Hi! Welcome back to another topic of my writing (aka a lot of writing. A lot.)


late at night I imagine
stars twinkling blinking (in) the sky
Close my eyes and dream
-Haiku by me, May 2021



What is SWC? SWC stands for Scratch Writing Camp, a triannual camp that normally takes place in the months of March, July, and November. In this camp, the main focus is on writing. You write stories, whether fictional or non-fictional. Things you can do:
word wars
dailies and weeklies
Stories with other people in hangout centers

It’s very fun, and it also helps build your relationships with other Scratchers as well, so I encourage you to sign up. Camper signups are currently close to closed, so you can definitely sign up for backup camper!


So this happens to be my third session of SWC. My first session was before the studio update and it was in March 2021. My second session I wrote the most, total of 45,000 words. And I actually was not going to participate in this session at all, considering I went on a hiatus (Aug.-Sep) and wasn’t going to come back until December. And, much has changed since July. A lot of in real life stuff happened upon my hiatus, including me starting high school etc. This means I won’t have as much time to dedicate to SWC anymore, so that’s why my word goal is so low this time. Anyways, I changed my mind because I was thinking about how much I still love to write. Soo I guess I have to be active now or at least semi-active. I’m not entirely sure I have time to do all the dailies, but maybe half. <33


We have to cover some ground rules now, so here we go!

RULES:
1 Positive and constructive feedback/criticism is welcome anytime. (grammar mistakes, punctuation, verb and word choice, dialogue)
2 Be kind.
3 Helpful comments are also welcome.
4 Non-related topics and advertising not-related to SWC is not allowed in this topic (sorry.)

For your reference, here is a link to last session’s SWC writing.
https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/524770/

That's about it, thank you for taking the time to read my writing for this session!



-Rain

11/1 writing (short story)
+707 words

I stood on the doorstep. I couldn’t believe it. It was unlike any other thing I had ever experienced thus far- in my entire life. I took one step towards the doorway, my hand clutching my chest. “Wait-” I paused, listening to the bird’s chirp. For a second, a serene second, the world was perfect again. But then I got thrust back into the fates of reality. My mom had raised me all alone. We were no strangers to the harsh climates, because we lived in Northern Russia where everybody spoke the same dialect and language. We were equals, and we were family. It was bitter cold the day we departed. I watched her boat leave the icy shores, as she kissed me on the cheeks and waved goodbye. I didn’t know that would be the last time I saw her. And my dad and my siblings had even abandoned me too. The government had issued an order that all men had to work because of the war. I trudged on, my feet blistered and aching from the cold and snow. It was harsh weather conditions, and I had every right to be mad. My family was gone. I was alone, with absolutely no food-I checked the bag that I had brought. No food left. I was going to starve. I collapsed on the ground, my ankle rapidly, painfully throbbing. I guess this was it.
Alone, battling for survival, crying endless tears of pain. I don’t think I was completely done shedding all of them. Five days later…
I think I must look like a nomad, or at least nomadic living by this point. My clothes are shredded and everything. Lost in thought, I sighed in despair. Everything had been taken from me. Everything. As I bit my lip against the raging current of blizzard and snow, I wrapped myself in the one outfit I had, and held on to the one spark of hope. I heard something, an echo renouncing from deep inside my head, trickling down.
You’re not done yet
You’re not done yet
You’re not done yet
I stifled a cry. Here I was, about to plunge myself into a glacier, because I thought my life was over for good. That lit a bright spark of hope inside me. Despite my grim conditions and the wild weather, I also had an ongoing heated fever. I marched on, hoping that I would find shelter and rescue somewhere. Somebody was bound to take me in, I just knew it. That night, I dreamed that my mom was here with me once again, that she miraculously survived the ice caps. She was humming a song that she used to sing…”Sleep, my dear darling
Tomorrow will bring
Light and sweet love
Sleep my dear darling
Something will come
People will try to
Invade and
Escape
But sleep my dear darling
For tonight is a sweet song.”

I found rest in that knowing that she would always be with me even if she wasn’t alive anymore. How did I know? It was just a premonition, second to my mind. I didn’t have to look twice at that igloo in front of me to simply know she wasn’t alive anymore. The faint glow of the igloo pulled me in and I walked slowly towards it. “Hello?” I called as the yellow light was shining. A person stuck out his head. “Oh, hello-” Then paused, concerned. “You look freezing! Come inside to warm up!” I stepped inside, my teeth chattering from the outside cold. An elderly lady, who looked Eskimo, stood up. Her wrinkled face broke into a broad, inviting smile. “Come, come child. You are welcome here.” I sat by the crackling fireplace. “You are welcome here,” the children echoed, chanting and dancing around me. She took my hands. “Oh, my. You are so cold! Let me get some..” Civilization. At last. It felt good to have somebody care about me, for once. My thoughts painfully drifted to my mother again, and I winced. She was applying balm to my ankle, and glanced up. “Does that hurt?” she asked anxiously. “Oh, no,” I replied. “It’s okay.” She nodded and continued on, leaving me alone with my swirling empty thoughts.

The Unmasked Bandit
By @softlysinging

This isn't really SWC writing, it's a personal story I've been working on on my free time (when I'm not in school or doing other things)

it's 1690 words

Chapter 1 Introduction
Slowly, I crept up to the doorway. Entwined were grass twigs and vines, amongst other random findings. Cautiously, I pushed aside my fears and peeked inside. Nobody. The room was completely dark and empty, with the only element of furniture being a small, tiny stool in the corner. This was really helpful in my through investigation, of course. (read above sentence with sarcasm) Waving away cobwebs and then getting my fingers entangled in them, I tried-or more like attempted-to free myself from the barriers of the cobwebs. A squeaky noise sounded at the doorway. Nervously, I started to pace around the room. Back and forth. Back and forth. I checked the time. The clock in this room was broken right in the middle. It looked like there had been some smashed glass here. I narrowed my eyes, suspicious of every nook and cranny around this room. Tick..tock..
The door flew open, and wind rushed in, howling. Ominous music plays…bats howl…
and a cat purrs softly. Smash! The window cracked open, and an anonymous masked figure burst into the room. He was armed. I backed up. Somebody with weapons? I didn’t stand a chance. I got a tad jittery then. I was unarmed and had no-nothing to defend myself. Feeling nervous, I hid in one of the shadows, hoping he wouldn’t even spot me. But I was wrong. The knife glinted in the moonlight, the blade glistening and blood-red stains appeared on it. The captor had thrown down his knife in a haste. I shuddered internally, imagining all of the terrors he could avenge on me as soon as he got his hands on the knife. Just then, the figure spotted me, the silhouette in the moonlight. I became very scared.
“I know who you are…” he growled. Then the most astonishing, amazing thing in the history of the universe happened. He took off his mask. I watched as he lowered his black mask from his face. “Are you-” He looked quite normal from a distance to be honest. Examining him carefully, he even looked a little bit regal! He looked sorrowful, and looked down and then straight into my eyes.

Chapter 2 Who I am (sort of.)

The mask was on the floor. And he had revealed his true inner self. “You are?” I asked curiously. “I’m Daniel” he told me, rather arrogant. “If you must know, I am the spy behind the scenes.” I wasn’t very impressed, so he had to explain further. “A professional spy. I track fingerprints, footprints, and genetic DNA.” Forensics. Cool. That was rather creepy, though. I pointed down to my feet. “You mean you tracked my footprints?” “Exactly.” he nodded and then proceeded to pick up the knife from the floor. “are you-” and then the lightning struck. Over the chaos, Daniel tried to explain the rules to me.

“EVERY THIRTEEN YEARS SOMEONE MUST TRAVEL ALONE IN THE WOODS WITHOUT FOOD OR SUPPLIES AND THE LAST DAY BATTLE AGAINST YOUR FOE”

This was extremely intense. I hadn’t expected all of this work to be so demanding. “Remember. I’ll be here waiting.” He put his thin black mask on, and then swept swiftly out the door. Leaving me alone, with a note.

Remember:
-no food
-no water
-no supplies
-no guidance
BATTLE AT THE END! May the fittest survive!

It was crisp, worn out, and slightly dried. I shrugged. Just like the bandit to be so mysterious about his hidden identity. I pocketed the note and walked out the door. “Bye, house,” I whispered, and then clicked the door shut.

Chapter 3 On My Own

I was officially on my own now. It seemed like such a huge, daunting task ahead of me. But I knew I had to complete this journey. Prove it to myself, and to everyone. It would be the best for everybody-for myself and for others. I quietly slipped out the door, and then checked my compass, which was pointing north.
five miles later… I wasn’t totally exhausted and dead from extreme hunger. That would be terrible. Looking up at the night sky, I realized that it was a half moon tonight, which was really amazing. I hadn’t brought food with me. I knew that humans can only survive for about two or three days without food or water (typically.)
This meant that this trek would be two or three days long.
I was approaching a small glen where I could sleep. I perched myself adjacent to the tree and started kindling for a fireplace and built a makeshift tent. It was blue with green moss and twigs surrounding it. I also made sure to collect flint and dry wood as well, to start a suitable fire. With that, I closed my eyes , willing myself to go to sleep amongst the many stars in the galaxy. Five hours later… It had felt like such a long night. Grasshoppers and crickets were out, and so were the owls. They were a little bit loud, disturbing me from my deep slumber. I tried not to become annoyed, but this night seemed to drag on forever. Finally, it was morning time, and I squinted my eyes to the shining bright sun. I was a little bit hungry, but remembered that I couldn’t eat anything for 48 hours, so I walked around the woods, scavenging for food or really anything useful. I searched for what seemed like hours, then laid down on a small grassy patch. It was definitely time to take a nice, quiet nap. Two days later…
I HAD MADE it! No supplies, no guidance, and no shelter to head my extent for warning. I’d done it, and I was so proud of myself. My cheeks were flushed with the exuberant pride and praise I’d been receiving after I was dismissed from the woods. I had exited the woods this past night; cold, weary, and hungry. But the best news is that I had survived! They unfortunately weren’t going to give me an adequate amount of food until I finished up my battle, which happened to be tomorrow night. I was prone to this knowledge of what I would face, but internally I was a little bit worried about how I would do. Who was going to be my future opponent? Would he be devious or wily? Mean or nice? I wondered this all morning long, pacing back and forth as the clock chimed twelve noon.

Chapter 4: The Battle
We had made it. The official day of the battle. I was steaming from mass starvation and hunger, along with loss of sleep and supplies. Inside the intricately decorated arena, I prepared to face my long-awaited doom. It was going to be a nefarious “battle of the fittest.” We would be encased in a three-dimensional world, with spectators and cameras surveying the battle. It was a one-on-one match, and whoever ended up pinning their opponent to the ground would win the entire match. I stood behind the gates, suiting up. I could hear the deafening roar of the crowd already. They wanted a good battle over my head, I could spot my opponent warming up. She looked to be about a little younger than me, which just added more pity to my feelings about her because I really didn’t want to battle someone who was only a little bit younger than me. Maybe it would have been better if I’d gotten someone experienced-
I was interrupted by the traditional gong. “On your marks, get set, go!” I raced into the battle, my thoughts churning like lightning. I ran left and right, the simulated trees appearing before me. “Run, run” I hoped I wouldn’t collapse of hunger before making it one lap around the whole thing. I ran furiously around the perimeter once…and then twice. My lungs nearly gave out and ran out of extended breath when I saw her right behind me. She was catching up! Oh, no! I had to move right away. Instantly, I ducked…but alas, I was seconds too late. Her hand clamped down on mine, pinning it to the brown tree trunk. Five seconds passed, and believe me, I did try to wiggle and wedge my way out of there as soon as possible! But it didn’t work. She smiled at me beneath her helmet, and as I could hear the stands and the crowds cheering, drowning out the noise, I gasped, because beneath her helmet was a secret, hidden disguise.

Chapter 5: How it all ended

Her mask had slipped off amongst all the chaos. “she” was actually a “he” and he was Daniel. “You’re, you’re-” I stuttered, just like I had nearly five days ago. I rubbed the spot where he had pinned me. Although he was the true winner, my hand was still bleeding to death. I winced. “I’ll get that for you,” he smiled sympathetically, and then hissed into my ear, “We have to talk in private.” Leading me away from all the noise and general public, I turned to him and exclaimed, “I can’t believe you set this all up!” he hung his head in shame. Realization hit me like a tidal wave once more. “So you’re the unmasked bandit.”
“One and the same, yes. I’m not proud of all the things I’ve done, but I did this to show you my true identity. Being a spy is never easy, and part of why I did this was because it was assigned for spy work.”
Identity. It rang true. He stared at my open wound. “I’ll help you with that, too.” he wrapped it tightly with some cloth. “You’ll need water later,” he added quickly. Handing me some crackers (food!) for the first time, he hesitated and looked at me. “I’m sorry for the ordeal I put you through. I know it wasn’t the best situation.”
He walked way as mysteriously as he had appeared, putting his mask back on. Sure, I was hungry. Yes, I was tired. Was I exhausted? For sure. But look who I found! Daniel.

The unmasked bandit.

11/7 daily

+479 words excluding the bottom part (I added the bottom part for fun)

Being a kid is fun while it lasts. And now that I’m not one anymore, it feels so weird, but being a kid also is short-lived. It’s only a short period in your lifetime, even if it really is only for a decade, which seems long. I just exited being an “official” kid about two years ago, which means I’m at the point in my life where I’m remembering how fun it was to be one. Here’s an excerpt from my writing.


One of the most memorable parts of being a kid to me was the fun I had. We could tell stories for hours on end without anybody worrying us. There were complicated plot twists, and there was always the “villain” and the “hero”. They had superpowers and sometimes got their hair done. I even remember telling stories with my stuffed animals. My sister had a lot of stuffed animals, over twenty, and for that reason we used to tell a lot of stories with them. They were the Animal Rescue Club, and they were here to help! Despite all the danger. One time, they had to walk across the bridge, even though they might fall into the “water” aka the floor. My favorite stuffed animal when I was little was probably Bearie. He’s worn out now, from me taking him everywhere. I would still carry him if I could. He’s wearing a pink outfit, velvety and it also has pink buttons on it. He has a furry face that’s brown, and even though he’s been dragged a lot of places (overseas and to my electroencephalograms) he somehow stays in good shape. He has been in so many stories that I can’t even count anymore, but now he’s an elder. I cuddled him to sleep every night since I was four years old. I can’t recall a day I didn’t have without him when I was little. He doesn’t have any of his stuffing pulled out, like some other animals that do by this point.

Next: MUSICALS. They’re so fun. I was cast in a play as the main character when I was nine-even though we never performed it. I was so happy-and I guess lucky, too, to get a lot of solos and theater parts when I was a kid.

Friends. They’re always there for you, especially when you are a kid. I think something I miss about being one is that my friends aren’t always around anymore because we all have a lot of homework nowadays. But when you’re a kid, you have the freedom to forge deep friendships while it lasts. Along with playing games, etc..

Another thing I loved about being a kid is that it was stress-free. I didn’t have to worry about the stresses of life. I knew the stresses of life existed, but I didn’t know to the extent of it.

I used to think that life would be a fantasy. That everything would turn out absolutely perfect, with no roadblocks. I guess I was wrong, because everything spiraled out of control the moment I turned twelve. No, life isn’t just a fairy tale or some lala land where everything turns out great and perfect and happy.
I suppose I was sort of a perfectionist that way.
Caught up in my childish dreams. I think that was a little weird sometimes but also not at the same time.
Well, the world isn’t perfect, as I soon learned, and things are broken here. That made me extremely sad and shocked when I heard about that. I guess being a kid is short. That’s what they say, anyways. I mean, you only live about a decade being one! So having learned the brutal and honest truth about the world, that there are mean people here and not everybody’s nice and happy just like I imagined it when I was eight, I felt kind of sad about that. I thought the world was perfect and everybody got along. I guess being an adult was hard after all. I never really paid attention to what they did when I was little, just because I thought that they were beyond me. Beyond what my mind could comprehend. I remember talking with my sister and saying “but grown-ups are so OLD, you know?” and then didn’t think much of it until we actually did have to take on responsibility when we became teenagers. (er, pre-teenagers.)
I didn’t think that the world wouldn’t be perfect, not like the twirly ballerina costumes I wore when I was four years old. Even though it sort of devastated me to hear this news, I knew that I had to accept it as it was. Every kid goes through this, after all. A voice inside me whispered, You’re not a kid anymore. But maybe, someone deep inside me, maybe I still was.


When I was ten, I knew I had to accept change. I..I wasn’t a kid anymore, and I know all the long talks in the world, all the sleepovers we had weren’t going to fix that. At all. Life goes on. I was going to be in middle school, and that was something that I had to accept change about. But when I turned 12, something changed. I doubted myself. I saw the world in a different way, I questioned myself, thinking, “am I good enough, why are other people so much better than me?” That was my first glimpse into actual society. I wrote about the invisible bridge of being 12 and what it was like to almost being a teenager “it’s like I’m walking across a bridge..”

daily 11/11

+573 words
A character that lives in a different world. One example of this would be Aislin from More Than A Princess by E.D. Baker. She lives in three different worlds, to be exact. Eliaslind, Deephold, and Fairengar. She had been raised half-fairy and half-pederasi princess, and throughout this series, she’ll discover more about her powers than she could ever ask for.
Usually Aislin splits her time between the worlds in order to get proper education and to spend time with her family. After all, she is royal. Fairies and pederasi are not allowed to enter the human world-there's even a law about this and a long-standing gate there to protect anybody from crossing the border. Her grandfather had made this long ago. Along with her friends, Twinket, Poppy, and Tomas, she embarks on a somewhat dangerous quest. Aislin is kidnapped and taken to the human realm, which is forbidden by her kingdom’s laws. There, she meets new human people such as Tomas, Rory, and Selene. In the human world, she discovers that not everything is as happy and cheerful as it seems. People lie and cheat. It’s not all magical like it is in her world. She tries to hide her true nature of pederasi/fairy in the human world, but it gets harder to escape as time goes on. They think that she is an abnormal human with a toy by her side, which is odd considering that she’s about 12. Poppy tries to cover for them, but after a disastrous incident revolving around Aislin tearing a sheet and some girls calling her names, she’s not sure she’ll ever fit in here. She tries to hide, taking comfort and confiding in Tomas, a nice boy. She finds out that he has the gift of truth-telling that was given to him at his christening, which is a helpful fact. He never lies here.

After a few weeks, Aislin gets a letter that says to come to her room. She doesn’t want to go because Selene was not very inviting the last time she had encountered her, all the more reason not to see her again, but she finally decides to go. When she does, Aislin and Selene talk and Selene apologizes for her friends who treated Aislin badly. She didn't know before that Selene’s mother had died, leaving just the children and their father. She looks rather sad and sorrowful, and shows Aislin a letter from her mother. Aislin encourages her to find more uplifting and positive friends, and Selene asks her if she would like to be her first friend. She agrees, and the two girls end up being unexpected friends.

People are searching for her, and she doesn’t know what to do, she’s trying to return to her land, so she covers as Selene and rides off in a carriage. Of course, her friends, who had previously treated her like dirt, know that she’s not the real Selene. She tells them not to blow her cover and rides up to the north.

Up north, it turns out that Aghamonda, the sorceress, is wreaking havoc in her kingdom. Brave, she tries to defend her kingdom and her family. Aghamonda is finally
sentenced to a long journey inside a locket, so that she won’t cause any future trouble. Her kingdom is safe, and it's all thanks to friends like Twinket, Poppy, and Tomas who got her safely home.
She’s Aislin, a fairy/pederasi princess, and this is her story.

daily 11/12
+512 words

“I’ve been alive for so long, and you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met.”
That’s the compliment she gave me that one day. I was about 15 years old, so old and wise, yes, I know. Anyways, I had been alive for a decade and a half. I was trying-or risking my life to-do something. But I knew it wouldn’t last forever. I paused and thought about that. It wouldn’t last forever. I walked into the doorway of the preschool I rolled my eyes internally. Please stop. I couldn’t bear the thought of preschoolers screaming anymore. I watched as all the little preschoolers crowded eagerly around the sandbox, scooping all the toys and dump trucks in the pail. Some of them were also in the room, drawing artful paintings of splatter art or reading by the corner. A select few were playing with wooden blocks in the center of the hectic room. On the edges, the room was decorated with past artwork; handprints and stuffed animals lined the edges of this preschool room. He was in room 1b. Walking slowly to the door, I opened it with a click. A kid came rushing out at me. “DID YOU KNOW THAT JAVIER IS MY BEST FRIEND NOW AND THAT I HAVE A NEW DUMP TRUCK!!?!?!” I sighed, “yes, was I supposed to know this?” I signed him out of the sheet, and courteously thanked his teachers before leaving. It was almost his naptime. “AND DURING LUNCH, LUCAS SHARED HIS GOLDFISH WITH ME!” “That’s..that’s nice,” I told him, busy with keeping my eyes on the road. The kid was really getting annoying. I was trying to focus. He unclicked his seatbelt while we were stopped at a stoplight. “AND DID YOU KNOW THAT I PAINTED A GIANT BLUEBIRD TODAY?!” I sighed, irritated. That was the last straw. I turned my head. “Look, I don’t care about that. You’re talking too loud. Can you please, for once, just put your seatbelt back on and stop shouting?”
When he started to fum, I just reached in the backseat and clicked it for him. “There.” I grimly turned my eyes to face the road again. “You know, I can’t believe you. I’ve been alive for so long, and you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met.” A sentimental pause followed this statement, and before I knew it, I was speaking again. “Make sure to drink from your sippy cup” I added. He narrowed his eyes but started to drink, all while tracing his fingernail over the seat of the car. Exasperated, I sighed. That kid was really a piece of work. Maybe he needed to go to the rehabilitation center or something like that. “We’re home,” I announced wearily. And hopefully he won’t be more annoying during-
I was cut off by his screaming again as I unbuckled him and started carrying him to the doorway. His arms were wildly flailing in the air, kicking. “WE’RE HOME WE’RE HOME”
I guess you can’t force children. I closed the door, and stated, “Yes, and it’s time for your naptime now.”

CABIN WARS!


Ayee, cabin wars *sigh* This is my collection of cabin wars stuff, have fun reading!

throwback: my first cabin wars day in SWC…It’s SWC cabin wars day
And we all start to say
Hip hip hooray!
We say yay
Yay
Yay,

We lay
Down after a long nights sleep.

We write and write until we can’t leap!

SWC CABIN WARS DAY!
YAY!

cabin war w/ pi: +1003 words 2nd person
You were walking along a river, extremely close to the grassy patches of the lake. It wa the year 1867, and pioneering was at it’s height. You decided to settle down in one place, because it seemed like a smart idea, plus, it gave you frontier experience, that was what you truly wanted, anyways. You plunged in, wanting to help with all of the decorations and building of the cabins. You spotted a deer, with wide brown eyes. You were watching the deer carefully, making sure not to make eye contact or look at the deer at all-after all the deer could possibly escape at any moment, causing you to break concentration. You could do this. You could. You took a deep breath and inhale slightly, breathing in and out. You can do this, you tell yourself, and pace along the river-but then you can’t believe what you’re seeing. The deer, who was just there a second ago, had loped off and ran away! Momentarily, you blink your eyes slowly, then open and close them to double-check that you’re not seeing things. You’re not. The deer has officially ran off, leaving you alone, utterly alone. You can’t believe what you’re seeing, yet you really can. In the spot where the deer once stood is an empty patch of grass, where you can tread and walk on now. It’s totally wrecked and gone, left with only small patches of dirt and soil underneath the shallow blades of grass. You walked close to the trees, where it was dark and had shadows all around it. They escalated around the bushes, and also around the branches of the high-end treetops. You exited the free, falling branches, foreign forest, walking and stepping on lone crunched branches. They cracked slowly as you stepped on them, breaking and tearing in complete half. You walked towards the dead patch of leaves where the deer once stood and exited that abandoned area. You decided to build a house. Flexing your hands and swapping out your clothes, you decided to get new clothes. The old clothes were overall dusty, dirty, and had sat in your closet for over 10 years. You had moved multiple times since then, from New York to Missouri. Now you had a family and a life of your own, unlike back then when you were only a small kid in Manhattan, New York.
You reminisced about those simple days, when life was so much less stressful, and proceeded to get kindling and firewood from the forest, along with some sturdy bricks. You walked over and got some bricks, and piled them up slowly next to the grass. Unfortunately, the bricks were crumbling and they were in a dormant state, so when you approached them they fell apart. Disoriented, you are now frustrated at where to put the bricks and how to build your house. You didn’t understand how you were going to complete this mission after all. You decided to haul big, ginormous wooden slabs across the forest, and with your last spot of energy, you place it on the ground. You stack them up, sweat and perspiration dotting the edge of your forehead and collecting slowly from there to form beads of sweat. Anxious to keep going and to ultimately finish your house, you build some more things and find a small shard that you can nail different parts of the house into. You grab random supplies, thinking that they’ll help you in your mighty endeavor to finish the house, and finally you tack in pane glass windows. You glance through them, extremely happy and elated with your great progress on the house, and decide to work on the roof. Even though it’s very challenging to build a house of your own, you never give up and you keep going because you want to be a pioneer in these days. It has been your dream since you were a kid and you want to live it, and even though it’s tiring, even though it’s hard work you keep going. You build all the way to the top of the roof and manage to get yourself down from there. You even add windowsills and interior decoration, feeling proud of yourself. Inside your house, it’s laden with cloth and beds, sewed tablecloths and a rocking chair to go next to the crackling fireplace. You look around the house, surveying it as closely as you possibly can. You decide that it is a nice fit for a new house. All of the sudden, you hear squeals right next to you, about five feet away, and you smile joyfully because it reminds you that your kids are hear along with you on this perilous, death-defying journey. Scooping them up into your arms, you hug and kiss them until you run out of laughter, and then exhale slowly, running out of things to tell your kids. You’ve never felt more alive in your entire life, and clutching your bonnet to your chest, you feel so grateful you have them. You examine the room again, turning exactly 360 degrees, and decide that it is the best day you’ve ever had. You have built your life, trusted yourself, and ultimately built a house for your family and yourself. You couldn’t be more proud, and it’s all because you trusted yourself and took risks you never thought you could take yourself. It’s all thanks to the deer you spotted that you have courage to do that now. You don’t know exactly where the deer is, but it pointed you in the right direction. It proved to you that you can do things, that you can stand strong, for yourself and your family. You thank the deer quietly inside your head, and solemnly walk to the patch of grass where the deer once stood. You leave a note on the rock, as a tribute to remember the deer. It says, “Be brave, have courage, walk in the right direction..may the path guide you.”


Cabin war from @oppurtunity-
+1147 words

The sun was shining brightly, I blinked my eyes to the blinding sun. Wow. it was insanely bright outside. Blinking, I stepped to the side, enthralled by all of the sun shining directly into my eyes. I hoped nothing could get to me. It was summertime in Spring Valley, New Mexico. New Mexico is rumored to have areas where towns once stood…then they were tragically abandoned, gone because of the gold rush. Miners had once come here, searching and hunting for gold. Unfortunately, this didn’t last very long and many of the miners ended up leaving, or going away to care for their families. A typical ghost town usually consisted of -barrels, -saloons that were empty, a general store, and -dust balls and empty carts.

At this point, you may be wondering, why would I walk all this way to an abandoned ghost town if there was absolutely nobody there? Good question. It’s one I would ask myself if I was in your place, as well. I was walking to the ghost town to observe it, and take many pictures. It was just an archaeological dream of mine to collect all the artifacts I could from this journey of mine that I was going on. Hmm..I searched around, looking for anything that I could find. There was an empty soda can on the ground. That was bad for the environment, but I suppose the townspeople didn’t bother to clean up after they had left Spring Valley for other reasons. I didn’t care much about the soda can, but even a plastic bottle was left lying sideways on the ground! I shook my head in utter disgust. “Trash.” I muttered under my breath, and stopped to take a picture, then picked it up and threw it into a small trash bag I had brought with me, just in case I had ever found something just like this lying around absentmindedly. I shook my head and sighed. People who didn’t really care about the environment. I got that they were simply ranchers trying to survive out here in the desert/wilderness but, they really did have to pick up their dirty trash. I moved on to the general store. Ding ding ding! That was the automatically generated sound of a new customer coming in! The wooden door squeaked open, and I looked at the glass panes which were slightly caked over with dirt. I shuddered. Where was the maid when you needed her, am I right? I walked in slowly, attempting not to step on any fragmented glass shards or anything that could hurt me. Carefully watching my step as I went, I walked straight into-I walked straight into the shelf, not even knowing it! I gasped incoherently, and mumbled under my breath, “Well I didn’t expect that-” I was cut off from my long and boring speech by a flood of dried ingredients toppling down on us from the shelf above. Gasping, I hurried to collect them all, trying to balance one on the tip of my hand and the other on my foot. “I think-I-got it,” I gasped, and then as soon as I spoke those words, another one fell from the shelf onto the wooden floor. I sighed. This is what I got from running straight into a rickety old shelf. I dropped both items from my hand and slowly bent down to pick everything up from the floor. Examining the shelf closely, I noticed that the nails in the shelf weren’t tacked into the wall properly. One screw was loose, causing one end of the shelf to be intact. That certainly wasn’t good for the infrastructure of the building. I sighed, and placed the goods adjacent to the wall on the bottom of the floor. That should hold them for now, but until then, we’d just have to wait. I looked around the rest of the general store. There were bandanas selling for an okay price-five dollars. They came in all different colors, yellow, green, and even blue. There was jam and bread, and even broccoli and cornmix. I gazed at all of the ingredients that I had prepared. Then I carefully looked over the small can of refried beans I had holding in my palm. Maybe I should swap that out for black beans instead. It’s not like anybody was here to judge me-there was nobody at the cash register to ring me up, either. But I didn’t have that much time to linger on that thought. I picked up the beans, the corn mix, and then the jam with bread. I walked out the door, trying not to slip on anything or break anything in the shop. Ding! That was the sweet noise of the door closing behind me. I smiled as I stepped out the door. Now it was time for me to pay a nice visit to the saloon.

Walking inside, you would have never guessed this was once a saloon. The sign on the front was faded with age, and there were empty bottles of liquor and soda cans lying on the tables. Surprisingly, who and what I saw in the saloon literally made my jaw drop with excitement and anxiety.

I stood in shock. “You’re still here?” I asked, my mind running a million times a minute. “Yes, I am. After all the other ranchers and settlers had left this town, I decided to be the only one left. Someone has to take care of this town, and it was going to be me. My decision was to stay as the local bartender.”
“Um…what’s your name?” I asked cautiously. “It’s Ella. And you?” “I’m Primrose.”
She nodded. “I guess you probably want something to drink, if you came all this way.” She gestured slightly to a bar stool. I sat on the tall stool, watching as she poured me a drink of hot apple cider. I drank it slowly. “Do you ever get lonely here?” I asked her, curious. “Oh, sure I do. A lot. But then I remind myself. Why am I here? To watch and protect Spring Valley.” She cocked her head slightly to the side, considering me. “I guess it’s sort of the same reason why you came here, as well, am I right?” I thought about it. I wanted to protect all the objects, plants, and even food in Spring Valley while it lasted. I guess she was right-I did want to preserve something as my end goal. So with that in mind, I nodded. “I guess you’re right.” She winked and smiled at me. “So we’re good?” I asked, carefully. She nodded. “We’re good, and we can be friends now.”
Being friends in an abandoned ghost town. That seemed probable. And also doable. I smiled at her. “Let’s go.” And with that, we walked out into the sunlight of Spring Valley-together.

Daily 11/20

Open for critique, please critique

+639 words

Mama made me mash my m&m’s in the cold-hearted rain, it fell slowly and disintegrated.

How much wood would a wood chuck wood chuck if a wood chuck wood chuck would?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Where's the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?

Once there was a one story house with purple tiles, purple carpets, purple chairs, purple everything. What colour were the stairs?

Why did the turkey cross the road?

I fell over laughing, getting my legs and hands twisted up and slamming gum on the top of the wall. I even drew chalk paint and bubbles on the sidewalk! I yelled at the top of my lungs “FREEDOM!”
If you had been there, imagine the book Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No-good Very Bad Day. It sort of looked like the scene at the beginning, where everything was immediately spiraling out of control. I attempted to get the kids to listen, but they wouldn’t. “I want ice cream!” one sobbed, and the other was letting loose a-wait, was that a tarantula? I couldn’t tell, but it looked hairy and disgusting from the jar. I was about to rush over there and grab the jar from his hands, and telling him that spiders were sometimes poisonous, but he wouldn’t listen, and plus, at that second, kids rushed up to me and started climbing all around me just as if I was an open playground. They wrestled with me, tore at my hair and climbed up my pants. I swiped a lock of hair from my face and sighed, my cheeks rosy red. This was certainly going to be a unlikely day.
Just then, one of the kid dumped a whole jar of glitter and fruit punch on my head. Great, now I was stinky, as well! I was about to ask them if they were out of their minds for doing this, and it looked as if some were getting a little bit delirious. One kid was just running around in circles really fast, tagging the soap-infested table and dirty supplies. I sighed, walked away from them, and tried to clean up. I remembered slightly that after all, I had been the one to dump bubbles first, so maybe they had gotten the feisty spirit from me. Overall, though, they were crazier than me. I carefully wiped off a lemon stain from my shirt and changed, leaving the wet shirt to dry-clean in the sun. Hopefully nobody would even see me this time. I covered my head with a scarf and went outside. It was just as loud there, with people throwing cans and paint was spread everywhere-from people’s clothes to the grass that was once a glorious shade of bright green.
I decided I definitely needed something to grab their wavering attention span, so out of instinct and in a flash of I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing, I grabbed a lonely spatula covered in white flour and mixed in with soil and dirt on the top. I stood on a chair and whistled with my two fingers, wildly waving the spatula around. “LISTEN UP!” I yelled. Nobody acted like they’d even remotely heard me, so I tried a different tactic.
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Where's the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. My voice was actually getting pretty hoarse from all of this screaming, but I also wasn’t expecting these rambunctious kids to listen. Surprisingly, they did…but not after one kid ripped down my dry cleaning, sending it down to the floor. I sighed in exasperation, quite irritated with the crazy antics. I had worked so hard to scrub all of the clothes. I had scrubbed and scrubbed until all of the mud and dirt had come off completely.

I enjoyed how the main character tries to get the kids to calm down with tangled words (forgot what it's actually called), you described the the chaos amazingly, it felt like I was really there being annoyed at the kids. The nonsense made sense, it was kids being kids. One thing I would suggest is breaking it up into more paragraphs because it looks squished together. It could make your writing more clearer and more easier to read.

Daily 11/22

Went slightly overboard and wrote +1418 words


The song I chose was “Speechless” from Aladdin

Chinese

来了一波
想把我洗掉
一股潮水带我下水
吞沙
离开无话可说
我的声音淹没在雷声中
但我不会哭
我不会开始崩溃
每当他们尝试
让我闭嘴或打断我
我不会沉默
你不能让我安静
尝试时不会颤抖
我只知道我不会无语
因为我会呼吸
当他们试图让我窒息时
你不要小看我
因为我知道我不会无言以对
写在石头上
每一条规则，每一个字
百年不屈
留在你的地方
更好地看到而不是听到
但现在这个故事要结束了
'因为我
我不能开始崩溃
所以来试试吧
试着让我闭嘴，让我失望
我不会沉默
你不能让我安静
尝试时不会颤抖
我只知道我不会无语
无语
让风暴进来
我不能被打破
不，我不会无声无息地生活
因为我知道我不会无言以对
试着把我锁在这个笼子里
我不会让我躺下然后死去
我会带走这些破碎的翅膀
看着我在天空中燃烧
听到回声说我
不会沉默
虽然你想看到我在你尝试的时候颤抖
我只知道我不会无语
无语
因为我会呼吸
当他们试图让我窒息时
你不要小看我
因为我知道我不会无言以对
我只知道我不会无语
无语

Greek

Εδώ έρχεται ένα κύμα
Σκοπός να με ξεπλύνει
Μια παλίρροια που με παίρνει κάτω
Κατάποση άμμου
Έμεινε χωρίς τίποτα να πει
Η φωνή μου έσβησε στις βροντές
Αλλά δεν θα κλάψω
Και δεν θα αρχίσω να καταρρέω
Όποτε προσπαθούν
Να με κλείσει ή να με κόψει
Δεν θα σιωπήσω
Δεν μπορείς να με κρατήσεις ήσυχη
Δεν θα τρέμετε όταν το δοκιμάσετε
Το μόνο που ξέρω είναι ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Γιατί θα αναπνεύσω
Όταν προσπαθούν να με πνίξουν
Μη με υποτιμάς
Γιατί ξέρω ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Γραμμένο σε πέτρα
Κάθε κανόνας, κάθε λέξη
Αιώνων και ακλόνητο
Μείνε στη θέση σου
Καλύτερα να δεις και να μην ακούσεις
Τώρα όμως αυτή η ιστορία τελειώνει
'Επειδή εγώ
Δεν μπορώ να αρχίσω να καταρρέω
Έλα λοιπόν και προσπάθησε
Προσπάθησε να με κλείσεις και να με κόψεις
Δεν θα σιωπήσω
Δεν μπορείς να με κρατήσεις ήσυχη
Δεν θα τρέμετε όταν το δοκιμάσετε
Το μόνο που ξέρω είναι ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Αφωνος
Αφήστε την καταιγίδα να μπει
Δεν μπορώ να σπάσω
Όχι, δεν θα ζήσω αμίλητη
Γιατί ξέρω ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Προσπάθησε να με κλειδώσεις σε αυτό το κλουβί
Δεν θα με αφήσω κάτω και θα πεθάνω
Θα πάρω αυτά τα σπασμένα φτερά
Και δες με να καίγομαι στον ουρανό
Ακούστε τις ηχώ να λένε Ι
Δεν θα σιωπήσει
Αν και θες να με δεις να τρέμω όταν το δοκιμάζεις
Το μόνο που ξέρω είναι ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Αφωνος
Γιατί θα αναπνεύσω
Όταν προσπαθούν να με πνίξουν
Μη με υποτιμάς
Γιατί ξέρω ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Το μόνο που ξέρω είναι ότι δεν θα μείνω άφωνος
Αφωνος

Italian

Arriva un'onda
Voleva lavarmi via
Una marea che mi sta portando sotto
Ingoiare sabbia
Rimasto senza niente da dire
La mia voce è soffocata dal tuono
Ma non piangerò
E non inizierò a sgretolarmi
Ogni volta che ci provano
Per chiudermi o abbattermi
non sarò messo a tacere
Non puoi farmi stare zitto
Non tremerà quando lo proverai
Tutto quello che so è che non rimarrò senza parole
Perché respirerò
Quando cercano di soffocarmi
Non sottovalutarmi
Perché so che non rimarrò senza parole
Scritto nella pietra
Ogni regola, ogni parola
Secolare e inflessibile
Resta al tuo posto
Meglio visto e non sentito
Ma ora quella storia sta finendo
'Perché io
Non posso iniziare a sgretolarsi
Quindi forza e prova
Prova a chiudermi e abbattermi
non sarò messo a tacere
Non puoi farmi stare zitto
Non tremerà quando lo proverai
Tutto quello che so è che non rimarrò senza parole
Muto
Lascia entrare la tempesta
non posso essere rotto
No, non vivrò senza parole
Perché so che non rimarrò senza parole
Prova a chiudermi in questa gabbia
Non mi limiterò a stendermi e morire
Prenderò queste ali spezzate
E guardami bruciare nel cielo
Ascolta gli echi che dicono I
Non sarà messo a tacere
Anche se vuoi vedermi tremare quando lo provi
Tutto quello che so è che non rimarrò senza parole
Muto
Perché respirerò
Quando cercano di soffocarmi
Non sottovalutarmi
Perché so che non rimarrò senza parole
Tutto quello che so è che non rimarrò senza parole
Muto

Mongolian
Энд давалгаа ирж байна
Намайг угаах гэсэн юм
Намайг дагуулаад байгаа түрлэг
Элс залгих
Хэлэх зүйлгүй үлдлээ
Аянгын чимээнээр хоолой минь баларлаа
Гэхдээ би уйлахгүй
Тэгээд би сүйрч эхлэхгүй
Тэд оролдох болгондоо
Намайг хаах эсвэл таслах гэж
Би чимээгүй болохгүй
Чи намайг чимээгүй байлгаж чадахгүй
Та оролдоод үзэхэд чичирэхгүй
Миний мэдэх зүйл бол би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй
Учир нь би амьсгалах болно
Тэд намайг амьсгал хураах гэж оролдох үед
Намайг битгий дутуу үнэлээрэй
Яагаад гэвэл би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй гэдгээ мэдэж байна
Чулуунд бичсэн
Дүрэм бүр, үг бүр
Олон зуун жилийн настай, нугаршгүй
Өөрийн байрандаа байгаарай
Харсан ч сонсоогүй нь дээр
Харин одоо энэ түүх дуусч байна
Учир нь би
Би сүйрч чадахгүй байна
Тиймээс ирж үзээрэй
Намайг хааж, таслахыг хичээ
Би чимээгүй болохгүй
Чи намайг чимээгүй байлгаж чадахгүй
Та оролдоод үзэхэд чичирэхгүй
Миний мэдэх зүйл бол би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй
Дуугүй
Шуурга оруулаарай
Би эвдэрч чадахгүй
Үгүй ээ, би хэлээгүй амьдрахгүй
Яагаад гэвэл би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй гэдгээ мэдэж байна
Намайг энэ торонд түгжихийг хичээгээрэй
Би зүгээр хэвтээд үхэхгүй
Би эдгээр хугарсан далавчнуудыг авах болно
Тэгээд намайг тэнгэрт шатаж байхыг хараарай
Би гэж хэлэх цуурайг сонсоорой
Чимээгүй байх болно
Хэдийгээр чи оролдоод үзэхэд намайг чичрэхийг харахыг хүсч байгаа ч гэсэн
Миний мэдэх зүйл бол би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй
Дуугүй
Учир нь би амьсгалах болно
Тэд намайг амьсгал хураах гэж оролдох үед
Намайг битгий дутуу үнэлээрэй
Яагаад гэвэл би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй гэдгээ мэдэж байна
Миний мэдэх зүйл бол би дуугүй өнгөрөхгүй
Дуугүй
End davalgaa irj baina
Namaig ugaakh gesen yum
Namaig daguulaad baigaa türleg
Els zalgikh
Khelekh züilgüi üldlee
Ayangyn chimeeneer khooloi mini balarlaa
Gekhdee bi uilakhgüi
Tegeed bi süirch ekhlekhgüi
Ted oroldokh bolgondoo
Namaig khaakh esvel taslakh gej
Bi chimeegüi bolokhgüi
Chi namaig chimeegüi bailgaj chadakhgüi
Ta oroldood üzekhed chichirekhgüi
Minii medekh züil bol bi duugüi öngörökhgüi
Uchir ni bi amisgalakh bolno
Ted namaig amisgal khuraakh gej oroldokh üyed
Namaig bitgii dutuu üneleerei
Yaagaad gevel bi duugüi öngörökhgüi gedgee medej baina
Chuluund bichsen
Dürem bür, üg bür
Olon zuun jiliin nastai, nugarshgüi
Ööriin bairandaa baigaarai
Kharsan ch sonsoogüi ni deer
Kharin odoo ene tüükh duusch baina
Uchir ni bi
Bi süirch chadakhgüi baina
Tiimees irj üzeerei
Namaig khaaj, taslakhyg khichee
Bi chimeegüi bolokhgüi
Chi namaig chimeegüi bailgaj chadakhgüi
Ta oroldood üzekhed chichirekhgüi
Minii medekh züil bol bi duugüi öngörökhgüi
Duugüi
Shuurga oruulaarai
Bi evderch chadakhgüi
Ügüi ee, bi kheleegüi amidrakhgüi
Yaagaad gevel bi duugüi öngörökhgüi gedgee medej baina
Namaig ene torond tügjikhiig khicheegeerei
Bi zügeer khevteed ükhekhgüi
Bi edgeer khugarsan dalavchnuudyg avakh bolno
Tegeed namaig tengert shataj baikhyg kharaarai
Bi gej khelekh tsuuraig sonsooroi
Chimeegüi baikh bolno
Khediigeer chi oroldood üzekhed namaig chichrekhiig kharakhyg khüsch baigaa ch gesen
Minii medekh züil bol bi duugüi öngörökhgüi
Duugüi
Uchir ni bi amisgalakh bolno
Ted namaig amisgal khuraakh gej oroldokh üyed
Namaig bitgii dutuu üneleerei
Yaagaad gevel bi duugüi öngörökhgüi gedgee medej baina
Minii medekh züil bol bi duugüi öngörökhgüi

Portugese
Aí vem uma onda
Pretendia me lavar
Uma maré que está me levando para baixo
Engolindo areia
Saiu sem nada a dizer
Minha voz foi abafada pelo trovão
Mas não vou chorar
E eu não vou começar a desmoronar
Sempre que eles tentam
Para me desligar ou me cortar
Eu não serei silenciado
Você não pode me manter quieto
Não vai tremer quando você tentar
Tudo que eu sei é que não vou ficar sem palavras
Porque vou respirar
Quando eles tentam me sufocar
Não me subestime
Porque eu sei que não vou ficar sem palavras
Escrito em pedra
Cada regra, cada palavra
Séculos velho e inflexível
Fique no seu lugar
Melhor visto e não ouvido
Mas agora essa história está acabando
'Porque eu
Eu não posso começar a desmoronar
Então venha e experimente
Tente me calar e me derrubar
Eu não serei silenciado
Você não pode me manter quieto
Não vai tremer quando você tentar
Tudo que eu sei é que não vou ficar sem palavras
Mudo
Deixe a tempestade entrar
Eu não posso ser quebrado
Não, eu não vou viver sem falar
Porque eu sei que não vou ficar sem palavras
Tente me trancar nesta gaiola
Eu não vou simplesmente me deitar e morrer
Eu vou levar essas asas quebradas
E me veja queimar no céu
Ouça os ecos dizendo eu
Não será silenciado
Embora você queira me ver tremer ao tentar
Tudo que eu sei é que não vou ficar sem palavras
Mudo
Porque vou respirar
Quando eles tentam me sufocar
Não me subestime
Porque eu sei que não vou ficar sem palavras
Tudo que eu sei é que não vou ficar s

Terrifying fact, it was, that I was speechless. I had gone through so much in the past few days, from losing both my mom and dad, to moving to a whole different country. After (my parents) had passed, the government sent my stepaunt to parent me. Unfortunately for her, I lived in a whole different country, whereas she lived in Latvia, which happened to be miles and miles away from here. I couldn’t blame her, really. First of all, she didn’t really know me personally. Second, we had never even met before today, which means that she was just doing this on purpose, or intentionally, just because my parents had died. I doubt she would actually care about me otherwise. I was bitter as I stared deeply into the eyes of the other person. She was watching me from the mirror, as my reflection stared back at me innocently. The really sad fact is that I would never get to know her. I fingered the portrait of my mom that was hanging on the walls. I missed her already.
But so much had happened, leaving me speechless again. It was like a tidal wave that had just come automatically, leaving me to shame and deep regret.
Honestly, I didn’t want to leave this house where I grew up and made so many memories. Sighing, I got up and walked up and down the carpeted staircase, grunting as I did so. This was excruciating. I slowly raised myself from the hard ground and then pulled the luggage up the stairs, one by one. This was going to take a while, I assumed. Bump. Bump. Bump. It went over stair after stair willingly. I suppose I also could have used the elevator for faster convenience, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it right now. Plus, who knew who was up there, anyway? I peeked downstairs and walked back down with my collected luggage. I think I had packed all the necessities, toiletries, pants, shirts, and undergarments. I was officially ready to stay at my aunt's house for however long she was expecting to keep me for. I looked back at the house, which I wouldn’t see for another ten years. Then my mouth dropped open in surprise again. If that wasn’t enough to ruin my terrible day, the elevator was also broken and out of order for the next couple of weeks. I guess I would just have to leave it as it was, because I honestly couldn’t see any way to fix it, and my train was coming really soon, so I had to go. Sliding the lock into the doorway, it made a soft clicking sound and grinded against the brownstone walls. Finally, I was free. I left the key underneath the doorstep and rushed off into the spluttering rain.
I had arrived on the train! Finally. That was taking a long time. The trolley came every once in a while to offer me chips and crackers, with some milk chocolate, a new hit in the United States. As much as I thought that would be really fun, I didn’t think the chocolate would be beneficial to my deteriorating health, as I had gone without food from the three days without my parents. My parents. I sighed and thought about them again, the waves inside me never subsiding from the deep worry.

We rode along the train tracks, the rails moving fast. At least I had paid the price to be on this particular train, otherwise I also might have been stuck at home, never to go to Latvia. We passed caves and small streams that branched off of huge rivers, and cities that lined the landscape.

Finally, I had arrived in New York City! This is the bustling city that everybody craves about when they come over from the other side. It certainly was loud. I could hear the taxis and trucks honking from every which way, not to mention the ginormous buildings on the landscape. All I had to do from here was to pay my ship/boat fee of five dollars and then hop on the boat set to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. Outside near the dock, I waited for the horn to blow. Astonishingly, it did! It let out a horn signal that sounded similar to a rushing train or bullhorn. I jumped when I heard the loud sound and offered my ticket to the conductor. He took it gratefully and stamped my ticket. After that, he silently ushered me into my newfound room that I’d be staying in for the next two months.

The next two months..

We rode through choppy water, bad weather forecasts, and huge waves.

But we finally made it! Our perceived destination: Latvia.
Sure, we had to go across the Atlantic AND the North Sea to even get there, but it was worth it. All the frostbite, aching, and chilly weather had led us here.
I don’t know what I was expecting when we finally landed on the shores, but it definitely was not this.
It wasn’t this, which here happened to be a marvelous place where the sun was shining and butlers were rushing from place to place, selling fresh bread and fruit up the market stalls.

I was done! Finally, after so many years (It was only about three or four months. I couldn’t wait, I mean I wasn’t looking forward to staying with my aunt.

She was here. I know, it was insanely awkward that she was here staying with me despite the fact that she was taking me home. I remembered all the months I had envisioned her as mean and creepy. But she actually looked nice! She had a faux fur hoodie and leather boots, along with leggings to accompany that. She had glasses and a huge smiling face. “Hi! I’m your aunt Elenor!” I didn’t think she’d be young, either, I thought she would be an old miser. So I was also wrong about that. She piped up again, “Sweetie, I am so sorry that your mom and dad died, and it must have been such a long journey! But don’t worry, we’ll have fun together!” You have no idea, I thought. She chattered all the way back to the house, “so you’ll see that we have gardens, a nice bush, and tea every Tuesday! The room you’ll be staying in is a guest room, we never bothered to fix it up since I live by myself most days. The house has a lookout to the sea!”
I smiled, unwavering. She was so much nicer than I had originally thought! Maybe it was just a misconception of mine. She opened the door to her house after we had walked along the walkway (it was stone with a little bit of pebbles dotting the sidelines) and there were even fake flowers along the windowsill! They were in cheery colors such as pink and yellow, which made me think that I was going to have a fun time here. She showed me up to my room graciously. Pointing, she explained all the things in my room. “There’s a stack of books over there for you to read in your free time-” “and over there is a set of new clothes for you. I figured you’d be a little bit worn out and in need of a bath when you came here.”
She waved at me from the door, and added on one more thing. “I think that should be it for now, but I trust you can settle in yourself. “ She winked. “Bye!”
And with that she ducked out the door, leaving me by myself to unpack. I set down my luggage, but instead of changing clothes like she had suggested, I sat on my new bed and thought. I was speechless again not because of the tragedies, but about how gracious she was about everything-how she was hospitable and took me in, her kindness overflowing even to me. Despite my loss of my parents, she made me feel like a friend, like I wasn’t alone in the world. And I think that’s mainly what’s important. Eleanor realized that I was a true human as well. She didn’t ever underestimate what I could do or what my potential was in life.
I became speechless once more, my legs dangling.
When I was sad I was speechless. And now I’m here again, speechless from all the kind things I had in life.


The end

Daily 11/24
+1046 words
continuation of my past story I wrote in SWC

Powerful by @softlysinging

Hi! My name is Alana, and I was a princess in exile. Why, you ask? Oh, it was a simple story. Really, it wouldn’t take me any time at all to explain my really complicated history. Basically what happened was that an evil sorcerer had cursed me from birth. The curse was that I had to be under house arrest for as long as I lived. Otherwise, the kingdoms, or THE (truth, help, and earth) would continue to fight. Sentenced to the deepest end of the forest when I was just a baby, I didn’t know what anything was about, and I didn’t know about life. My parents would never see me again for almost twenty years. Now, I don’t remember being sent off, but some nights in my sleep I hear a tinkling sound and a cloudy memory of my mom crying and hugging me, my dad who looked sorrowful. These could possibly be just illusions of my mind, or made-up hallucinations sent from above. Maybe they were even making it all up just so that I could believe them. Not that I would ever believe pretend lies. I was stronger than that. I closed my eyes and counted to three under my breath. It had been fifteen whole years since I had been free. It was a long time sure, but even though I had been held captive, I still wanted that freedom. I didn’t really care what the consequences were as long as I was free. I deserved it, after all. I hadn’t grown up with parents or a supportive, loving environment. This was the least I could do. I had to repay them for the many years that I was in hiding. I doubt that they knew of my existence.

Skip forward, to the part in the story where my dad was fighting and we had made up:
In the cave, I was watching my dad. He was fighting off the enemies pretty well, but then all a once, the impossible happened. He fell a little bit short of a rock and fell to the ground, wincing in pain. I certainly didn’t want to get captured by soliders myself, but I had to risk my life to help my dad. It was the least I could do. If he sacrificed his life for me, it was only fair that I, the hidden princess, must make her own sacrifices as well. I charged into combat battle, yelling as loud as my lungs would allow. “HIYEEE!!” I screamed, and the soldiers looked on, surprised at my sudden outburst. I listened to my dad’s heartbeat, slowing to a stop next to him. The soldiers surrounding me must have been blind, because they didn’t make a single noise when I crept up to my dad. I impaled a chunk of rock off next to my dad with a misplaced sword. It looked as if he had hit his head against the sharp rock, leading up to a small gash on his forehead. I closed my eyes and remembered the power that I had when I was very young. Trying to summon it to the best of my ability, I drew power from deep within myself and whispered, “heal.” I touched a small puddle of water next to me and dripped it slowly on his forehead. “Heal.”

I watched as the magical elements, water and my power, began to combine. They were stronger together than apart. The sparks started to glow more as I got closer to him, and it looked as if the sparks were healing him and patching together skin. In that exact moment, I felt powerful. I felt like nothing could even happen to me for eternity.
Smiling, I hugged him as he dazily sat up, but I was too late. A voice behind me whispered harshly, “Come with me, girlie.” And with that I was forcefully dragged across the green lawn and into the palace gates, which became a prison.

I was behind bars now. They were iron and made out of metal. I knew myself that I wasn’t going to get out of here anytime soon, and so I gave in to what they were expecting of me and sat down on the stone benches. Crying softly, I knew I had to give in. I was separated from my dad, and they were taking him to who knows where. The sheriff toyed with the keys on his desk. I hollered across the jail cell, “Hey, mister! Would you mind releasing me? I quite need a walk now as my legs are beginning to get tired.” He scoffed. “Try to get me to change my mind? I don’t think so. You committed a terrible crime on the battlefield.” “Healing somebody is a crime?” I demanded, rage fluttering through me. He shrugged. “Girls aren’t supposed to be on the battlefield.” I showed him my necklace. “I am the princess of this country! How dare you accuse me of a crime or treason!” His eyes widened. “You’re-you’re the long-lost princess?” he stuttered. I rolled my eyes. This guy had no sense of humor. “Yes, I left this kingdom when I was a baby.” He made a call on his cellphone. “Take this princess to the throne room straight away. She needs to meet her mother.” And with that, the lock came off and I was granted permission to visit my mother.

Entering the throne room, I saw all sorts of inscriptions and decoration on the doors and hallways leading up to the throne room. Guards were escorting me “just in case” but I wasn’t a criminal. I was a noble princess. I guess I could be lying about my true identity as well, but I couldn’t see how that was possible.
Rushing into the room, my mother’s eyes lit up with recognition as soon as soon as she spotted a glimpse of me. She hugged me tightly for about twenty minutes, me squishing against her and smelling her all over. She was just as I remembered her, although a little bit older, to tell the truth.

I was so glad that I was reunited with my mother, and for the second time in two days, I felt powerful again.

The end.

Word wars

+279 words
Outside I saw a vibrant rainbow. It was in all different colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and even purple! Some say that it is violet, though. I call it orchid. Orange can be autumnal fall colors, and green can be called lime, blue can substitute for aqua. No matter the color tinge it is, it looks beautiful either way. Did you know that there’s this superstition that if you see a double rainbow, you’re lucky? I’m not sure if you actually find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That’s leprechaun legend and officially a legend on Saint Patrick’s Day. You never really see the edge of the rainbow, though, because usually it’s too dotted over with clouds. Rainbows appear whenever water hits light and is refracted off of it into the clouds. This creates an invisible square in the sky, which turns into a rainbow. I never knew this science behind rainbows when I was little, but now I know. Usually rainbows also appear when it is sunny and cloudy/rainy at the same time. This doesn’t happen very often, which is why it’s rare to see a double rainbow. Usually the second band of rainbow is more faded into the air, but still visible so that you can tell that it is a double rainbow. It’s ROYGBIV and then it starts all over again beneath the violet, making another ROYGBIV pattern. The most vibrant colors of a rainbow are probably incandescent purple, blue, or red. Many times red is mixed in with purple when doing a rainbow. They combine to make the color orange-red ish with a small tint of brown.

+243 words

I couldn’t believe my eyes. All this time, I had originally thought that I was dead. But I wasn’t. A long-lasting drink of-wait, what was that? I silently counted to three under my breath. One, two, three please don’t let me die, please don’t let me die. I crossed my fingers behind my back intensely, hoping and praying that I wouldn’t die. But mysteriously as it had come, mysterously left two days ago-the image and silhouette I had envisioned was gone. As soon as it had appeared, it’d left a few weeks, or maybe days ago. Maybe it was even months ago, I was really bad at counting the days. Anyway, I don’t know how I ended up here. I was at my old middle school, a vision of myself appeared. There were no kids in the hallways, nobody cleaning up, not the cafeteria ladies or the janitor. I was just by myself. I got a single hot flash of deja vu while standing here. Maybe this wasn’t the actual school, but maybe it was a vision that was sent to me while I was sleeping. I had heard about people who got visions like these frequently. They didn’t have a sense of real life when they got back. I pinched myself. Just to make sure I wasn’t having a wacky dream. Turns out, I was right. I was dreaming. I wondered what this dream was supposed to represent Something good or bad?

+345 words

I couldn’t quite believe it. I was lost in the woods, with nowhere to go. We had originally gone camping because Danielle had suggested it back in July. “It’ll be a nice break for the holidays!” she announced, happily. I retorted, “You do know the exact week you’re suggesting this to be for is the weekend of Labor Day, right?” she smiled sheepishly. “I guess I didn’t think about that. And this is bad because?” she let the last part hang like a cliffhanger just there waiting anxiously for me. I snorted. “It’s bad because kids have break from school, which means more people will be there.” She considered this for a second. “I supposed so.”
“Yes,” I told her. “It’ll be crowded there with lots of people.” She frowned, deep in thought. “Well then maybe we shoudln’t go.

But of course labor day came faster than we expected. We drove up through the rocky roads, through mountains and dead fields of grass. All of our equipment was in the back of the truck, loaded up with useful supplies. For example, we had packed a fishhook, tents, and see-in the dark lanterns as well. It was the kid’s first ever time going camping, so we had to warn them about the dangers of mosquitoes. They were everywhere out here in the wilderness, and they kept coming out, biting the soles of our shoes while we were attempting to set up the tent. It was really annoying. I shrugged the ticks off of me and continued working on the poles until they were all set up. It looked like a suitable four-person tent for me, large enough to hold my siblings, and me and Jason as well.
I smiled, thinking about that, but the smile immediately disappeared as I remembered how cold the forest nights were, camping. I lit the lantern and set it down next to the huge tent. Blowing out the fire and the kindling, the only part of the bonfire that was still burning were the tiny embers reaching into the midnight sky.

+164 words

My entire life was a lie, and I knew just who to punish for it. Growing up in a place where it seemed innocent like my whole entire life was free, it seemed amazing. Like it was all maybe just a dream. But when I woke up on my thirteenth birthday, I knew I was wrong. Something had happened throughout the course of time, and I wasn’t sure who to blame. Yes, I had experienced a lot throughout the years, and I wasn’t sure if there was a sure-fire explanation for this. I had forgotten my own name. What was it? I groggily sat up in bed, trying to recall my own name that I had for thirteen entire years. This was all my fault. I blamed myself, for hitting myself on the head and getting amnesia in the first place, and I blamed myself for temporarily getting short-term memory loss. I forgot my own name, where I cam from-what even was this place?


+263 words

Your water bottle was empty, and you were stranded. Where, you ask? You were unfortunately stranded on a beach. This was one of the worst places to get stranded, as the only shelter was a small shack in the corner, built out of miscellaneous twigs, leaf, and branches all over the place. You picked at some grains of sand, washed in from the late summer tides that were blown over. Supposedly, the weather report had previously stated that it was going to be a violent hurricane season, with more hurricanes that had been predicted. I shaded my eyes to the sun, glimpsing something along the coast. I narrowed my eyes unsure of what to do or even what to say. It looked like huge, ginormous waves were coming in from the northwest shores.
I looked at my water bottle again, which had washed in from the tide. I picked it up. It was faded and wet, clumps of paper were stuck to it and it read “soda can, free” but the cap was stuck on tight. I needed a bottle opener. Enouragingly, a crab snuck up to me and I laid down, my legs itching like crazy. Finally, I found a bottle opener. YES! This was just what I needed. Grimancing, I opened the bottle slowly. Inside was a note, that was rolled up and old with dust and age. Through my cracked lips, I blew the dust off and the bottle made a *ding!* sound. Surprised, I glanced over at the water bottle. I had just made music with the water bottle!

+158 words

five years ago…
I had received a cryptic letter in the mail. Only one word was inscribed in the center of it. It simply read, “do nothing. Say nothing. Never reveal your exact location to anybody. and never say your actual name.” There was no date or signature on the letter, and I flipped it over just to double check and confirm my suspicions-that there WERE no people. I had to keep my identity a secret. I knew I was a spy princess in disguise. My mother had abandoned me at an early age-at around five years old. I never knew her, and I never knew her story, either. All I knew is that she had left me alone to fend for myself. I didn’t know her. But I knew she wanted the best for us. and that she wanted us to have a better life. I would want that too- for us to grow up good, protected from the dark , dangerous secrets of the world.

+134 words
I was lost. I didn’t want to be lost, that was for certain. But I was inexplicably, totally, devastatingly lost. I couldn’t believe it. It was just yesterday that I had been hiking with my friends along the mountain range. They warned me about the serious dangers along this trail. “It’s dangerous. You can face mortal danger.” And even a park ranger had stopped by to warn against the consequences of poison ivy, poison oak, and bee stings among the wildlife. I didn’t heed their warnings. I accidentally went off of the trail. I wanted to blame the park for not paving it well enough, but I knew it was ultimately my fault. I was to blame. Also, a millisecond later I stepped into a huge bush of poison ivy, bounding all around me.

+265 words

I thought it was the end of the world. I was walking when all of the sudden, I plunged into a deep glacier. “Who’s there?” I mumbled under my breath. I hadn’t expected to land here of all places, a deep gorge with nobody, no one in sight. It had been years and years since I had found actual civilization. Yeah. Not looking forward to being cruelly separated from my parents, my sibilings, without food, water, or even shelter! It was horrible, not to mention brutal in itself. I couldn’t stand walking through this gorge of a deep canyon on my own. I was getting really sweaty and pe speciation started to drip down my face, the sweat clearly showing how sweaty I was.
“it’s, so hot.” I panted as I walked alongside the canyon. I spotted a lone cactus in the corner, the spikes sticking out as an invitation to sting me. But I didn’t want to get hurt further. I wanted to rest. I think I needed water or a place to sleep for the night at least, but I couldn’t find shelter. My eyes widened in disbelief as I spotted a small scorpion racing across the edge of the canyon walls. Nobody was there. Only the small black scorpion and a hedgehog. I frowned. What was a hedgehog doing out here in the wilderness? It needed a place to call home.
It curled up into a litttle ball and rolled away. Ohh..I got it. It was a roly-poly disguised as a hedgehog. I still felt lonely, sick, and tired amongst everything

+329 words

You looked down at your own hands and realized they didn’t look like yours.

They didn’t look like my own hands, much less a fragment of your own body. Reminiscing from when my hands were young and small, I gazed at my hands currently. They looked still, stiff, and molten into something I barely recognized at all. This was a terrifying fact. I thought that my hands would either go limp or never rejuvenated again. Panicked, I tried to dump water over my hands. No such luck. I tried again and again without ceasing. I even did this into midnight. Why didn’t they look like my own hands? Simple. My hands were slowly being molded into a syrupy mess, from deep within the caverns. Along the way, my hands started shivering and quivering tightly from the dry ice that they hand been put through. Now my hands were brittle and stiff after years of searching in the wilderness. They didn’t look as young anymore, aged after the terrible weather. Now I couldn’t even see my own fingernails. The water wasn’t even helping it drip down any further. I walked five steps left, and then five steps forward. Luckily, my feet were absolutely fine and in no need of any medical care or condition. This meant that I could walk. So I did, I used the strength of my feet to keep on walking. I walked and walked and walked until my feet also got dry and sanded. I walked all the way to the water well, built out of stone and mud bricks. Breathing in and out slowly, I walked up to the well and dipped the pail underground, where I could hear slight splashes of water. Pulling it up with a rope, I found the fresh, clear water inside the pail and started to pour it over my hands gently. Finally, finally, my hands looked back to normal now, I’d never forget the longest journey of my hands.
.

Daily 11/25

+658 words


It was Thanksgiving! It was the first Thanksgiving since we had arrived in the colonies. Some say that it is a dangerous place here, crawling with Indians threatening to take over our land. But I believe that truth to be wrong. They had to be on good terms with us, to be friendly. I doubted that they would ever attack us. Unfortunately, I was wrong. They did attack us, and with good reason as well.Forcefully, the army marched in a straight line. To be honest I didn’t think it was particularly fair. But they owned the land, so it must seem like we were invading their land, their territory. I pondered upon this fact. I think that I was right, for once. Maybe they were jealous of us. Just then, I heard the dinner bell ring loudly. RIng! Then a second bell rang. This one wasn’t for dinner. It signaled danger. Everybody, women, men, and children looked worriedly at each other. If it really was danger, then nobody was safe. I sucked in a deep breath when I saw who was at the top of the hill. It was an Indian. All the children huddled in fear, and I tucked in my bonnets slightly in response to the surprise appearance. A man loaded his gun and steadily pointed it at the Indian. “If you take one more step, I’m loaded,” he warned. The Indian raised his hand in a polite gesture of peace. “Do not worry,” he spoke in heavily-accented English. “I come in peace. My name is Squanto.”
William Bradford bowed his head, content with the answer given. “Welcome, Squanto,” he spoke in a quiet voice.

Two days later..
The colony was in an outrage. “How dare you invite Squanto to live on our land?” one man demanded. “We don’t even know if he’s safe.” “He could be spying on us.” The arguments continued to heat up and bubble over in fear and shock. William held out a hand for everybody to calm down. “Look. We don’t know if he’s violent or has spies working for him. But we do know that he is nice, and we need to be welcoming towards him. Got it?” he looked around the room sternly. Meekly, I lowered my head. It actually made sense. “Now, let’s eat!” he cried.

We had beef, chicken, rosemary, and mashed potatoes! It wasn’t exactly mashed potatoes but more like the potatoes had been dug up from the ground and then cooks scraped off all of the dirt from it. Finally, it was time to feast! William gave a prayer to start us off on our meal, and ushered Squanto to be the guest of honor at the front of the table. He also gave a speech on discrimination and how we should treat each other equally. “And bless this food,” he finished. “Now, let’s eat!” I stuffed my face with sea water and choked almost immediately, drank milk and honey, smoked salmon that had been caught from the ocean, and broccoli and corn. Squanto also showed us how he and his people grew corn. It was fascinating, how they dug up the corn seeds from underground. It then sprouted into a healthy stem that would flourish into corn. It would bear fruit and multiply into many generations of corn bearing.

I ate pitifully until my cheeks were completely stuffed and I had surpassed the amount of eating that my stomach could possibly take. I gulped and swallowed yet another cup of water. I was really glad to see that Squanto was nice after all, and that he only wanted to help, no more and no less.

Last, I wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was a time to harvest and to be grateful-not only for the people we had in our lives, but for the experiences and life that we lived together, and the freedom that we had experienced by living here in the colonies.

CABIN WARS!

when green flag clicked
say ["Cabin wars cabin wars:D] for (2) secs

“cabin wars: forces you to write a long manuscript that a) makes your fingers feel like they're going to fall off b) causes lack of sleep”
Everybody during cabin wars: “WRITE WRITE!” “Betrayal, how?!”

First cabin war with @-JadeFox-

Quicksand Pit

1165 words

You were stuck, with nowhere to go. Your feet felt like they were tied to quicksand. Gulping, you tried to get out but it was too late. “Help!” you screamed weakly. “I just want someone to help.” You might be wondering how you even got into this trap in the first place. (Nobody walks straight into quicksand without good reason.) You remember when you first walked into the forest. No harm done there. But without your supplies, you quickly vanished off the trail. In hindsight, I guess you should have taken the alternate route, or even checked to make sure you knew where you were going. But the wildlife started to disappear along the trail, slowly but surely. First, it was the meerkats, then the flying toucan. There was even rattlesnakes and sloths hanging from the eucalyptus plant, in bright colors such as orange and yellow. A butterfly swug by, hopping from flower to flower in a delicate dance. You remember walking along this trail, kicking small pebbles and dirt along the way. But you got a tree branch stuck in your shoe. Stopping to get it out, you winced as you struggled to get the one tree branch off of your shoe. It stung and hurt a little bit, as the tree branch was clearly winning the vicious fight.
You finally got it out, after exuberant stress was placed on the shoe. You continued walking, but then remembered that you had no water left. This was rather unfortunate as you had depended on the water to keep you hydrated and healthy. Oh well. You’d have to survive off of nectar from other plants. You examined the trail carefully again, but realized that the path had gone slightly askew along the way, you couldn’t believe that you had allowed this to happen! It was rather unfortunate. You looked down at your feet, expecting to see something, a vision maybe, or a new path for which way to go next. But you didn’t see a path right in front of you. You only saw soft dirt and grains of sand, pebbles crunching beneath your feet. You sighed and decided to face forward again, walking through the underbrush…when all of the sudden, you heard a loud noise crack below you, Twigs and branches snapped loudly as you collapsed into the quicksand pit, exhausted.
You didn’t know how long you had been sitting there, but before you knew all of your legs were completely immersed with sand up to your waist level. Ugh. This was really uncomfortable, and you didn’t like it at all. You squirmed around some more, but that led to you sinking some more, causing your arms to become completely dissolved in quicksand. Gulping for a breath of fresh air, you decided to look on the positive side. At least your head hadn’t become dissolved yet. You looked down at the pit again, watching more of your arms disappear. Looking up at the pit, you wanted to see how far it extended up. You craned your neck, yearning to see more of the pit. It was just black and deepened all the way to the underground. Whoever had built this pit must have taken a lot of energy and brainpower to do all of this. It also must have taken a long time because the pit was about 15 feet deep. You couldn’t see your way out of this one, as there was also a solid net encasing you so that you were completely trapped. You couldn’t help yourself but to stay still. You bit your lip, trying not to move at all, not even a milimeter more. There was no space, no wiggle room at all for you to move. You decided to finally get up and move. Inching your way to the edge of the pit, you moved every ten minutes, adjusting your pace equally. Your bottom half of you did not sink any further, as it was about to give out at how exhausted-physically and mentally-it was from standing up straight for a moment longer. You finally touched the edge of the pit with your pinky and your thumb, making a colossal effort to stay calm and focused. You could do this, no matter how long it would take you. You inhaled and exhaled some more, trying to keep everything straightly aligned, even your hair and your strands of hair locks blowing away from your face. You steadily reached down underneath, grabbing a rope from your jean pockets. You could do this. You must. Grabbing the rope steadily, you plunged forward, stabbing it into the dirt walls of the pit. You hung one end of the rope over the rock ledge in the middle of the pit walls, and started to climb.

Some say that it isn’t good to climb out of a pit using only a rope. You had chances of dying or even falling back into the pit, as your weight was heavier than the skinny rope, which had no weight mass index at all. You knew that you would be different than other people, though. You wouldn’t just climb without knowing the appropriate consequences of your actions. After all, that was only for ignorant people, and you weren’t going to be one of those to save your own life. You must admit, you were a tad bit jealous of the people who could climb out of a pit in five seconds flat. You’d seen people do it on television, but it could just be an exaggeration. Which were very far from the actual truth. You finally stretched your arms outward into the sun, and climbed until your legs were raw and scraped from the dirt wall. It was a long fifteen foot drop into the pit, and you groaned as you exerted all of your energy into climbing and the rope not falling on you. Just then, you noticed the rope rapidly fraying at the edges, dangerously close to dropping you in the quicksand pit again. “NO!!!” you yelled at the top of your lungs. You hoped someone in the rainforest could hear you, despite how eerily quiet it was. There were no more animals, and you had ventured far from the path. You knew it was wrong of you to do this. You should have stopped and waited for an advisor. But you didn’t listen and listened instead to the inner voice inside of you, who was apparently wrong. You even caught a small glimpse of the rainforest as you were strenuously climbing the rock and dirt walls out of the pit. It was light outside and you could hear birds chirping faintly in the distance. But you knew, deep down that it was your fault for getting off track. It could have ended differently, without you stuck in the quicksand pit. Hanging your head in despair, you sat in the quicksand pit silently, wondering what you could have done differently to prevent such a tragic outcome.

Second cabin war unfinished and lost

+361 words

I faced my nemesis. Julie had been my nemesis ever since that tragic day in kidnergarten, when I told her that she smelled like glue and pork chops. She didn’t like that, especially as we were both from refined families that wanted to raise us to the best of our abilities, never fearing from daunting missions or haunted treasure. It wouldn’t be long until the crisis was over. I had been raised in a normal household. My family, Queen Lily and King Ralph, had gratefully raised me in a heavily strict home environment. I was told never to go to the gardens, and I had to stay inside all the time because my governess or my tutor was always watching me, hovering over my every move. I flinched whenever I heard loud noises, not that I’m a particularly delicate princess. I’m not, although you might think that’s how my parents raised me. I can speak up to five languages and have good social etiquette to please the town members and also the counselors who were meeting with me daily. Along with all these princessy skills, I was also taught archery and the art of combat in battle. I trained under only the best soldiers, and was prepared if an enemy ever attacked. We were on a signed peace treaty, but that didn’t mean that the other kingdoms meant no harm. I’m sure they did. I stepped out into the sunshine, on a dark and cloudy day, storm clouds were impending, signaling that danger was nearby and that we were about to be attacked. I looked around. Everybody seemed tense and unprepared. Just then, I saw my ultimate nemesis! Shocked, I looked quickly around to see if anybody had the same reaction. They didn’t. I was the only one who had felt that way. Sure enough, she appeared from the castle gates on a small ledge. Her hair flared wildly behind her, and her eyes were narrowed as she clasped her hand around a hilt on her waist. I looked carefully, examining my newest opponent. My suspicions were indeed correct. She was out to get me. I shrieked, “Oh, it’s you again!”

Third cabin war from @suburban-darkness

+1018 words

It was midnight, and dark was setting on the city. Validated, I was extremely proud to call the city my home. I had lived there ever since I was five, with my best friend. She was around my age and was into the same things I liked as well. Specified, her various hobbies were soccer, kickball, and badminton. We used to throw around the ball in a small alleyway close to home. It was little, yes, but it worked to to the best. We molded according to where the ball landed. The alleyway was kind of narrow and had dry cleaning hanging up, along with walls that encased them tightly with bricks. I looked up at the water pail that was in my hand, making slushing noises and some water droplets were falling to the ground, mixing in with the dirt and turning it a useless shade of brown, which was sort of like puke colored. I worried that I’d never get out of this alley, even if I called this city my home. Just then, the earth started to shake. I trembled with fear as the rock started to split apart. This was definitely not what I was expecting for today at all. The alleyway rock started to fall, causing a mass buildup of rocks and bricks surrounding me. Petrified, I tried to find the nearest exit, frozen in fear. Just then, I heard an ominous crack in the place where the exit was supposed to be. I froze for a second again and turned around, not looking forward to what the wall had in store for me. *psst!* a boy leaned out of the window, waving at me furiously. “I need your help!” I told him, my eyes were blinking fast. I swallowed one last nutshell and waved at him some more. “Jump!” he urged me. Then I got a good glimpse at what was behind the nefarious wall. It was fire, flickering different colors of orange and yellow. They were glowing really bright, and shining in all different colors such as red and orange. It was funny how I knew that red and orange mixed together was red-orange or orange-yellow. It intrigued me to the extreme. I looked everywhere for my water pail, but surprisingly I couldn’t find it. I didn’t know who had accidentally misplaced it or where the pail had even gone. All I saw was a trickle of water flowing down from the drainpipe. This couldn’t mean anything positive, I knew that already, but the water continued dripping and the earth kept shaking in front of me. There was a deep gash and a crack where the earth had once been. Leaving an empty hole where it used to be, I sighed and continued on. Just then, I gaped in surprise because the fire was nearing closer. I had no way to safely escape. Thinking about it for a second, I decided to climb up the firewall and drainpipe to get to the top of the roof and the apartment outlook. Gritting my teeth against the smoke that was currently filling my lungs of bad entities, I finally-finally! Managed to claw my arms around the area onto the top vent that was slotted with areas where air could breathe through properly. I scratched at the drainpipe again, groaning in effort as I did so. This was extremely terrible. Really, miraculously terrible. I had no room to go forward on my mission. But the fire continued to grow bigger and more like a giant tornado fire. Squinting my eyes gently, I put a bandana around my nose and mouth because I didn’t want to inhale more of the smoke that was after me. And finally, finally I had come to the end of it all. I took a deep breath and scraped my nails against the drainpipe, which only seemed to make the fire glow brighter. I finally managed to make it past the daunting drainpipe-I spoke too soon and bricks came crashing down onto the alleyway. It looked like a collision course was coming for us and I scrambled to my feet, hesitant of everyone and everything. At least I had made it to the roof. No danger could possibly reach me here. Or could it? The earthquake continued, moving fault lines and areas where people were, making even more massive distress in the community. It wasn’t my fault, I thought, that people were after me, and that I had nothing to give in return. My friend must be so worried now, that I wasn’t here with her. I couldn’t think of a reasonable explanation to why I was standing in rock rubble, with my shirt that had tens of thousands of stains on the front. It didn’t even appear like a normal fruit stain-this was just dark and blue, with hints of dirt smelling upon it. I wrinkled my nose at my shirt. I really couldn’t take it anymore, but my dry cleaning was down there in the alleyway and I couldn’t even reach that spot-it was being burnt down by the crackling fires. I sat right next to the air vent, which didn’t happen to be broken, thank goodness. I could still hear the fan running in the background and the cool air was slowly entering my lungs. I took a deep breath of that, even though I knew it was really toxic to my deteriorating health. But I couldn’t go a step further. I was locked into the room yet again, and it was all my fault. Just then, a pile of soot landed on my shoes, which led to me fainting. The last thing I remember seeing clearly is the air vent, white with pearly colors, along with the the rust-tinted ladder and drainpipe I had used to climb on top of this roof in the first place. I grabbed one leg over the other, exhausting my strength. Finally, finally I was down with this and I remember glancing at the sky, seeing marvelous yellow stars in front of me before I fainted. And all went black inside.

Fourth cabin war from @LunaLovegood-LOL-unconfirmed if this war was won
+1134 words

Amazingly, I wasn’t in complete shock this time. I was standing in the grass, which was completely covered in patches of grass green. “Oof” I groaned, sitting up only to break my spinal cord. “Ouch…oww,” I moaned, sobbing in pain. I’d heard the crack of my back, but only just in time. It sounded as loud as a baseball bat that had hit home run. “Help,” I whispered silently. I was laying flat on my back, looking up at the sky. Surely I couldn’t be dead already. But all I saw was the sky, bright blue with tinges of baby blue and the white clouds floating my like they didn’t have any care in the world. I whimpered, “help,” again. Tears were now freely swimming in my eyes, down to my cheeks and my eyelashes. I tried to wipe them furiously away but it was unfortunately too late. It was gone. Gone. “Is is anybody here?” I whispered again, pleading for someone, anybody to rescue me from this torturous pain. My aching back, ahh. It was aching in the bottom of my back and I felt sure that I needed ice cubes to prevent the mind-numbing pain that had suddenly arisen. I laid there for a couple more minutes before my leg started to go to sleep, impatient from the stillness of my body and my body temperature, which was decreasing slowly by the minute. I couldn’t bear to still be sitting and laying in that exact position for much longer, so I wheezed and carefully sat up, trying my best not to break any more bones than I already had. It was going to be extremely dangerous, trying to get up from here. Everybody here knew that the harder you fell, the harder it was to get up, especially if you had broken a lot of bones the first time. I had, for example. I had broken my vertebrae, my sacrum, and my coccyx. Along with my thoracic, which happened to be intact but slightly moved because of the tremendous fall. I hoped I hadn’t exactly broken any more bones than expected. My whole life was at stake here and I didn’t have anything to lose…except possibly for my own body. I checked my other limbs again. Everything seemed perfectly fine except for my torso and by back bones, which I have just explained to you. Nothing seemed to be going wrong or askew here, so I was simply assuming that everything was totally fine. I waved my hands in the air again, trying to catch somebody’s attention. But I didn’t know exactly what. Hmm…maybe it was just the possibility that someone would come for me, save me from my hurting bones. My past really wasn’t the problem here. It was the many people who might despise me because of the broken body parts I had. I started to cry again against my own will. I had hoped that nothing would ever have to happen. What if they all judged me just because I was different than them? What if they all judged me because of my skin color? I paled some more, knowing that discriminaton was a huge part of culture. It’s just how “society” worked, ever since America was founded long ago. I knew I for sure hadn’t thought up the ingenious idea of discrimination. Nobody would like that after all.
Suddenly, I saw a tall figure standing beside me, her shadow blocking the light of the sun that was streaming through. “Wait, who are you?” I asked, slightly intrigued by my lack of visitors. Then I screamed again in massive pain, wincing at my every move as I did so. The figure slowly bent down to help me. I waited and waited before finally accepting their generous help.
“I’m your mom,” she told me. I almost sat upright but forgot that I couldn’t sit up still. She frowned, concerned about my health, and offered to help me walk. “Is that okay?” I nodded. “Yes! Absolutely yes!” She smiled. “Good.” then she automatically reached a hand behind my back, before deeply frowning some more and looking at the spots where my bones had broken. She set me down again in front of the stool and reached for her phone. Pressing a few buttons on the screen that lit up in different colors, such as bright yellow and sunny orange. She dialed a number. “Hello?” she asked after pressing the “call” button. “911? Yes, it’s me, Maria. I’m afraid I have a pitiful child in my presence right now. Oh, condition? Fair. Slightly poor around the back bones.” Maria, my mom, glanced at me again to get a good look. “Sure, I’ll waive the hospital fees. Probably just cracked back bones. Yes, I know, ultra spine surgery.”
And with that, she clicked off the phone and tried to explain to me in a calm voice what exactly was happening now. “Look, your spine is broken. That means they will have to do an ultra spine surgery to help correct your bones and set them in the proper place. Are you with me?” I hesitated for a second before finally saying, “Sure.”
“Good. The ambulance should be here in a few minutes. I want you to hang tight.” Then she smiled at me some more. “You really are a brave child, never forget that.” She hugged me tight and sat on the opposite edge of the bench. I watched as the light turned green, and I heard sirens and a red ambulance appeared next to the curb of the wall. It flashed a couple of colors again, then shut off. I was immediately put into a cot and sentenced to the hospital as quick as they could get me into the emergency room. I wore a band that stated my age and patient ID. They rolled me down the hallway, which happened to smell exactly like hand sanitizer and disinfectant. “Calm down, honey. This is going to hurt.” I got stabbed in my arm with something that looked like blue paste. “We have to do this to start the operation.” I gave up fighting, defeated.
I got up groggily the injection fresh in my mind. But after everything went black, I couldn’t remember a single thing, other than the fact that I was anesthetized and put to sleep. I looked down at my back with the guided help of the mirror, and what I saw surprised even me. I stared back at a stranger. All my bones were healed! The prescription looked pretty positive and that I could get back to normal in just a few weeks. Happy as a clam, I danced off, glad that I was finally, finally recovered from my drastic injury that had changed my life.

Daily 11/28

+560 words

I imagine my mind as an active place where there’s always lots of activity around. People are bustling, working for something to happen. Many people think the brain is just a pile of mush and different muscles that are stacked together to make a brain. I don’t believe this is true. If human brains just consisted of mush, then we would have absolutely no room to think. After all, humans also have thoughts as well, unlike inanimate objects who do not have actual thoughts. Because we are independent humans, we have the freedom to formulate our own thoughts, opinions, and actions.

I picture my mind as a safe haven. Many people are in my mind.
-happy
-sad
-mopey
-mad
-kind
-thoughtful/thinking
-calm

There are also various other people in my mind as well, but this is just my basic emotions.
There would also be different sections (or islands, if we are referring to the concept of Inside Out.) One would be singing, the other would be reading, and the third would be writing. Of course, I would also have other sections such as family and friends, spiritual health, homework, and time for myself. (Everybody needs time for themselves!) I’d also have a collection of memories from ever since I was a baby. Nobody really remembers when they’re born, unless you’re one of those rare people who have super geological photographic memory.
And I’m definitely not one of those people. Memories for me when I was about three are like dreams I once had. I remember looking up at everybody when I was younger and thinking that they were so much taller than me. But now I understand more about my own mind. Sometimes, I think it’s best to calm your mind down, refresh your mind for the good of yourself. There is also something in the back of your brain that makes memories, good and bad. All of them are stored in your brain. Another thing that my brain interprets is decision making. Whenever I decide to do something right or wrong, my brain considers the pros and cons to what I’m about to do, for example eating a certain type of cereal, or what to do in my free time. Along with the good things that come along with your brain, there are a lot of bad things as well. My brain can act on impulse sometimes, which is dangerous for the rest of the human environment if I take too large of a risk. One thing that my brain needs to learn is self-control in the face of danger. Sometimes my thoughts will go spinning around and around, moving extremely fast. This is not good for everybody else, especially if I end up getting a headache.

Next topic! Sleep. Sleep helps your body grow, and there is a part of my brain that stores dreams. Dreams happen when you are in REM sleep and sometimes also when you are in deep sleep. Honestly it just depends. But I know one thing that’s really true. Thinking, logical or illogical, your brain performs many multitasking functions for you, and that you should especially be proud of.
Many people overlook the brain as it is, as if it was just so amazing. I was in shock at how the brain performs so many tasks. For you and just for yourself.

Daily 11/29


+1081 words

The co-hosts were whispering about SWC, the camp that was starting in just a few days. “LEADER APPS!” That was the announcement in September. “Remember to submit yours early!” Kat remarked, “Wow, we certainly have a lot of applications this time around.”
“Yeah!” Honey added. “You know, I can’t believe how much SWC has grown.”
“Me too.” Bakie nodded. “I can only just remember last session when we had over 1000 campers.” Birdi piped up, “But I believe this session’s going to be great too.” Alba smiled. “This is the fourteenth session of SWC, right?” All the other co-hosts nodded. Stacking the neat notes she had organized in a clipboard, Alba told everybody else in the room, “Time to sleep-you don’t want to have a lack of sleep. After all, life > SWC!” With that, the co-hosts left the room with a nod, and the abandoned leader applications were still on the table.


Five days later…
“Alright, we have to announce the leaders today and come out with camper signups.” “Birdi?” everybody’s eyes turned to Birdi, who was supposed to release the camper signups. “Don’t worry, guys, I’ve got this.” she reassured them. “Right, 11:59 pm, right?” “Yeah, I already prepped the description of the project.” Alba made a note on her clipboard. “I’ll go around notifying the leaders now.” Kat spoke up. “And I’ll notify the co-leaders.”
With that, the comments were then turned off on the leader application project. Honey sighed. “I really didn’t get that much sleep. Hungry too.” Bakie smirked. “We’ll just have to drench you with MANGOS.” Mangoes?! Confusedly, they searched around the cafeteria for some mangoes. There wasn’t any mangoes, unfortunately, to satisfy the delights of the stomach. But they did find papayas! It was golden yellow with a tinge of soft orange as well. “This is so delightful,” Kat murmured, taking deep and long slurps of the juicy papaya. Some was dripping down the chin and onto the shirt, as well. “Wait!” Alba yelped. “My notes!” she ran to go rescue them. “Ah, yes, Alba the arsonist, go get your notes-” she successfully fetched her notes before they fell to the ground and got crumpled. “Where were we again?” Bakie asked. “Oh, yes, camper signups.”


Two days later…
The hosts were back in the conference room, with the door shut to provoke any prying eyes. There was only a window at the top of the door. Honey had sealed it shut with some wrapping paper, though. “Ahem. Where were we at?” CAMPER SIGNUPS ARE HERE! “First,” Kat commented. Then finally they were at the very bottom. “Wait, who’s the first signup?” Birdi asked cautiously. “Oh, it’s that person, @softlysinging aka Rain. “Did she just stay up late at night so that she could claim first?” All the co-hosts looked curiously at each other. “What did she just say?” Rain wasn’t even allowed in this room at all because she wasn’t a co-host, so instead listened outside the door along with a few other co-leaders.
“So where were we at?”
Birdi rushed into the room, panicked. She’d been counting people who had signed up. “We have about 300 signups so far!” Bakie clapped her hands. “YES!” That was really impressive to the rest of the co-hosts, who looked on in interest. Honey spoke up. “I think we have to talk to some of the future campers. Some of them are not filling the form out correctly.” Alba nodded in agreement. “I’ll go talk to them.” Just then, they heard a vending machine come near the hallway. “Our gracious salvation!” She exclaimed loudly. “What in the world is this?” Kat examined the labels of the vending machine. “It looks like soda.”
“Well, we definitely need the energy,” Bakie explained. All the co-hosts got soda and root beer from the vending machine (except for Birdi, who didn't want to waste plastic and got lemonade instead.) Everybody sipped their drinks and Alba sighed. “I guess it’s time to open backup camper signups?” Kat argued, “Actually, no. I think we should wait.” Honey chimed in, “We should wait, I agree.” Annoyed, Alba sighed. “Can we just open them now?” “NO!!” Bakie told her, quite alarmed by this fact. “Fine. I guess I’ll open them in a few hours.”

A few hours later.

Although Alba was a tad heated from the argument that she should open signups in a few hours instead of minutes, the other co-hosts held her in restrain. “We’re your friends, after all,” Birdi reminded her.
She finally opened backup camper signups at 4 pm UTC. SWC was running on UTC this session.


Finally, the day when SWC officially started! Now they could finally write towards their word counts and even get points for their cabins.
“Hi, my name is Eliza and it’s my 4th session of SWC.”
Hi, I’m Pawsome, and it’s my 1st session of SWC! I like to do roller blading, hockey, and I love math.”
Hi! I’m Julie and it’s my second session of SWC! I like to read, draw, and eat random food”
It went on like this for awhile before the session actually started.

Days into SWC, the co-hosts gathered again.
“I think some campers are complaining about the UTC time zone.” Kat told everybody. Honey nodded. “Yeah, some of them were asking if they could do the daily the night before or if they had to wait until the next day in their time zones.” Considering this, Birdi told them, “I would think that you’d have to wait until the next day.” Honey nodded. “Got it.” “I’ll tell my campers this too!” Bakie exclaimed. “Yes, tell all your campers,” Alba advised them. “Meanwhile, I’ll check some items off this list.” She held a black ballpoint pen and started to check things off the list. Honey considered Alba for a second. “You know, I really like your daisies song,” she complimented Alba. In surprise, Alba smiled. “I didn’t expect you to say that.” “No, you’re really good at singing and the ukelele.” “Takes practice.”

“Um, one camper dropped out,” Kat informed them. “I think they dropped out after cabin wars.”
“They’re in my cabin,” Bakie stated. “I think it was one of the backups.”
One week later…
“Do you think the campers are enjoying the dailies and weeklies?” Kat asked anxiously. “I think the summary of them are,” Birdi reassured them. “Most of my campers do, anyways.”
“And you know, it gets you so many points if you do the daily.”

this is probably going to be the daily tomorrow but I'm doing it slightly early]
Daily 11/30

I am going to miss SWC deeply in the off months, but know that even when I am not doing SWC, I still think about it and I still love writing even in the off months. I am very sad it is ending, but I know I can make new memories as well. I won't stop writing. I'll miss SWC, and I hope this is just the beginning of our story.

ps planning on getting a writing degree

+1144 words


Thank you notes:





Before I start, I just want to say thank you so much. This 14th session of SWC, November 2021 was unforgettable. I have a lot of words to say for this session, so hang tight!

I wasn’t planning on joining the November session at all. I had gone on hiatus in August and September, never coming back. My two accounts sat there for two whole months, collecting studio notifications and me never checking my mail. And I kind of ignored Scratch for those two months. I almost forgot about Scratch and how it worked. I forgot about the community. Before I go on to thank everybody, I have to say that Scratch is pretty addicting if you get used to it. But life > scratch. So I took a lot of time for that. During my hiatus, I mostly focused on doing my homework. After all, I was in high school now so it was very different from middle school. I took the time to overall rejuvenate my mind to keep it completely occupied with other things. During this time period, I never checked my main. Instead, I made a new “private” main that was called @Lilac_flowers89 for the month of September. The layout was nicer on this account and it was neat and organized. After a short while, I deleted that same account because it was no longer needed. It was really just a test account to see what new scratcher status was like after the studio update. After-after that I made yet ANOTHER account called @–Bunnylover-123 because I needed another test acc and also because I wanted to raise awareness from my first account which I got bullied on. So that’s basically my accounts. Also, I was very active on @joyandkindness during the time I was on hiatus.

Signing up for SWC

I honestly thought that I wouldn’t join SWC at all because I had promised to come back in the summer. I was wrong. I was wrong and I knew it. So I decided to join because after all, I still loved writing. I was really surprised when I got dystopian as my cabin because I’m not used to that genre, I’m more used to poetry and fantasy. But I did end up learning a lot about dystopian and now I am glad I did and that I was a member of this cabin. On with the story, and now it is officially time for the thank you notes.

SWC November 2021 leaders: Please don’t feel offended or judge me just because I didn’t have the time to create a thank you project and share it like I did for my July leaders. It’ll just be simple thank you’s, sorry about that.


Thank you notes:

@-The-Book-Worm:

Bookie…thank you so much for leading dystopian this session. You spent hours and hours preparing the cabin, storyline, and description/thumbnail before we even came and even more adding all of our words and points. You are (one) of the best leaders I’ve ever had. Thank you for being so patient with me and not letting me give up. Thank you for being encouraging and kind all through November. I will never forget the talks we had this month. Thank you for putting in all the hard work to make this session possible. I know it isn’t an easy task at all, so I commend you for that. Again, thank you so so much from the bottom of my heart! <33

@-ChocoLoco-

I don’t even know what to say, Bakie. It must have been so much work being both a co-host and a co-leader this session. I really do appreciate all the hours of work you put in-not only to the cabin itself but also adding everybody’s words and making the matching profile pictures. I can’t possibly thank you enough for that. Thank you for being nice and encouraging, and thank you for bringing your joyful energy into the cabin. I was always happy around you. Also, thank you so so much for being a co-host. It must be really stressful sometimes managing a writing camp with so many people in it. Thank you for the joy and fun times we had together, the memories we made as a cabin. Thank you so much again! <33

@-PeacockPea-

Pia! You are so amazing, just amazing as a person even when you’re not doing SWC. Your light shone bright all through this session, from adding words to helping dystopian and making the cabin guidebook. Thank you for taking the time to prep the cabin and notify everyone when we were all sorted, and thank you so much for being there, if we ever needed help with anything or if we had questions. I just want to say thank you for making this session a great one, and I had a lot of fun as well. Your job also isn’t easy, from overseeing all the campers to adding all our words and reminding us to do the dailies-and I appreciate all the work you do as well. Thank you <33

Note to all the co-leaders, leaders, hosts alike:

Thank you so much for putting your time, energy, and dedication into SWC this month. Thank you for the countless memories we made this session, and thank you for adding all the points up and helping campers, as a whole, to become better writers. Thank you for organizing SWC, planning it, and make it come true. Thank you for making SWC a safe and fun environment. Thank you for the hours you spent not only prepping cabins, sorting, creating activities, changing dailies and weeklies, and for releasing sign-ups. Thank you so so much for all the hard work and effort, I’ll never forget this third session of SWC for my entire life, so thank you once again <33

That’s about it for the thank you’s, I am so indebted to every leader and co-leader who has helped me personally, as a person, become a better writer and just a better person in this world in general, so thank you so much for teaching me.

I can’t think of anything else to say right now because I’m so grateful.

That’s about it, until next session!