Here is what I had, for you enjoyment.
I never thought I’d save the world. Or get super powers. I lived in a quiet little town called ****, and I went to a nice little school in the center of town. This was where it all started. Like most schools, it had a bully. It was actually a girl, but she was big and bad, nevertheless. Her name was Portina Hence, and she was a holy terror. For one she was stupid. We were in fifth grade and she still had trouble reading Elmo loves his daddy! How ever, she tried not to show it and bragged about all of her A+ s which were really Fs. I was smart and pretty, but a little overweight, so everyone made fun of me. Especially Portina. I was also really slow, and everyone was faster than me. Especially Portina. I was really strong in my arms, though, and I could lift 100 pounds easy. So could Portina. Naturally, she showed off while I kept my strength to myself. If someone wanted to push me, I let them, while Portina would knock them cold. I had only one friend, sweet, friendly, and smart Ezra Fortela. However she was really shy, and hated fighting, so we always hung out together. One problem. That demon Portina liked Ezra too. She would stop at nothing to kick me out of the way and have Ezra all to herself. Ezra hated that as much as she hated Portina.
Well, that was what you really needed to know, so now, let’s get into the story.
It was field trip time, and we were going to the Museum of Space and UFOs. We were wedged onto the bus with our partners. I was with Ezra; So Portina was busy trying to get to our seat without the teachers seeing. She got me so mad! Nothing could be worse than cramming into a stuffy yellow thing for three hours. I was counting the seconds, Ezra correcting me every time I missed a number. Suddenly the bus screeched to a stop. We were there! I stepped out into the aisle and… was trampled by a mob of fast moving feet. Portina took an extra long time stepping on me. Ezra helped me up and handed me her sweater to cover up the dirty footprints on my back. Thank god for Ezra! When we were finally safe inside the building, we were swept into a tour. Our guide was a tall, collage age man that had a huge Adam’s apple. We saw some helmets used in astronaut training (yawn). We also saw some rocks that they thought might be pieces of a meteor. (Double yawn) Then we saw something interesting. Our guide cleared his throat. “If you look here children, you’ll see some rings. DO NOT TOUCH THEM! They are specimens that were found inside a small meteor that touched down in Hyde Park last week. They may be radioactive or something. After inspection though, we found small words engraved inside each ring. For unknown reasons, each was in a different language. Well, actually, 2 of them are in English, but the rest are in Chinese, African, Mexican, and French. They each say one of the element names, you know, earth, wind, water, fire. But some of them say stuff like speed, and one, I think it’s the one with the golden gem, says Imagination, whatever that means!” “Now let’s move on.”
I stared at the ring with the gold stone. It was really pretty. All the other gem colors matched their elements, blue for water, red for fire, so on and so on. All of a sudden, I felt warm air on my neck. It was Portina! “So fatso, ya like the ring?” She sneered. “Let’s see how much Ezra likes you when you’re dead ‘cuz of too much radiation!” Before I could react, Portina had slipped the ring onto my finger! I screamed and the guide ran over. “What’s wrong ladies? Why aren’t you with the rest of your class?” “The ring! She put on! My finger!” I screamed, and then I blacked out.
When I woke up I could only open my eyes for a second, because they felt too heavy. In that one glance, I saw that I was in hospital room, filled with flowers and “Get Well Soon” cards. Ezra was sitting next to my bed, with dark bags under her eyes. My parents were huddled in a corner, staring at me. A big IV was in my arm and one of those things that measure your heart rates was next to my bed, opposite Ezra. I had little suction cup things attached to wires all over my body, but thankfully the doctors had put me in a hospital gown, so I wasn’t… naked.
I heard a door open and close, then someone (I guess it was a nurse) said “Ok everyone, you gotta get out now.” “You too sweetie, your friend will be all right, don’t worry.” I heard footsteps and the door closing. Then it opened once again and someone came in. I think it was the doctor. He said “Patty, will you change her IV please?” Patty the nurse sighed and I heard her come over to my bed. If I could of, I would have run away. I was in the hospital with an IV before, and it hurt when they came out! For some reason, it didn’t hurt at all! It kind of tickled. I imagined Patty scratching herself with the IV needle. She deserved it, for not caring whether it hurt or not, even though it didn’t! “Ouch!” yelled Patty, “I scratched my self with the darn IV needle!” If I could have smiled I would have. What a coincidence! I imagined Patty slapping herself on the face, because of being so stupid. I heard Patty saying “I’m so stupid!” and then slapping sounds! “Ow!” she screamed. “I can’t stop slapping myself!” Then the doctor said “Umm… Patty?” “Why don’t you take a little break? I’ll change the IV.”
“Ok” replied Patty as she walked out of the room, slapping herself. Whoa. Now that was a really weird coincidence. I imagined the skin where the IV was would heal. I hated needles being jabbed into me! The doctor picked up the needle and was about to put it into my arm when he said “Oh my God.” Then I heard the door slamming and the doctor running down the hall frantically screaming “Her skin healed!!!!!!!”
I had regained my strength mostly, and I opened my eyes and sat up. I looked at my hand and saw that the ring was still on. I tried to take it off, but it wouldn’t! I tried bending my finger, but the ring was sort of like a second skin. It bent with my finger! This was really, really weird. It was like what- ever I imagined came true, and it seemed like it was because of the ring. I decided to test it out. I looked to the other side of the room, and saw a table covered with cards. I imagined them all falling off. I concentrated, and, sure as day, they all fell off! Now this was cool. Now I’d do something that would prove I had powers. I looked at the blank wall at the side of the room. I concentrated and imagined a window appearing there. I waited a few seconds, when POOF! A window appeared and I could see the busy streets of New York City below. I looked at my hands. They didn’t look any different. All I had to do was imagine something, and it’d be there. I put out my hand and imagined a glass of lemonade. A tall, cool glass appeared in my hand. Cool! I snaked it through the maze of wires attached to me and took a sip. Ahhhh! Refreshing! The wires all over me were starting to be a bother, so I imagined them disappearing, and they did. The nurse came in, still slapping herself. Oh. I had forgotten about her. I imagined her not slapping herself. She put down her hand. “Phew! Thought I was goin’ crazy! “She said.” Hey, how’d that window get there? “Whatever. I see they’ve already unhooked ya hon’.” “You can head home when your parents come and getcha.” “But first you should have some food!” “You’ve been in a coma for three days! “ She wheeled in a food cart. “How’s bout’ some applesauce to start?” She said and put a big bowl with a spoon in my lap. “Uh, thanks.” I said and tried a bit. It was pretty good! I ate the whole bowl quickly. Then she asked if I wanted anything else, and I said no, but she made me drink lots of water anyway. I was glad when she finally walked out. I was tired and I fell quickly into a dark, dreamless sleep.
I was home! Boy was I glad! I needed a place to think where the nurse doesn’t watch you 24/7 (Unless you’re unconscious, that is.). I had imagined my parents letting me go to Burger King, and soon I was eating a double sized whopper with extra large fries and a mega large Coke-a-Cola. I was pretty hungry after eating nothing but applesauce once in 3 days. Now I was in my own room and I could finally be alone. I had powers and it seemed to be because of the ring. I wanted to do something! I was the first super hero in the history of the world! Everyone had thought that the only places that super heroes could exist were in TV and in comics. I could prove them wrong. My powers automatically made me the most powerful living thing on earth, so I had to use them wisely. I couldn’t just run around making Big Macs appear, I had to use my powers for the greater good. I could fight evil! I could stop wars! I could get revenge on Portina! No I thought. Maybe I would teach her a lesson, but I vowed then and there, to only use my powers for good.
Now first things first, I’d have to have a super name. I thought off all the super names that sounded like they had to do with imagination. Imagino? Nah. Minds Eye? Too scary. Dreamy? Naw, too stupid. Then I came up with the best name ever. Daydream. It was perfect! Now I had to imagine up a costume. Actually two, one for super fights and stuff and one for, like, if I had to meet the president, or receive a key to a city. First I drew them out on paper. My fighting one would be a gold jumpsuit with light blue stripes down the sides. I also had light blue boots and a blue utility belt. I also had a light blue cape with gold letters spelling out DAYDREAM. Perfect! I also decided on a staff with a pearly cloud at each end. It could also shrink down to stick size and go into my belt. I also had a golden gun thing that shot out a hook attached to a mile or two of string (good for escaping pits and things.). I concentrated really hard and imagined a suit and weapons just like that. I closed my eyes and braced myself when BAM! The finished suit appeared. I was too exhausted to look at it, and my power was pretty drained. I would make my other suit tomorrow, but for now I collapsed under the covers, still in my hospital gown.
I slept for 12 hours straight, and I still felt pretty drained in the morning. I would have to get more experience before using up so much power like that again. My other suit would have to wait. I looked down at myself, and then at the suit. One problem. The suit was made for someone who was fit and in-shape, not a lump. I was afraid that if I imagined my self fitting into the suit perfectly, I’d use up too much power. I decided to wait. I walked downstairs to the table. “How are you doing honey?” Mom asked “We were worried when you conked out like that. I mean, after you in the hospital and all that-““But I’m fine mom!” Don’t worry!’ I replied, and gave her a hug. I ate a stack of Eggo waffles and grabbed my backpack. “Honey, it’s Sunday!” “No school!” Oh. Revenge-er lesson teaching would have to wait.
I felt charged now, and I decided to give my powers a workout. I’d start small, expand and get bigger. I went to my room and locked the door. I concentrated and imagined a needle. It appeared without any trouble. I imagined it disappearing, and it did. Now I imagined a piece of paper. It appeared on my desk. Cool! I found a pencil and started doodling, but the tip broke. I imagined a new one. Now I could start to get bigger. I imagined a yellow tee-shirt, and it appeared. I felt a little tired now but I kept going. I imagined the shirt putting itself away, and it floated over to the closet and put itself on a hanger. I was really tuckered out now, so I took a break and went downstairs and grabbed an apple, then went outside. I walked around the neighborhood munching my apple as I went along. I t was a lovely day, and I was recharging fast. I decided to try not to use my powers for the rest of the day, so I‘d have plenty of charge left for tomorrow. Then I‘d try and make my other suit. I ran back home and sat down at the kitchen table again. My dad was there reading the paper. “Look here,” he said. “Another crater touched down in Hyde Park! It says that it contained yet another ring! This one had a black stone, and said nothing but “Gravity” inside.” “I wonder what else will happen.” “Well, I’m just glad that your ring didn’t harm you.” “Are you sure that you don’t want it taken off surgically?” “I’m sure dad!’ I replied. I wandered off upstairs. Once I was safe in my room, I tried on my super suit. It looked terrific, but It also looked like it was about to burst. I would have to wait to have it fit, though. Tomorrow would come sooner or later. I took a long nap to pass the time.
Ok, so I guess I was a little more tired than I thought. But I could have sworn that I had snored through a time warp. One minute it’d been 6:56 and I’m asleep, next minute it’s six fifty six, and I ‘m awake. Then I realized that IT WAS THE NEXT MORNING! I jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. I then thought of ways to teach Portina a lesson. I was about to give up, but then I got it! I would be able to control things with my mind! If you’ve ever seen the movie, A Wrinkle In Time, (based on the book) Then you know that at one part of it Charles Wallace gets a power where he can control things with his mind, so he pointed towards his sister and she floated up, and he made her spin and stuff by moving his finger or hand where he wanted her to go. If I had that power, then I could control Portina’s movements, and make her float, or maybe, I would show off a tiny bit and make other things move. I was afraid it would take up too much power but I tried getting the power anyway. I imagined it happening, and after some serious imagining, I felt like everything inside me was being twisted, like my lungs and stomach were being wrung out and hung up to dry. I couldn’t breath. I collapsed to the ground gasping in pain and choking for need of air. Then all of a sudden, it was over. I inhaled a bucket of air, and felt myself to make sure I was still alive. Yep. Now I could see if it worked, otherwise, I had just tortured myself for nothing. I looked at a piece of paper lying on my desk. I closed my eyes, and willed it to float. When I opened them, the paper was floating! I grinned. Now, I put out my hand and moved my fingers to the right. The paper traveled in the same direction as my hand! I turned my hand in circles and the paper followed. I wasn’t tired at all, and after running downstairs, eating a bowl of cereal, and kissing my parents goodbye, and glancing at the newspaper headline, which was: NEW RING STOLEN!! I was ready for school! I grabbed my backpack, and ran all 12 blocks to school! I slipped into my classroom right as the bell rang. I slid into my seat. I was the last one in class, but nobody besides Marlin Sneedly and I walked to school, and he lived 2 blocks away, not 12! My teacher, Mrs. Blowblouskie, smiled at me. “Right on time!” she said “Will you please put your backpack on its hook, though? It doesn’t belong on the floor.” “Oops! Sorry Mrs. B!” I said and let the backpack float onto its hook. Everybody ogled at me. I kept a straight face. This was going to be a great day!
After everyone had rubbed their eyes, and decided they were seeing things, Mrs. B began lecturing us about how amazing adjectives are. I then saw the spitball. It was coming from Portina’s desk. It flew across the classroom, towards Mrs. B. I leapt into the air, held out my hand, and the spitball stopped in mid-air. Everyone noticed this time. I waved towards the trash can, and the spitball put itself where it belonged. “How on earth……..” murmured Mrs. B. “How did you DO that?” Everyone asked. The adjective lesson was abandoned. “Is it that ring?” “Can you do anything else?” “Can I have your autograph?” I was jubilant. I had never gotten this much attention before! It was always on Portina, who was either showing off, or walking to the principle’s office. I then got an idea. What if I could make myself float? I gave it a try. I lifted my arms over my head and... shot up to the ceiling! “Oh yes, I can do much, much, more.” I laughed.
After I was back in my seat, Mrs. Blowblouskie told everyone to settle down, and she continued her adjective lesson, after announcing that we were all probably dreaming, and it was to be to our benefit if we learned in our dreams. I concentrated on the lesson, but nearly hit the ceiling again when a paper airplane landed on my desk. I unfolded it and read the message scribbled inside.
Meet me aftr scool. i know that yor powrs come frum that ring.O, ya, and prepar to die.
Sincerely,
(This part was sloppily crossed out and easy to read,)
Yu no hoo
I raised my eyebrows. Portina obviously wasn’t a great speller. But she was smart enough to figure out that this wasn’t a dream, and that the powers came from the ring. I glanced behind me to where Portina was sitting. (The back row, of course) She gave me a toothy, evil grin and held up her hand. The thing I saw on it almost made me choke. Portina had a ring. With a black gem on it.
The final bell rang. I went outside the school, and Ezra caught up to me. “Do your powers really come from that ring? I know this isn’t a dream.” “Yes,” I said “But there’s one problem. Portina has one too.” Ezra gasped. Before I could say anymore, an invisible force pulled me off the ground, and I floated in back of the school. I was too frantic to imagine anything, and before I knew it I slammed into the dirt and felt a surge of pain. Blood trickled out my nose. I was going to feel this tomorrow. I groaned and looked up. A blurry figure loomed over me. I shook my head, and the figure came into focus. It was Portina, but she was wearing a jet-black velvet cloak over a deep purple jumpsuit. She had on long gloves, black with sparkling purple stripes on the sides. She had on purple boots covered with little black stars, and a dark purple ski mask covered her eyes, but she had cut off the bottom, so you could see her nose and mouth. Not bad for someone who came to school with a yellow long-sleeved shirt with blue skulls on it and green and orange striped shorts. She grinned down at me. “Well, if it isn’t Ezra’s best friend, in the skin!” she said. “Actually, the phrase is ‘in the flesh’ but you’re too dumb to know that.” I replied. That did it. Portina hurled her fist at me, but I was ready, and I imagined a force field around me. I rolled to the side and flew into the air. “Look, Portina, I really don’t want to fight…” But before I could finish my sentence Portina flew up in the air by bending gravity. “Oh ya?” she sneered. “Well I do.”
Portina raised her hands above her head and sent a wall of gravity towards me. It crashed into me at full force and I was thrown against the building. I imagined myself going through the wall, and I floated through the solid brick into one of the kindergarten classrooms. Fortunately there was no one there. I imagined my nose healing, and a shower of gold sparks flew from my hand to my nose, and it mended itself. I was weak and tired and with all the strength I could muster, I imagined myself at home. When I appeared in the kitchen I was greeted by my confused mom. “Um… how did you get in here?” she asked. ”Oh, never mind, I’m not as young as I used to be, you must have been here all along, but I didn’t see you.” I smiled at her and ran up to my room and changed before my mom could see the blood and dirt on my clothes.
I went downstairs in my fluffy robe and slippers, and made myself a cup of rich, creamy hot cocoa. I sat down in the living room to think. The first thing that came to my head was that Portina hadn’t gotten in trouble for putting the ring on my finger. Then again, Portina was an excellent liar; she had probably made up some story about me. I pictured her telling the guide: “She was out of control! She needed the ring! I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t!” they probably believed her, too. The next thing was, how did she steal the ring? No parent would drive their kid three hours just to get to a museum, unless it was their birthday or something. Then it hit me. Sunday the 24th of April was Portina’s birthday! And naturally, the disappearance of the ring on Sunday afternoon would make the Monday newspaper edition! I then wished I knew more about the rings. I imagined knowing what would happen to them, and all of a sudden, a sort of vision came to me. I saw a trash guy reading a Tuesday edition of the newspaper while some other workers hauled trash into a truck. Then something on a banana peel glinted. The rings. I threw a glance at the trash man’s newspaper. The headline was: METEOR RINGS THROWN OUT BECAUSE TOO DANGEROUS!!! The vision ended. I had to do something! Before could talk myself out of it, I imagined the rings appearing here and fake ones replacing them. A flash of light presented a shower of harmless sparks on my lap, and, glinting in the shallow light given off by my lamp, were the rings. I placed then in a little box and brought it up to my room. I put it under my bed and sipped my hot cocoa. I felt charged, but I realized that it probably worked more quickly as I became more experienced. I imagined myself fitting into my suit, and, pop! I looked like I had been working out my whole life, and I felt fresh and energetic. I slipped into my suit. It fit great, and looked great! I peeped out side my room. No one there. Mom was probably making dinner. I opened my window and let the cool night air come in. I was chilly outside, but my suit kept me toasty warm. I jumped out and flew into the night sky, which was a deep blue, like the ocean, but flecked with stars. My cape billowed out behind me, and I thought one, happy thought. No one would call me fatso again.
I flew back through my window and landed lightly on my bed, I had only been out for twenty minutes, but it had felt like an eternity. An unforgettable eternity. I changed into sweats and jogged downstairs to the kitchen. Mom had dinner on the table, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I wolfed down my sandwich and took a spoonful of soup, but I scorched my tongue and had to wait. “Did you lose weigh- er... never mind” said my dad, who appeared to have just returned from work. I smiled a little and sipped my soup, only this rime I remembered to imagine it a little cooler.
I finally got into bed and snuggled down under the covers. I adjusted the sheets so I wouldn’t feel the itchy comforter and closed my eyes. I flipped over and flipped my pillow over to the cool side, but still no sleep would come. I rolled over again and counted the tiny ceiling tiles, but by the time I reached 297, sleep finally found me.
I was falling off a cliff, heading towards the jagged rocks below, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fly up to avoid my fate. Portina appeared above me, using her gravity powers to push me down, faster and faster, when CRACK! I woke up from my nightmare and flipped off the bed. Owtch. Yet another thing I was going to feel in the morning. I groaned and heaved myself up onto the bed again and fell asleep. Little did I know that I wasn’t the only thing moving around in my room. Or the only one having a bad night.
I was deep in a dreamless sleep, oblivious to what was happening around me. Three blocks away, Ezra woke from a nightmare of Portina killing me by pushing me off a cliff and smashing me on the rocks below. She flipped out of her bed. She couldn’t get back to sleep though. She just huddled on the floor in a cold sweat.
A few houses across the street from her, Portina slept peacefully, finishing off an excellent dream where she had killed me by pushing me off a cliff. All of a sudden, her ring flashed and trembled on her sleeping hand. It began drawing in sparks of all different colors and sending them into Portina. She trembled slightly with the ring, and let off a faint purple glow. She was becoming more powerful.
I woke once again, sensing that something was wrong. A blue light exploded soundlessly under my bed and let off a pulsing glow. I looked under to see that something inside the box containing the rings was thumping and trying to get out. I pulled the box out and onto my bed. I slowly opened it, and the blue ring that said ‘water’ on it flew out and hovered above me for a few seconds, before zipping out the open window and out of sight. I shook my head. This was zany! Then again, when you were dealing with super-powered rings from outer space, anything can happen.
While I sat on my bed thinking about how the ring could possibly do that, the ring flew on but stopped in front of Ezra’s house. Her bedroom window was open, and it flew in. Ezra, who had been lying on the floor of her room, sat up. The ring whooshed down and hovered right in front of her bewildered eyes, as if it were scrutinizing her. Then it flickered, as if it had made its decision, and flew onto her pointer finger and flickered again, as if contented, then stopped glowing. Ezra squeaked, but felt too weak to scream. She barely made it onto her bed before everything went black.
In which we switch to Ezra’s point of view
I woke in a sweat, and looked at the alarm clock next to my bed. I had been out for three hours! When I say three hours, I mean three hours late of when I should have gotten up, at 7:00. Now it was ten! And, just my luck, this was the day my mom didn’t work , so she was probably still asleep and never even considered that her children had to go to school, and my dad didn’t wake me up because, one, he couldn’t have, I was knocked out, not asleep, and two, he was on a business trip in Florida! Then I remembered why I had been knocked out. That ring. I shook my head, wishing it had all been a dream, but the proof was on my finger. It was kind of pretty; which was good, because I was stuck with it for the rest of my life. If I remembered correctly, it had the word ‘water’ engraved in it. Could that mean that it had... powers? Water powers? If the other rings that were being worn had powers, would this one? There was only one way to find out. But first, I had to get to school.
In which we switch back to our hero’s point of view
I chewed at the end of my pencil. I couldn’t concentrate on the math worksheet in front of me. Ezra wasn’t here. I was afraid that the ring might have flown to her house. And chosen her. And, like when I tried to drink a bottle of extra hot Tabasco Sauce, didn’t sit too well with her. Just as I was about to bore you even more with my endless assuming, Ezra burst into the room, waving a tardy slip. When everyone turned to look at her, she turned red and slid into her seat with her head down. Mrs.B new better than to say anything. Last time Ezra threw up when she was confronted.
And that was I had written. I was a very eccentric 8 year old.
