Elmo.

Last year, I got called Elmo by, like, everybody.

But now I'm Emily again. It's really different... I don't have nicknames I've realized! So, I've just decided that it's my mission this month to get more nicknames! Because Emily is a really common name, and I'll be in set design or something and someone will say "Emily, where are the lights?!" And I'll be like, "Uh..." And then Emily will find the lights for someone. But not me Emily, different Emily.

So yeah... nicknammmmes! I'm going to start hunting them! And insidejokes! There haven't been many this year unfortunately... But yeah...

I'm going to California in April! And we're staying HERE:

Isn't it pretty? I'm so excited! (:

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time to catch up!

You know what I just noticed? Well, I haven't blogged since last May. I haven't been on this page in nearly a complete year! A lot's happened in these last eightish months, maybe I'll write a bit about that, but, first, here's a little shout out to everyone who still reads this/just barely stumbled upon this.

If I haven't talked to you lately, it's likely I miss you! Meaning, you know what? Send me a message or something because I'd probably like to catch up with what's been going on in your life lately! (:

Okay, so, anyway... high school... still not sure if I like it. I mean, there are freaking AMAZING people here! But, sadly, I don't even like a fourth of my classes! How tragic... Oh, and I must say right now, right here, I miss Rhapsody more than anything. I have decided that I will be a Rhapsodian for life. Ain't going to change! Hopefully I'll be friends with other past/present/future Rhapsodians for, well, forever! (:

I'm doing a lot of rambling... but, oh well, you can keep reading this if you want. I've just been sick lately and have run out of things to do - well... I guess there's homework to catch up on... but that's no fun. I'll just be the procrastinator I am and do it all tomorrow. And Monday. And, most likely, the rest of my life! Woo! Party! Or you know, there lack of because of all of the homework I'll be catching up on...

So, anyway, back to high school. I really, really, really, really, really, really, (this list could go on for a while...), really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, (that's probably about enough...) REALLY miss my Jr. High buds! See? Jr. High was SO amazing that IT gets to be capitalized where as high school is not. Jr. High, you are/were totally epic.

Anybody else notice that the words of the year have seemed to be "epic" and "legit"? Or is that just my friends and I that use it all the time?

Once again, back to high school.

I'm loving my theatre class, it's pretty bomb. Like, about a week or so ago we decided that I truly am ADD, so I was up on the stage of the little theater, acting out a monologue, and then the teacher turns on the lights, so I'm all -

"I was sick, but more than that, I was - hey look! The lights are on!"

So yeah... definitely not the vengeful mood I was going for! Haha...

This year has been pretty awesome though, surprisingly. I've made some good friends, been able to hang on to ones who have now been taken away from me due to that stupid, dumb, idiotic, ugly, gross, smelly, horrible, icky, disgusting, no good boundary line... I do not like the boundary lines!!!

So I've made new friends, dislike/like different teachers now, gone to a dance, ran for SBO President (didn't make it...), auditioned for show choir in the fall (didn't make it.), auditioned for show choir at semester (made it!), wrote a 22 page one act play, seen six plays since the start of the year - well, technically nine because of the Davis one acts... But anyway, yeah...

I can't wait for sophomore year to be over, next year is going to be a blast! Hopefully I'll make it into the Productions class and the musical, and then the rest of my classes are just going to be awesome. AND AND AND!!! It's my last year of math!!! Can we say PARTY!?!?!? I can! (:

Oh... and I need to take a foreign language class Junior and Senior year... I was thinking ASL, but that's four class period a year. :/ Maybe Chinese! Haha.

Anyway, yeah... I'm going to probably write on this thing a lot more now - not when I'm just sick and bored...

Anyway, I love you all! Well... not everybody. But, you know if I love ya! (:

The End

So, the year has finally reached its end. In a few days, we'll have the end of year assembly and then it will be Summer vacation. Bye bye, Junior High.

I just finished an assignment that was due about a week ago in this class (whoops), and in it, I decided to look back on all of my blogs--and I realized something: I've grown, like, a LOT. It's surprising to see who I was at the beginning of the year and who I am now. And I can only thank my friends, peers, family, and teachers (pretty much everyone I've run into this year, so it's not really ONLY...) for that. Thanks you guys, you all freaking rock. Even if you were the person who was a total jerk from day one to the very last minute of the end of year assembly, or the kid who never quit pestering me. I'm glad you've all been part of me, because without you, I wouldn't be who I am now.

I'm not saying I'm perfect, because, DUH, I'm not. Who is?

Looking back on one specific older post, I'd like to say I've found my light. But, it's not really the kind I was describing back then. It's friendship. Having friends all around me who actually care about what I think. Having people who aren't afraid to tell me I'm being a total witch and then are still my friends afterward. I love you guys! Thank you for being there for me!

I don't really know what to write anymore I've got so much going on! It's like, at the beginning of the year, I had no limit for how long I would write or ponder, but now with everything I'm in and doing, I don't really have time for it anymore!

I'm glad to see that I'm not longer about as social as a rock, I like it that I actually know my family and friends now. I'm happy I took the time to actually get to know y'all!

At the beginning of the year, I didn't think I was going to miss our school, but now as our days here are drawing to an end, I can't even stand to think about leaving. I don't want to leave our memories behind, I don't want to be split from my best, best friends who just have to go to the rival school. I'll still be seeing them frequently, but I absolutely hate to think of all the inside jokes I'm going to miss out on.

I'm glad to see that I'm supported by so many people, and I'm so ecstatic for everything I'm hoping to get into over the Summer (I've got a job, gym membership, and hopefully gymnastics and dance lessons heading my way!) I'll hardly have a second for sleep! I can and can't wait for the last day of school. Because, really, it's not the end.

It's only the beginning.

The end of the year? When did THIS happen?

Seriously, it seems like just yesterday that we were having our Rhapsody mini musical, the Shakespearian Dinner Theater, auditions for the music man! How did everything fly by so quickly? In two weeks, I'll be out of Jr. High and into High School. Again, when did this happen?

I feel like I've been asleep all year long, just watching from the sidelines!

Today, though, was a total wake up call. I won't be at school tomorrow, so that leaves only one full Friday left of school. No school on Monday, so only one Monday left of school.

And then, today, I got asked out, like, for a date for the very first time. Another wake up call. I mean, I've been pretty much ignoring this guy all year long.

Can't exactly remember where I was going with this anymore, so, good night!

Idea for Multi Genre Paper... Sorta.

Newspaper Article: (completely fictional.)

LAPD POLICE SGT. TONY RAY SAVES THE DAY

Robert Anderson and his wife, Teresa, came home last night to quit the surprise, their Las Angeles home was surrounded by the flashing patriotic lights of LAPD Police Cruisers.

The Anderson's had gone out to dinner and a movie while they left their two young children, Mckenna (age 2) and Taylor (age 4), with their trusted babysitter.

The babysitter, Sidney Valentine (age 15), called the police just after seven PM last night saying that there had been an intusion at the Anderson's residence and she and the two children had locked themselves inside one of the bathrooms.

"I've never been more terrified in my life than I've been these last few hours." Valentine told us last night. She also says she expects to keep babysitting for the Anderson's in the future, she'll just take more precautions.

LAPD sent in Police Sgt. Tony Ray to get the children out of the house before any harm could come to them. Soon after Ray went in, gunshots could be heard. A crowd had gathered around the frontside of the house and the audience waited in what seemed to be a pained silence for someone to exit the house.

"Officer Ray saved us a great deal of pain and loss. We are so very thankful that he was on the job tonight." Said (Mrs.) Anderson to an LAPD officer late last night.

When questioned about what happened inside the house during the Valentine-Anderson rescue mssion, all officer Ray had to say was, "He opened fire, it was self defense."

Later, coroners showed up to "relieve the scene of the body".

"We haven't found a motice yet," Said Chief of Police, John McDougal. "Other than the obvious case of theft."

Police are now working on identifying the body of the suspect.

(Magazine Article)

DEATH OF SUSPECT SELF DEFENSE--OR MURDER?

A man police say was killed by an on-duty officer during a break in/hostage situation was a 52-year-old with a criminal history including theft, illegal possesion of firearms, possesion of illegal substances, rape, and murder.

Court records show he was arrested for a similar break in thirty-five yeras ago, but since then, has been able to escape arrest.

Early in 1978, Anthony Ray was released from the California State Prison. Later that year when he returned home, he killed his wife, Lillian Travis Ray, and his daughter Angela Ray. There was one other death in this triple homicide, and that was the death of the neighbor Ryan Fait.

Thirty years ago, LAPD Police Sgt. Tony Ray was only four-years-old. He lived with his mother, Lillian Travis Ray, and sister, Angela Ray.

Last week, Police Sgt. Ray killed his mother's and sister's murderer. He claimed he had no other choice, that it was self defense.

Last week, Police Sgt. Ray killed his father.

Could Ray's claim of "self defense" not be completely accurate? Is the man who says he devotes his life to saving others just a cover?

Be careful, people of Las Angeles, one of you LAPD Police Sgt.s is a killer.

The Aftermath

"Tony? Tony!" Jen shouted as she entered the house. Her keys clattered onto some table surface or another. "Have you heard what they're saying? About the--" I didn't turn to her as she stepped closer to me, but I knew what she saw. I knew the look that had to be on her face.

Here I was, her husband of seven years, sitting only inches away from the paused TV screen, staring at my father's picture from over thirty years ago. I could only imagine how crazy I looked to her.

"Honey?" Her voice was hardly more than a whisper. "It... it's not true, is it?" Now she was in m7y peripheral, and I could see that she had rushed to get home. Leaves in her ratty hair, her face red with sweat, her eye makeup running... Did I really do this to her?

No.

We did this to her.

"Oh God, Tony! Tell me that this is all a lie!" She was completely hysterical, all but shaking me by my shoulders that she held on to as if for dear life.

How could I have done this? How did I let him get to us? Jen and I had worked so hard to put him out of my head, and now...

"I did it. I killed him."

Something about saying those words just felt so good. So sweet. They filled me with a joy I hadn't ever felt before.

"But... not purposeful, right? I mean, you said it was self defense. You said it was to protect those three kids! You wouldn't kill a man if he didn't have to die!"

For the first time in nearly three hours, I looked away from the frozen screen and turned my head to look behind me. To look at my beautiful wife. My sweet, perfect, disheveled Jennifer Reese Ray.

"You wouldn't kill him on purpose, Tony. That's what he's always done, not you." She knew I'd done it, there was that desperate tone in her voice that said she knew. She was only trying to reassure herself that life could still go on as it always had.

"I did it, Jen. I killed him."

I could feel the laughter pounding in my chest as I recalled that sweet, perfect night. Saving the lives of the two Anderson kids and the Valentine girl really didn't mean anything compared to how many lives I saved and avenged by killing Anthony Ray. But, he wouldn't just laugh just yet, no. He would save that for after his wife was gone, she wouldn't ever be able to understand the laughter, the joy.

"But... you've said yourself that you only ever saw him once... not even completely. And you were only four then, so how could you have known it was him? You didn't know it was him."

Please, Jennifer, save yourself the pain.

"Jennifer, I knew who he was. I knew it was him. I had to kill him, Jen. Anthony Ray just had to die. You should be celebrating that there's one less criminal to live in a world with our daughters! You should be as happy as I am that he's dead! That I killed him! There's nothing to be afraid of anymore, hon. We're safe now. Anthony won't ever hurt you or the girls. Not ever."

Sobbing, Jen stood up and stepped away from me.

"I... I've got to go, Tony. I'm uh... I'm going to take the girls with me to my parents house in Beverly Hills for a few days, until you can think straight again. Okay?"

"There's nothing wrong with my thought process, Jen." I stated, clearly agitated. "But the girls probably would love to stay at your parents house for a while." There it was, my permission to let them go. Not that they needed it, it was just my way of letting her know I would always be here for her when she came back.

If she came back.

New Characters!

PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY THROUGH THIS AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! THANKS!

Alright, so! This is a new story idea--well, more so the characters of the new story idea--but parts of the story are told to you throughout the character sketches. Everything that doesn't look like it should be capitalized is probably capitalized for a reason (Like: Daughter, Nice Young Man, and Edge). If you have any questions PLEASE let me know! I want this to be a story I can actually COMPLETE without me just dropping it... like everything else I write. ick. :/

Well, on to the characters! (Characters are in order in the order I wrote them in.)

Sara Gray - Age 19 - DOB April 19th, 2294

Eyes: Warm Brown
Hair: Short Brown
Height: About 5'8
Weight: Slender
Skin: Porcelain Pale
Name Meaning: Plain.

Nicknames: Plain Jane, Sa-Sa

Personality/History:

Sara never actually knew her real parents. She thinks they were taken before she was capable of remembering. One of the survivors took her in and raised her with his son and another boy he'd found. One day, the man just disappeared. Sara was the second oldest of the remaining three, so she took over raising Briar.

Other: She remembers being Taken when she was little, but she knows that that would be totally impossible.

Devon - Age 22 - DOB October 7th, 2291
Eyes: Almost black
Hair: Black
Height: Six foot..? (Pretty tall)

Weight: Fit
Skin: Dark

Name Meaning: Dark and Mysterious, Cunning and Brave.
Nicknames: De'De', Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Mysterious

Personality/History:

Devon always wished he could have lived two hundred years ago - back when break ups and a bad economy was really as bad as it could get. Even though, back then, there was lots of racism, he would rather have to deal with that than his own hostile environment where people threatened and killed for mates and supplies - homes away from The Edge.

Other: Devon has loved Sara ever since he met her just off the Edge.

Briar Rose - Age 7 - DOB June 4th, 2306

Eyes: Grey-Blue
Hair: White-Blonde
Height: Short
Weight: Skinny
Skin: Freckly and tanned
Name Meaning: Beautiful, but can cause so much pain and often grows wild if not cared for properly.
Nicknames: Bri-Bri, Thorn

Personality/History:
Briar was the only "actual child" of the Old Man and the Kind Woman, but he acted as if Devon and Sara were still every bit as related to him as his parents were. Briar's first actual memory was when he saw his "mother", the Kind Woman, attacked and killed by the Monsters - in broad daylight. Sara and Devon took over taking care of him after the Old Man disappeared.

Other: Calls Devon, De'De' and Sara, Sa-Sa.

The Kind Woman - Age: Old - DOB Unknown

Eyes: Kind blue

Hair: Thin and white
Height: Short
Weight:Average
Skin: Tanned and Wrinkly

Name Meaning: Obvious. Duh.

Nicknames: Mom
Personality/History:

The Kind (old) Woman wasn't always old, in fact, she was once a child who fell in love with an older boy (The Old Man). They stuck together and eventually had a Daughter. And that Daughter grew up and fell in love with a Nice Young Man and they had a child - a boy - and named him Briar. They were still living with the Kind Woman and Old Man when the Nice Young Man disappeared. The Daughter left to look for him, despite her mother's warnings, and left her son, too. She never came back. And Briar was only a baby, so she and The Old Man decided to raise him as if he were their only child. They never told him, mentioned, or hinted on that there was any other story.

The Kind Woman had been out picking wild berries, showing young Brair which were safe and which were poisonous, when she was attacked and killed. She took to death her findings.

Other: The Monster who killed her was her Daughter.

The Old Man - Age: Old - DOB Unknown
Eyes: Wise grey
Hair: White and thinning.
Weight: Really kind of frail due to age, but still muscular from his youth.
Height: Really tall.
Skin: Often sunburned
Name Meaning: Other than the obvious?
Nicknames: Dad
Personality/History:

The Old Man met the Kind Woman when he was only a teenager, but, still, he fell in love. At first, it was only the love one would have for a sibling as he raised her from child to young adult, but by the time she was a young adult, he understood that he loved her. And she loved him. A few years later, they had a Daughter. And when that Daughter grew up, she met a Nice Young (arrogant) Man, and, eventually, they fell in love. Later on, they have Briar. The old man REALLY never liked the Nice Young Man, his Daughter was quite convinced that he was happy when the Nice Young Man disappeared. So, she left to go find him, even though she told her father that she knew she wouldn't ever be coming back. She left Briar Rose, still only an infant, with her mother.

The Old Man never saw his Daughter again.

The Old Man was the one who found the crying Briar and the dead body of his beloved. Of course, at that time, The Old Man was the only one who could have found them. After all, he hadn't yet found Sara or Devon. For weeks after, Briar wouldn't talk. And he didn't again until after Devon and Sara came into the picture. The Old Man adored Sara and Devon - for taking care of Briar and him - even when he thought all was lost. Soon, he was able to push away his pains of loss and live a life worth living.

The night before he left Devon, Sara, and Briar, he had a dream of his Daughter. Only, it wasn't really her; it was one of the Monsters. And it would stop at nothing until it had him.
Other: The Old Man loves to farm and paint.

Monsters - Age Unknown - DOB Unknown
(Hey! If anyone could help me come up with a name for these guys, that'd be awesome!)
About:
Savage, wolflike creatures with some human features - like eyes, hands, and voice tone. These Monsters were once humans, humans who were Taken. How the humans transform is by being surrounded by other Monsters, their dark auras pressing down hard on the human victim. Sometimes they survive, usually they don't. The dark auras cause the victim to recall only their most pained memories, bringing actual physical pain to them. The pain ages the humans quickly, if they survive, though, they are given the immortality of a savage beast.
Thought Process:
These Monsters are not as they used to be. They aren't really the human they once were, they're just the darkness of themselves. The anger, sorrow, hatred, jealousy, loneliness - everything bad. And they think killi9ng makes their life better. If they still care for a human, they kill them to take them away from the harsh world. If other, they Take them, turning them into one of their own, to make them finally feel what they feel. Revenge of a sort.
Name ideas: The Taken

So, what do you think? Please! Let me know!

╰☆╮Mimi╰☆╮

My completed short story for creative writing! :D
Well, this isn't actually the totally completed one, there's a few errors in it, but I don't feel like fishing them out right now. :/

"Twenty seven years have passed." I whispered as I looked up to the heavens with its brilliant shades of blue. "Twenty seven years..." In two years, I'll be as old as mom ever lived to be. She'd had her life taken from her, unable to raise my sister and me past the ages of fifteen and four. My father had killed my mother. I suppose he was trying to get revenge, trying to be a man. But, already, at just the age of four, I had surpassed being more of a man than my father ever was, or could be. I thought as I caressed the letters of her name on the grave stone. Twenty seven years...

I had only been four when my father killed my mother. It was the first time he'd been home since before I was born, and he killed his own wife.

I remember there being a fight in which my mother struggled to keep her life, but, in the end, failed. I was so frightened as the old woman we had for a neighbor gripped my shoulders as the paramedics carried my mother's lifeless corpse, over to the ambulance along with my sister. And I remember thinking that the very next day, life would go back to the way it used to be. With grilled cheese with ham sandwiches, games of cops and robbers, and mom teaching me how to swim with lessons every Thursday after daycare.

Twenty seven years ago, I lost everything.

***

"Tony, Angela--lunch is ready!" Finally! I raced down from my room, leaving my police car behind. The bad guys may never take breaks, but when my tummy growled, I had to take a break for lunch. Especially for grilled cheese with ham. Yum!

When I reached the bottom of our endless stairs and walked into the kitchen, I saw Angela crying. She pushed her plate away from herself. On one hand, there was more for me! But, on the other hand... Angela, my older sister, my only sister, was sad.

Again.

"Angie, what's wrong?" I really didn't like seeing Angela cry, she never cried. Or, at least, she didn't before. Lately, all she ever really did was cry, cry, and cry some more. She wasn't really as... well, aware of our missions as secret agents, of our duty to our country and mother.

"Angela, honey, please calm down. Tony's right, he and I are concerned that you haven't been exactly... well, happy lately. We love you Angela, and we're here for you; just tell us what's wrong." See? This is why we've got a duty to our mom.

Angela sniffed and wiped away some of her tears with her arm. "I just," She paused, her voice trembling. She got up from her seat, grabbed one of the cups that change color with temperature (so cool!) from the cupboard, and filled it with water. When she sat back down, she took a drink. (Because of the cold water, the cup at turned purple. Awesome!)

"I just haven't really wanted to bother you guys. Ryan... he--"

"Oh, no, Angie-baby! Don't tell me he--"

"No mom, he didn't do anything. It was Hana." She said the name as if it was broccoli. "She stole him from me! And then today is," Angela started to sob again. When I looked down at my plate, I realized just how hungry I'd been--my entire sandwich was gone! But, still, my tummy growled.

"Angie, are you going to eat that?" I asked, pointing to her sandwich. She looked up at me, glaring at me like "Maggot" Mason always did on coloring days in daycare. (I had the bigger set of crayons and I wouldn't share with him. He's a bully.)

"Ugh! You see? He doesn't care! He just wants another damn sandwich!"

"Angela Marie Ray!" Mom shouted, right as I said,

"Ooooh! She said the 'D' word!" I held my hands to my face as I laughed. Boy was she in trouble now!

Angela was out of her seat and stomping off to her room faster than I could... well, eat her sandwich! (Which mom set in front of me as she chased Angela to her room. More for me! Yay!)

I finished eating my sandwich just before mom came downstairs. "Tony, I want you to go up to your room until I tell you to come down, okay?"

What? What had I done? I wasn't the one who swore! I wasn't the one who stomped off! "But--"

"Tony, just go." Mom sounded tired, so I just listened. I hopped down from my chair, leaving my plate on the table.

"Fine." I pouted and trudged up the stairs.

While I waited for mom to call for me, I chased some more bad guys--especially Angela's Boyfriend Stealer, took a nap or two, and called "Mom! Can I come out yet?" from just outside my room at least seventeen times.

Suddenly, I heard the low hum of a car pull into our driveway. It was mom's car. I looked outside, just to check, and, sure enough, there was mom. "So that's why she didn't let me out..." I grinned, waiting to her mom walk back in.

"Tony?" I could hear Angela's voice call from the other side of the door, but I continued chasing the bad guys in my police car I'd been chasing them for a while now, but these guys were a challenge to find, unlike bullies and rude siblings. This Stealer knew my weaknesses, they'd taunt me with cheesecake and ice cream galore! And then, they'd escape. As always.

"Tony!" Secret Agent Angela walked in after a single knock--our secret code. Have you found them, Angela? I wanted to ask, but if someone heard, they would figure out that Angela wasn't just the Thorderson's Friday night baby sitter. That she was the victim of a Stealer.

"Vroom, vroom!" I said, asking her my question in code. I help up my tiny police car and pointed to it when she didn't get the message. "Vroom!" Maybe all this Stealer business was making her go brain dead.

"C'mon, Tony, we've gotta go!" Secret Agent Angela grabbed my hand in hers, and by the tone in her voice, I knew we just had to be close to finding the people who stole Angela's boyfriend.

"'Gela, where goin'?" But Angela didn't answer me, she just lead us quickly down the hall, into her bedroom, and then into her bathroom. Secret Agent Angela locked the door behind us. Could they be...

Under the sink?

Angela let go of my hand to cover her face as she cried. I didn't ask her what was wrong, because I knew the answer to that, and it was the boyfriend stealer. I threw open the cabinet doors, but all that was underneath Angela's sink was the boxes and bags Angela kept her secret agent girl belongings in it, things that even I wasn't allowed to see. There were no boyfriend Stealers inside... but I'd been so close...

"Oh shoot..." I muttered, this case was starting to bore me, but I had to find Angela's boyfriend to make her happy again.

"NO!" I heard mom scream from downstairs. Had the boyfriend stealer returned? Had he made an escape to the TV room downstairs? Or to mom's office? Was he here to make Secret Agent Angela's life even more miserable by taking our mom away? Someone had to be on to us, but who could've spilled our secret about our jobs? Angela herself forgot half of the time, and the only one I'd ever told was... Oh no! He couldn't have!

"Bacon wouldn' tattle!" I whispered as my throat became hurt with tears. How could Bacon the Cow betray us like that? He'd been a close partner of my for forever! But now I understood that his black beady eyes and soft plushness had been a deceiving trait since the beginning...

I had to leave before he could tell anyone anything else.

As if she had read my mind, Secret Agent Angela grabbed my hand and opened the window. "You go first." She said, her voice shaking. Her eyes were bright red, her nose, too--from the crying. Go where thought? Out the window? How could we get down... the pool?

The pool! We'd dive down from the roof to the pool! It'd be so much fun! (But mom would never allow it...)

"Okay!" I grinned, Angela was fun again!

I was just getting on the roof when I heard mom scream again. Oh no! I'd forgotten about the Stealer being downstairs! What if the stealer got mom? It'd be all my fault! Angela would be sad, just when she'd become happy and fun again!

"Mommy, 'Gela! What 'bout mom--?"

BANG!

The sound hurt my ears, but mom's screams had stopped... had the Stealer left? Had mom suddenly become an agent and got back Angela's boyfriend? Suddenly, Angela swooped me up in her arms and leaped from the roof. Tears were streaming down her sad, torn face. She was probably just afraid of the jump, after all, Angela's a girl a total wuss. Or...

The Stealer had taken mom.

Right as we were about to plunge into the water below, Angela covered my mouth and nose, so I wouldn't drown or anything like that. Secret Agent Angela was smart--she knew I was never a good agent when I had water up my nose.

I looked up at her right as we went under the water (the chlorine no longer hurt my eyes--part of the secret agent training was being able to see underwater without goggles.) She looked like a mermaid with her long, flowing brown hair and her tan, tan skin. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight and bubbles were coming out of her nose as we started heading back up towards the surface of the water.

Angela gasped for breath when we hit the air and brought her hand away from my face.

"'Gain, 'gain!" I laughed, it was the most fun we'd had in a long time. I kicked myself free from her, dog paddling as fast as I could toward the ladder. Angela beat me to it--she always did, she was a better swimmer.

"Hurry." She rushed, pulling me up after she'd climbed the ladder. I grinned at her, she hadn't been this excited to do anything in a long time!

I was surprised when she grabbed my hand and started running from the house. Away? Why away? What we'd just done was so fun! Were we going to have a cannon ball contest? Mom would want to take pictures... Mom!

NO! I recalled her voice scream in my head. The stealer! We were close! We'd catch them any minute now. "'Gela! Mommy!" But Angela kept on running. Didn't she care about mom? Didn't she want mom to be safe? "No!" I screamed as loud as I could, but all Angela did was pick me up in her arms and keep on running.

"Shut up, Tony!" She hissed, menacingly. I kicked and I screamed, pulling at her light blonde hair, scratching her pale white skin.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" I screamed, louder this time. She covered my mouth with her soft, silky hand. "'Gela, no!" I screamed.

What if Angela had been working with the Stealer all along? What if she had lied to me to get my secrets? What if...

Bacon wasn't the traitor, Angela was.

I looked over her shoulder, trying to see if mom had made it out of the house. I couldn't even see the house. Where was Angela taking me? We were running down the bike path that the dragons lived in. What was she thinking?!

"Help us! Please!" Angela screamed as we approached a house and she pounded on the door. "Miss Fait, Ryan, we need your help!" There was something about her voice that I'd never heard before. Like she was afraid, but nervous at the same time--but also kind of crazy. I think there's a word for that... pancake? No... Panting? No... Oh! Panic! There was definitely total panic in her voice.

The door opened, creaking creepily as it did. It was the house of the dragon tamer--only, she didn't actually tame them anymore, she trained them. Trained them to kill.

"No, no, no, no, no!" I yelled after biting my sister's hand, making her drop me in the process. I fell with a 'thump!' and it hurt my back, but I had to get somewhere safe. I just had to.

"Tony, no!" Angela ran after me, her pale complexion covered in sweat. How long had it taken Angela to get me here? Would I be able to make it back home to mommy before she made me spill all of my secrets? No, I wouldn't. So, on a last second thought, I turned around and bolted back toward the house, running straight under the dragon keeper's arms and into her house. Baby dragons were all over, mewing and purring! As if they were cats!

I jumped past them as they hissed and sprung toward and away from me, out of my path. They feared me; what wise creatures.

Without thinking of where I was heading, I stumbled up a flight of old, wooden stairs. They would have been perfect for a car race, the railings, I mean.

I reached the top and looked around. Where would I go? There were three doors, all old and wooden, but one was painted white. I darted for one of the unpainted ones and stood up on my toes to open the door.

It was locked.

I reached for the other unpainted door, but, it too, was locked.

Only one door left...

"One door..." I whispered, nearly jumping out of my skin when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind me. Stomping, the sound pounding in my ears. I pushed on the white door with all my might, and...

It opened.

I ran in, slamming it behind me. There was a bed in the room, and some paintings on the walls (which were blue). The floor inside was just like the stairs and the hallway: old and wooden.

I crawled as quickly as I could underneath the bed, Angela never found me when I hid there at home while we practiced our stealth skills. Of course, Angela never really found me anywhere. Sometimes she'd just walk right past me and say "Where's Tony?" She was kind of dumb in that way.

"Tony! Tony, where are you?" There was more panic in Angela's voice as she opened the door.

"Is he under there?" It was a voice I recognized that said it... not Angela's, and surely not old Miss Fait's... It was Ryan's! Angela's boyfriend! The one who'd been stolen! Wait if he was here, then that meant...

She'd lied.

Angela, my partner in justice, had lied to me. Ryan had never been stolen, there was no Stealer to chase. My very own sister had lied to me!

To me!

Her white tennishoes showed up at the edge of the bed, right across from my face. But she wouldn't find me, she never did. Angela was a clueless girl.

"Angela!" Ryan screamed, his feet running toward my sister's.

BANG!

BANG!

Ryan and Angela fell to the ground like broken crayons. One right after the other. I squeezed my eyes tight and covered my ears, the 'bangs' were not happy sounds. They hurt my head. When I opened them, Ryan's face was right across from mine. He had a hole in his forehead, right between his eyes, and blood was flowing out of it. He needed a Band-aid.

Down by my feet was Angela's face. I turned so I could see her, instead of Bleeding Ryan. Her mouth was open slightly and her blue eyes were wide open, but emotionless. A tear fell from one, and I reached out to wipe it away. "Don' cry, 'Gela."

Angela said nothing.

"They're all gone now..." A grown-up voice laughed quietly. His voice sent shivers down my spine and gave me goose bumps. He sounded like grandpa, kind of, only... crazy. And not as wheezy. A gun fell to the floor, and then, the long silence that followed hurt my ears.

***

The events that followed have never been exactly clear to me. I remember sirens and Miss Fait holding onto my shoulders, and the rain that fell. I'm pretty sure I remember thinking, and so the skies cry, too, but, when I look back on those memories, for rain to fall would make no sense. We were in the middle of a dry summer, a drought. It couldn't have rained.

Soon after that, I was taken into live with my grandparents on my mom's side. They spoiled me, paid for every little thing I could have ever asked for. They told me stories of my family, so I'd never forget my mom and her marvelous, homemade blue berry, huckleberry, and cherry pies.

After grandma passed away, not long after I entered my senior year in high school, grandpa fell into a depression. I took what was left of their savings and put him into the nicest assisted living home I could find, one that I would also be able to visit constantly.

I got a few part time jobs to help pay for college, only to drop out two years into it and decided that I wanted to be a policeman, to catch Anthony Ray, my father, and put him behind bars for killing my family, my innocence. I wanted revenge on him, for he'd taken away my life.

And then I met Jennifer Reese, who taught me how to just let go. I married her about nine years ago, and, since then, we've had two kids, both girls. We named them after our mothers, Corrine Marie and Lillian. Corrine is soon to turn seven, Lillian three.

"Tony, the kids are getting ornery, I think we'd better head out. Besides, it looks as if it's about to rain." I looked over at my beautiful wife with her kind, thoughtful smile.

What better than a summer storm on the anniversary of that very day twenty seven years ago?

"Alright," I said, smiling as I stood up from the graves of my mother and sister.

Alright, one thing I need to clarify: Yes, Angela was a brunette with tan skin (the family is Spanish, actually.) the bit about her having blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale, pale skin was my attempt at symbolism. (Haha.) Yeah... she was supposed to be his "guardian angel" but a lot of people have told me that they didn't really get it...

The Hunger Games

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE HUNGER GAMES.

So, I’ve been sick for the past few days, but there’s been one plus side to this. I read The Hunger Games. After I finished the book, I was shocked! I’ve never read anything so brilliant in my LIFE. The Hunger Games, through the tale of Rue alone, is a heart wrenching story. With characters like Katniss, Peeta, Cinna, Portia, Haymitch, Rue, Thresh, Prim, Gale, Cato, and Glimmer, there’s never a dull moment.

The Hunger Games is about Katniss Everdeen, a kind hearted girl who risks her life so her younger sister, Prim, doesn’t have to jeopardize her own. There’s a point where Suzanne Collins had me holding my breath due to the suspension. “He leans down and rips the bandage off his leg, eliminating the final barrier between his blood and the earth.” Suzanne writes. “’No, you can’t kill yourself’ I say. I’m on my knees, desperately plastering the bandage back onto his wound.”

In four and a half hours, I devoured the three hundred-seventy four pages of The Hunger Games, but it only left me hungry for more. The sequel, Catching Fire, isn’t going to be released until later this year, so I’ll have to wait to see where the story takes off to, but, honestly, this has got to be one of the greatest books ever written!

“Sing.” She says, but I barely catch the word.

The previous line is one of Rue’s last words in the book. To Rue, music is one of the best things in life, it’s all she asks for on her deathbed with a spear through her body. Collins knows how to pull at nearly every emotion. Whether it’s hate, love, betrayal, fear, pain… Collins is a master.

The Hunger Games is said to soon be turned into a movie, adapted by Collins herself. So, hold on folks! We’re in for a wild ride.

"Twenty seven years have passed." I whispered as I looked up to the heavens. "Twenty seven years..." In two years, I'll be older than mom ever was. I realized as I caressed the letters of her name on the grave stone. Twenty seven years...

I had only been four when my father killed my mother. It was the first time he'd been home since before I was born, and he killed his own wife.

I remember there being a fight and then my mother fought for her life, but, in the end, failed. I remember how frightened I was as the old woman we had for a neighbor gripped my shoulders as the paramedics carried my mother's lifeless corpse over to the ambulance along with my sister. And I remember thinking that the very next day, life would go back to the way it used to be.

***

"Tony?" I could hear Angela's voice call from the other side of the door, but I continued chasing the bad guys in my police car I'd been chasing them for a while now, but these guys were a challenge to find, unlike bullies and rude siblings.

"Tony!" Secret Agent Angela walked in after a single knock--out secret code. Have you found them, Angela? I wanted to ask, but if someone heard, they would figure out that Angela wasn't just the Thorderson's Friday night baby sitter.

"Vroom, vroom!" I said, asking her my question in code. I help up my tiny police car and pointed to it when she didn't get the message. "Vroom!"

"C'mon, Tony, we've gotta go!" Secret Agent Angela grabbed my hand in hers, and by the tone in her voice, I knew we just had to be close to finding the people who stole Angela's boyfriend, making her sometime cry and throw things--like CDs and toys.

"'Gela, where goin'?" But Angela didn't answer me, she just lead us quickly down the hall, into her bedroom, and then into her bathroom. Secret Agent Angela locked the door behind us.

Could they be... under the sink?

Angela let go of my hand to cover her face as she cried. I didn't ask her what was wrong, because I knew the answer to that, and it was the boyfriend stealer. I threw open the cabinet doors, but all that was underneath Angela's sink was the boxes and bags Angela kept her secret agent belongings in it. There were no boyfriend stealers inside... but I'd been so close...

"Oh shoot..." I muttered, this case was starting to bore me, but I had to find Angela's boyfriend to make her happy again.

"NO!" I heard mom scream from downstairs. Had the boyfriend stealer returned? Had he made an escape to the TV room downstairs? Or to mom's office? Was he here to make Secret Agent Angela's life even more miserable by taking our mom away? Someone had to be on to us, but who could've spilled our secret about our jobs? Angela herself forgot half of the time, and the only one I'd ever told was... Oh no! He couldn't have!

"Bacon wouldn' tattle!" I whispered as my throat became sore with tears. How could Bacon the Cow betray us like that? He'd been a close partner of my for forever! But now I understood that his black beady eyes and soft plushness had been a decieving trait since the beginning...

I had to leave before he could tell anyone anything else.

As if she had read my mind, Secret Agent Angela grabbed my hand and opened the window. "You go first." She said, her voice shaking. Her eyes were bright red, her nose, too from the crying. Go where thought? Out the window? How could we get down... the pool?

"Okay!" I beamed, Angela was fun again!

I was just getting on the roof when I heard mom scream again. Oh no! I'd forgotten about the Stealer being downstairs! What if the stealer got mom? It'd be all my fault! Angela would be sad, just when she'd become happy and fun again!

"Mommy, 'Gela! What 'bout mom--?"

BANG!

The sound hurt my ears, but mom's screams had stopped... had the Stealer left? Had mom suddenly become an agent and got back Angela's boyfriend? Suddenly, Angela swooped me up in her arms and leaped from the roof. Tears were streaming down her sad, torn face.

The Stealer had taken mom.

Right as we were about to plunge into the water below, Angela covered my mouth and nose. Secret Agent Angela was smart--she knew I was never a good agent when I had water up my nose.

I looked up at her right as we went under the water (the chlorine no longer hurt my eyes--part of the secret agent training was being able to see underwater without goggles.) She looked like a mermaid with her long, flowing brown hair and her tan, tan skin. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight and bubbles were coming out of her nose as we started heading back up towards the surface of the water.

Angela gasped for breath when we hit the air and brought her hand away from my face.

"'Gain, 'gain!" I laughed, it was the funnest thing we'd done in a long time. I kicked myself free from her, dog paddling as fast as I could toward the ladder. Angela beat me to it--she always did, she was a better swimmer.

"Hurry." She rushed, pulling me up after she'd climbed the ladder. I grinned at her, she hadn't been this excited to do anything in a long time!

I was surprised when she grabbed my hand and started running from the house. Away? Why away? What we'd just done was so fun! Were we going to have a cannon ball contest? Mom would want to take pictures... Mom.

NO! I recalled her voice scream in my head. The stealer! We were close! We'd catch them any minute now!