, 24
Frye, Jesse 13
Fuller, Alexandra 29
Gable, Carlee 19
Hance, Karly 12
Harris, Tyler 3
Haynes, Tyler 3, 30
Hernandez, Laura 7
Hill, Navaeh 7
Holman, Ryan Inside Cover
Hourihan, Melody 7
Jackson, Emilie 6
Johnson, Alyssa 23
Kidd-Bania, Brenna 4, 10
Kreitzman, Lauren 17
Landsberg, Jackson 8
Leake, Haliey 16
Leitzel, Carlie Inside Cover
Marshman, Hayley 6
McCormick, Brayden 26
McCormack, Maria 32
Morris, Olivia 4
Napier, Brooke Inside Cover, 16
Napier, Catherine 12
Opaleye, Oladunni Inside Cover
Perry, Amya Inside Cover
Porter, Tinsley 7
Potter, Kessler 13
Reid, Nya 3, 4
Rodriguez, Justine Inside Cover
Russell, Megan Inside Cover
Shreve, Kaylee 7
Small, Conner 6, 27
Smeds, John, 3
Smith, Mia 11
Sloan, Joseph 4, 30
Solga, Skylar Inside Cover
Storie, Cheyanne 32
Sweitzer, Somer 11
Todd, Ariana 10
Tomaras, Julia 8
Towsey, Devin 31
Trull, Mikyla 5
Wade, Shalexius 33
Wagner, Cassidy Inside Cover
Ward, Emma 6
Maria McCormack '21
Cheyanne Storie '21
32

The FCHS "Undefined" Literary Magazine
Staff sends a special thanks to all the students
who submitted artwork, poetry, and prose, as
well as to art teachers Michelle Coleman,
Amanda Clements, and Michael Morris, and
English teachers Barbara Marshall and
Elizabeth Pellicane for sharing their students'
work.
Benjamin Catlett '22
Undefined Editorial Staff:
Publisher: Elizabeth Pellicane
Managing Editor: Mia Smith
Assistant Editor: Mia Martinez
Literary Club Members:
Tyler Harris, Mia Martinez, Kessler Potter,
Edward Rackley, Mia Smith, Riley Yowell,
Hailey Leake, Maria McCormack
For more artwork, plays, poetry, and prose, go
to TheFlucoBeat.com and check out the Fluco
Fine Arts Center.
Shalexius Wade '22
Front Cover: Nya Reid '21
Back Cover: 1. Brenna Kidd-Bania '22
2. Abigail Fuller '21 3. Karly Hance '23 4. Margaret
Sites '21 5. Jackson Landsberg '22 6. Tallon Solga
'21 7. Carlee Gable '21 8. Evelyn DeMers '23
9. Erin Ginty '23
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Fluvanna County High School
1918 Thomas Jefferson Parkway
Palmyra, VA 22963
(434) 589-3666