Daily 10
Words: audio, trade, delta, gated, stead
444 words

“Starship Delta 1, do you copy? Come in Delta 1,” crackled a glitchy voice through the ship's audio system (seriously, we needed to get that fixed).
I took a deep breath and looked around at the crew for support. Was I supposed to respond now? It was still hard to believe I was the captain of this mission. Trix, the tech manager, nodded in encouragement.
“Yes, we copy,” I responded, trying and failing to sound confident.
“I do not recognize your voice. State your name.”
“Starry, second-in-command.”
“What happened to Captain Zel?”
“She has caught Saturn Fever. I am leading the trade mission in her stead.”
“How far away are you from the Betelgeuse system?”
“Uh…” I checked the map. “Approximately 1 light year. At this speed, we will arrive there in approximately two hours”
“Good, you are on schedule. Over and out.” The radio clicked off.
I turned to Trix. “Can you fix the sound system? It's driving me insane.”
“Don't I have to isolate the carbon dioxide leak first?”
“Oh yeah. Definitely do that first.” There was silence as she tapped away on a screen. Bored, I remarked, “Did I tell you why we're bringing so much cargo today?”
“No,” Trix replied, “why?”
“From what I heard, Betelgeusians need a lot of supplies because they're preparing for their star to go supernova.”

Two hours later, we passed the outer dwarf planets of the Betelgeuse system, then the uninhabited Betelgeuse 12. I locked the ship's direction onto the eleventh planet from the sun (hence the name Betelgeuse 11). But as we got closer, our scanners detected a field of energy around the planet that had never been there other times I'd visited.
“This planet is gated! Bella,” I called to the communications manager, “Can you contact the security base and tell them we need access?”
Bella nodded, and after a quick conversation with the secutity base, a hole opened up in the gate for Delta 1 to fly through. We landed, and a tall purple carbon-based life form greeted us. Robots unloaded huge crates of Earth goods from the ship and replaced them with Betelgeusian materials.
While the robots did their jobs, I had a few minutes to admire the Betelgeuse 11 landscape. An orange sky stretched endlessly above me, and a vast field of blue plants waved in the wind. I'd been here countless times before, but seeing it as a captain made it feel more special, like a reward for my hard work.
Finally, we had to leave the beautiful planet to go to our next destination. I wished the aliens luck surviving the supernova, then set course for Betelgeuse 10.

Weekly 2
2408 words total

Part 1: Fake Crime
817 words

51,794 Mangoes Reported Stolen From Local Supermarket
A week ago at 12:00 AM UTC, security cameras at Scratch Cat's Superfoods caught footage of a large mob of pixelated icons breaking into the store. According to the camera footage, the thieves entered by smashing a hole through the ceiling. They charged into the produce section and began loading mangoes into crates and shopping bags. Others took mangoes from the storage room in the back. Audio recordings reveal that the criminals may have been singing Hamilton songs while inside the supermarket. The mob then exited by making a new hole in a different part of the ceiling and climbing through it.
The next morning, the owner, Scratch Cat, was shocked out of his mind to find out that his entire supply of 51,794 mangoes was stolen, even the unripe and overripe ones. His roof was severely damaged, with holes about two meters in diameter in two different places. He also reported that the criminals left a large pile of random objects on one of the cash registers, including tokens, geodes, and shiny metal objects called anomalies.
“I'm very confused about what their intentions were, meow meow,” Scratch Cat said during an interview with one of our reporters. “There were so many valuable things in the store that they could have stolen, but they went with mangoes. Why mangoes? I know they're delicious, but not good enough to steal 51,794 of them, meow meow! Also, what was up with that pile of junk they left?”
The footage shows that the leader of the mob was a pixelated icon with a purple background and a white silhouette of a flying bird. The whereabouts of this criminal mastermind are still unknown, but the Scratch police are looking into finding and capturing them. If any users that match this description are spotted, please let the police know immediately.
“When the leader is caught, I will make them pay for all 51,794 mangoes and a new roof, meow meow,” says Scratch Cat, infuriated.
Pico, a witness to this terrible crime, reports what he saw last night. “When I walked by, I saw a bunch of square profile pictures jumping on the supermarket roof, and at first I thought they were just some crazies having a roof party. There were about five hundred people up there, but I couldn't see what they looked like in the dark. They were jumping so much that I was wondering why the roof hadn't caved in, and then the roof caved in. I tried to get into the store because I wanted to check if they were okay. The door was locked, so then I tried climbing to the top of the building. It took a long time, and when I got to the top, the thieves were already climbing out of the roof hole and running away. That's when I realized they might be stealing. Because I'm such a noble hero, I told those awful villains to stop, but they said, ‘We’re not stealing, we covered the cost of the mangoes and the roof with in-cabin currency.' I don't even know what that means.”
Scratch Cat says that this crime was helpful to him in testing the store's security features. “Although nothing can excuse what they did, at least I'm aware that my alarm didn't work and my security camera was blurry at night. I now know to fix my alarm and get a better security camera, meow meow. Plus, I needed that roof rebuilt anyway; it was leaking like crazy.”
The Scratch police have identified multiple suspects that may have been responsible for committing this crime. The most likely is an organization called “Scratch Writing Camp.” This is a camp where Scratchers are divided into groups, participate in writing-related challenges, and earn points for their group.The size of the camp is about the same as the size of the criminal group that raided the store. On close inspection, many members of this organization have a strong liking for mangoes, Hamilton songs, staying up late, and breaking through roofs. They seem daring enough to rob 51,794 mangoes from a store. In addition, the host of this camp somewhat resembles the leader of the mob.
Police officers are preparing to arrest the entire camp, but it may be dangerous as writers are known for being chaotic, unstable beings. They can create nightmare fuel, cause instant crippling sadness, or force an uncontrollable fit of laughter upon a victim with a swish of a pen. The Scratch police will take extra precautions such as carrying writer's block spray, wearing mango-proof armor, and using Hamilton-blocking headphones.
For your own safety, do not approach an SWCer without proper protection. Instead, avoid eye contact and quickly get to a safe spot. If any other information is known about the store robbery, possible suspects, Scratch Writing Camp, or how to defend oneself from writers, please contact the police immediately at fakeemail@.scratch.mit.edu.

Part 2: Fake Restaurant Review
818 words

Gobo's Grill Review
This evening I had dinner at the Scratch-famous restaurant, Gobo's Grill. I'd heard many great things about their wide variety of menu options, their quality service, and their to-die-for desserts, so I decided to give it a try. It absolutely failed my expectations. I'd give it half a star at the very best, and that's with extreme generosity.
The interior of the restaurant was well decorated, moderately fancy, well lit, with professional-looking table setting and a beautiful view out the window. I sat down at a table, scanned the menu, and ordered a strawberry lemonade. It arrived quickly. I was impressed when I first saw the yellow to pink gradient. The sweet strawberry juice complemented the sourness of the lemons, and I was soon asking for refills.
A short while later, the waitress came back to take my food order. I asked for cheese ravioli, a grilled salmon plate, and a side of mashed potatoes. The service was very good; my food was ready in a relatively short time.
At first glance, all three dishes I ordered had artistic plating that pulled me in. The ravioli was the perfect balance of cheese and pasta, with a delicious creamy sauce on the outside. Each piece was shaped in a perfect square with ruffly edges. It was salty and slightly spicy, just enough to be tasty but not overwhelming. The grilled salmon is a Gobo's Grill specialty. It had a tangy sauce that added a lot of interest to the dish. The outside was grilled to a crisp, and the inside had a nice soft texture. The serving size was large enough to make me satisfied, but so huge that it gave me a stomachache. The mashed potatoes were buttery and perfectly flavored. They had an amazing fluffy texture, as if I were eating a cloud. In all, I could tell that the food had the best fresh ingredients and was made with care by the chefs.
For dessert, I ordered a chocolate lava cake. It arrived shortly, and again I was astounded by the appearance. There was house-made whipped cream piped on top in a swirl, and fresh garden-grown strawberries on the side. I tried it, and it was amazing. The cake on the outside was moist, sweet, and rich, with a hint of salt to balance it out. Inside, the hot fudge was chocolatey, gooey, and sugary. I enjoyed every last bite of it. The reviews were right, the dessert here at Gobo's Grill is amazing.
When I finished, I waited and waited for someone to hand me the last menu, the most important part of the meal. But no one did. The waitress came up to me and asked if I wanted the check. I wondered if she was joking, but she assured me that there was no joke, and her facial expression told me that she was being truthful. I wondered how any server could forget the final part, and I felt bad because I assumed she had some memory loss, so I decided to help her out.
“Excuse me, may I see your mango menu please?” I requested.
The waitress looked at me with confusion. “I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't have a mango menu.”
“Well, none of your dishes on this menu have mangoes in them, so I'm guessing all of your mango dishes are on a special separate menu?”
When the waitress said that there really was no mango menu, the horrifying truth hit me: Gobo's Grill didn't serve mangoes at all! The audacity! How could such a Scratch-renowned restaurant have no mangoes? How could a restaurant even be in business without mangoes? Calling a meal without mangoes “food” is like calling a canvas without paint “art”. It is simply impossible to serve food without mangoes.
I stood up in fury, demanding to speak to the manager. The waitress said that the manager was busy, but I insisted. The manager reluctantly came to speak with me. When I complained to him about the offensive lack of mangoes, he didn't listen! He just said that there was no need to put mangoes on the menu. I objected with, no, of course there had to be mangoes on the menu, otherwise the entire restaurant would be worthless. Still, he didn't listen and told me to calm down. As soon as I paid, I stormed out the door to dine somewhere that's actually worth something: the produce section of the grocery store, where there are mangoes galore.
In conclusion, I would not recommend dining at Gobo's Grill. The food, drinks, and dessert were delicious and high-quality, and the service was great, but there was not a single mango dish on the menu. If they do not add mangoes to their menu immediately, I hope Gobo's Grill goes out of service and is replaced with a restaurant that is aware of the amazingness that only mangoes have.

Part 3: Advice
532 words

Starry Answers

Dear Starry,
I accidentally killed my best friend of 20 years, Mango, after I got too hungry and inhaled it as a last resort. Now Mango's ghost is haunting me in my sleep and threatening to feed me to the great mango king and use my skin as a new fashion line. What can I do to escape this horrible fate?
- @ButterPopcorn8

Esteemed writer,
First of all, I am terribly sorry about the tragic loss of your lifetime friend; you must be going through a difficult time right now. The same thing happened to me once, when my favorite mango got jealous of me constantly hanging out with a pineapple. I know how horrid it feels to think your end is becoming lunch for a mango and your skin being tailored into a new trendy coat.
First, try to apologize to Mango for eating it, and explain your motives in the most honest and heartfelt way possible. However, mangoes are not known for being forgiving creatures, so Mango will probably take you to its king anyway. When that happens, you must be prepared.
The trick to avoiding being eaten by a mango king is showing confidence. Remember, mangoes are just as edible to you as you are to them. Show the mango king that you are not afraid of chopping it up into a mango turtle and using it as your daily fruit serving, and demonstrate this on lesser fruits such as oranges and pears. With luck, the mango king will think of you as too strong to kill and leave you alone, or better, make you the royal knight. However, it may be threatened by your strength and be even more motivated to eat you to save its people. If this happens, you may have to use your fruit cutting skills on it. Only do this as a last resort, though, because it may set the entire mango army against you.

Dear Starry,
My sister is convinced that swc is st*pid and a waste of my time. What can I do to change her mind?
- @_kittykay_

Dear writer,
The best way to change your sister's opinion on SWC is to expose her to the everlasting wonderfulness of it all. First of all, you must hack into your sister's Scratch account if she already has one, or make a new one if she doesn't. Then, sign that account up as a backup camper.
Once the account gets sorted, barge into your sister's room and tell her to go on Scratch. If she doesn't want to, tell her that you'll do something that annoys her (for example, my sister hates my singing, so I would threaten to sing Baby Shark). Don't just say you'll do it- actually do it! She will get so annoyed that she will have to go on Scratch in order to keep her sanity. Continue threatening her until she reads the entire cabin description, cabin guide, and the SWC rules. Make her do the daily and the weekly, too. Occasionally chime in with, “See, isn't this fun?” and, “Not a waste of time, right?” and annoy her if she doesn't say yes.
Repetition is key, so make sure you force your sister to do the daily every single day. If she tells your parents about this, respond with the classic “I just want to spend time together!” Eventually your sister will start to enjoy writing, and you will have to threaten her less. The point where you'll know you don't have to force her anymore is when she starts making jokes about mangoes, arson, and breaking roofs. She will start to genuinely enjoy herself, and she will be begging to know when the next session is!

Part 4: Advertisement
241 words

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Buy the Doorknob Simulator at your local Scratchmart today for only 27 easy payments of 54.99! Or call 000-OOO-0000 or visit fakewebsite.com to order one for delivery.
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daily - july 9
total words: 3354

part one: entire cabin writes 3k words
contribution: 841 words
“Cabin wars!” Jamie shouted as he fell through the roof of the cabin from where he had been perched as the team’s lookout. “CABIN WARS, EVERYONE!”
“What?” June asked, confused and amazed at how Jamie seemed to be okay after falling through the roof and hitting the ground stomach-first.
“CABIN WARS!” Jamie nearly broke the windows just by his voice as he got up, and everyone nearby covered their ears.
“Okay, okay, I get it!” June said. “Stop screaming. We’ll be fine.”
“What’s happening?” May, who had just woken up and had been awoken by the crash and screaming, asked. She wiped at her eyes, trying to rid herself of the drowsiness.
Jamie inhaled and was about to shout the same words again.
“Cabin wars,” June told May as she put her hand over Jamie’s mouth to muffle his screams, which it successfully did.
“And why is Jamie so stressed out?” May asked.
“Cabin wars,” June told May again, still keeping her hand over Jamie’s mouth in case there was another scream; though it didn’t exactly seem like it would be, one could never tell when a scream was coming.
“What about cabin wars is so bad?” May asked, oblivious to the explosions and screams that had begun outside due to the soundproof walls of the cabin.
“That,” June said. She pointed out the cracked window, then realized the web of cracks wasn’t doing anything helpful for their visibility and shattered the window herself.
Outside the window, several scenes of destruction and chaos played out before the campers' eyes. On one side of the campus, an army of screaming goats chased a terrified group of campers who were screaming for Marc Mangosen to save them. Mango after mango came from the sky to deter the goats, who paused and then resumed running- it didn’t seem like their screams would do anything too substantial.
Another group was firing a cannon armed with monkeys holding typewriters, who typed random strings of letters that did nothing but confuse the other group, who seemed to have been prepared to fight off real words but not gibberish. Then, the group rushed forwards and attacked.
Yet another group was firing away word after word on their devices, but the boulder falling towards their cabin was only delayed for seconds by each word and their efforts were doing nothing to stop it. Realizing that it was too late, that group started running, leaving one sole camper to try to stop the boulder from destroying the cabin.
On the other side, a group of campers armed with computers fought off phone-wielding groups with just the streams of words that were pouring out of the backs of their devices. Another group wearing merchandise proclaiming them to be official worshippers of the Duck Deity were holding aloft a computer branded with some sort of holy symbol, chanting an ominous incantation that seemed to be repelling hordes of angry campers armed with devices of all types.
“All hail the Duck Deity. The Duck Deity shall reign supreme. The Duck Deity is the best deity of all. The Duck Deity is amazing. All hail the Duck Deity,” they chanted in monotone voices, and June realized what they were reciting was actually the speech they had been assigned to write at the beginning of camp- the official worshippers had actually written it, and it seemed to be quite effective.
Meanwhile, a team of campers were throwing buckets and buckets of water onto the flaming ruins of what seemed to be a grand cabin much larger than the others- perhaps that was why theirs had been targeted- while several other groups were trying to break a force field around the cabin. The buckets swung back and forth, refilling within the blink of an eye, but the fire still blazed and continued to consume the remains like nothing was happening.
The mango tree at the center of the camp, the most sacred symbol the camp had, was on fire- yet somehow not burning-, and when she realized that it wasn’t burning May recognized it to be the Cabin Wars flag of the camp.
“Well, we’re done for,” she managed to say over the shouts and screams..
“Yup,” June said with a bitter smile, then pointed towards the other side of the cabin.
A group of campers marched forwards, holding their devices pointed directly at the cabin the three were in. The leader shouted, “Fire!”, and thousands of words began flying out of their devices and towards the cabin.
“THERE IS AN ATTACK!” Jamie screamed at the top of his lungs, and the entire cabin quickly evacuated the structure.
From the top of a hill, they watched as the cabin was destroyed like paper at the hands of scissors by the streams of words that caused explosion after explosion until it was reduced to rubble.
“IT’S CABIN-” Jamie shouted, and June clamped her hand over his mouth to prevent him from finishing that statement.
“It’s cabin wars,” May deadpanned to the crowd of now-cabinless campers behind her.

part two: four people write 1k words each
words: 1005
“Hi, Jamie? Are you there?” May texted Jamie. She wasn’t sure if Jamie would reply, but she needed somebody to help coordinate the rebuilding efforts after their cabin had been demolished during cabin wars.
“Yup,” came the reply, and May grinned.
“Did you review the applications for rebuilding coordinator?” she asked as she opened up the tab on her computer.
“Not yet. Did you?”
May rolled her eyes. It was typical; of course time zone differences would mean that Jamie was just waking up while it was late in the night for her. “Of course,” she replied.
“Nice. Congratulations, you’re the only productive person in this cabin” Jamie replied, and May could almost hear his voice deadpanning the line.
“I know that already, unproductive person,” May replied. She grimaced as soon as she hit enter; Jamie had been the backbone of the rebuilding force, and she was just there for the ride.
“Wow, you caught on to my act,” Jamie texted back, and May smiled, relieved that Jamie had taken it as a joke and not anything she actually meant.
“I had been hoping I would last another month,” Jamie added. This time, May genuinely laughed, but her mood was quickly popped by the next message.
“Past the next cabin wars, you know?”
“Uh, we’re having another one of those chaotic events?” May asked. She wasn’t entirely sure if the thing she was looking at was real, but after several minutes of pinching herself she was pretty sure that it was real.
“Yup.”
“You’re kidding me,” May texted back, partially disbelieving what she was seeing.
“Nope.”
“We’re having another one?!”
“Yup.”
“SERIOUSLY?!”
“Yup.”
“What in the world were the event organizers thinking?” May asked. The first one had been a disaster: screaming goats, weaponized cheese, deity favoritism, and monkeys on typewriters had been everywhere. Oh, and mango splatters. Those had been a nightmare to clean up.
“Well, it was fun for some people.”
“Which people?!” That anyone could have enjoyed that event was incomprehensible to her.
“No clue, but whoever they were there were enough of them to continue the cabin wars event,” Jamie texted. Then: “Be ready to build some auto-typers or whatever.”
“Pretty sure that’s rule-breaking.”
“Pretty sure so are monkeys with typewriters,” Jamie replied, and May could (again) hear his deadpan voice.
“That’s like saying you can’t ban someone for breaking the rules because nobody said they could train golden retrievers to fetch the ball for the players in baseball.”
“Because you can’t. We’ve had this debate before, it was technically not breaking the rules.”
“Because the rule-makers didn’t think of that possibility!”
“Because they wanted there to be a loophole. If they didn’t want loopholes to exist and be used, they would ban the use of loopholes.”
“Jamie…”
“You know I’m right ;)” May sighed, but she quickly thought of a way to retaliate.
“Alright, you’re right. So can you be right again and choose the right rebuilding coordinators from the application list?” she chuckled.
“Fine, I’ll read over the list after I eat breakfast.”
“Go eat breakfast please,” May texted, knowing Jamie’s tendency to go without breakfast for a day or two at a time when left unchecked.
“No because I’m not hungry <3”
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
“That’s just what the random cereal people say to make you think that it’s more important to pick their cereal than another one.”
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it is the first meal. If it’s too late or too early, so is everything else,” May said, trying to think of convincing reasons to get Jamie to eat breakfast.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! Now go eat breakfast.”
` “Fine. I’ll go eat my breakfast, which will be five slices of toast and two thousand freshly-written words.”
“And the application list.”
“Fine, and the application list.”
“Sounds like a deal.”
“To you, maybe. To me, it sounds like a checklist,” Jamie texted, and May rolled her eyes fondly.
“Exactly, so please do the things you should be doing. This cabin isn’t going to rebuild itself, you know.”
“If we use the right spell, it will.”
“But is that spell available to us right now?” May asked, knowing full well that none of the spells were available for them yet. They didn’t have that kind of training yet.
“No…”
“Exactly, so the checklist is necessary for us to do until we get the spell.”
“Sure, sure, sure. I’m going to go eat breakfast and read the list and write my words and hopefully we’ll get a high enough score to get the spell.”
“Alright. In the event that we do get the spell, we’ll have to go through a whole process to choose who does it, so don’t count on it.”
“Fine…”
“Oh, and can you find someone that can handle the preparations for the next cabin wars? I want to be prepared this time and not have to rebuild the cabin all over again.”
“Sounds good. I’m reading through the list right now, there are some good candidates. I’ll send you the list later when you wake up. You should go to sleep.”
“Uh, it’s only 11:56 PM here,” May texted. “I’ll be fine. Relax.”
“You need to save that energy for cabin wars.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll pull an allnighter on cabin wars day and I won’t pull any more until it’s after that day. That chaos-filled day that will probably involve more monkeys with typewriters.”
“10 dollars says they’ll stop using monkeys and typewriters.”
“You’re on.”
“Okay, now it’s time for you to go to sleep while it’s still not an all-nighter.”
“Okay.” May sighed and turned off her phone and computer. In the dark, she climbed up onto her bed and laid back on the bed to go to sleep.
But of course, she couldn’t. Not yet, not while the suggestions were still brewing in her head. Not while she was still worrying about cabin wars. Not while it was still 11 PM.

part three: two people write 500 words
words: 502
Each year, the Watchplace admits fifty applicants, but only one would make it past the selection process and become the one who would eventually become the Final Watcher.
The test had seventeen layers, each created by a Final Watcher of the past who had designed it to be extremely hard and use qualities they believed would make a candidate a worthy successor. The occasional person had gamed the system, but eventually they would be brought to a stop by another layer of the challenge.
It wasn’t supposed to be hacked. Nobody had hacked it before, but now Elarin Dirven walked through the halls of the Final Watchplace wearing the uniform of a Watcher Applicant and completely unprepared for the challenges that would lie ahead. Well, she would be unprepared, but she had a secret weapon.
Elarin had placed top of her class in the Edgeswipe School for Young Children and Young Adults, but not in the normal way somebody would. No, she snuck into the test-counting room and changed the counting machine’s output to put her at the top.
Nobody had figured that out despite it repeatedly and mysteriously happening (the administration put too much trust into their students, as Elarin would put it), and now instead of the other students who had strived to achieve the top position without cheating Elarin had come to take the test. Most Edgeswipe students were taught to have the skills they would need to pass the test, but due to her cheating Elarin had made it into the building with none of those abilities.
Instead of the typical training that those students had received, Elarin had been taught how to cheat, lie, and bribe her way to where she wanted to go, and now she wanted to test those skills in real life. If she could make it through the test, she would be able to go on with a normal life and learn the things she hadn’t learned before. If not, it was back to the drawing board to think of another way to get past the test.
Elarin’s first test was to get past the large minotaur guarding the door to the next one. A simple task for the average student, but Elarin was no typical student. Her first idea was to try talking to the aggressive creature.
“Hello,” she said to it with a charming smile.
“Who are you?” snapped the minotaur, and Elarin’s plan B was activated- it would seem the minotaur was no fan of stalling and pleasant chatting.
“I’m just here to inspect the test, nothing more,” Elarin told it. She tried to do her best to look non threatening.
“Why are you wearing that uniform?” asked the minotaur, though it seemed to believe her.
“I have to wear it, otherwise they wouldn’t let me in,” Elarin said. “They use it to make sure that I’m okay.”
“Oh,” the minotaur said, and it let her through with no more trouble.
The door opened, and Elarin began the next task.

part four: four people write 1k words each
words: 1006
“Do we have to go?” Persimmon asked, and her older sister nodded sadly.
“I don’t want to go,” she then said. “Why do we have to go? It was nice here.”
“Per…” her older sister said, then hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry. This is my fault.”
“It’s not your fault, Ayla,” Persimmon said into her sister’s ear. “It’s just… There’s so much here. How do you know the job in the city will be good? There’s so much that could go wrong…”
“I can only hope it will be,” Ayla said with a sad shake of her head. “But it’s the only option we have. After what happened last week, the only safe place will be in the city, where the government is the strongest.”
Persimmon nodded grimly. “Okay…”
“Are you ready to go?” Ayla asked Persimmon with a sudden cheerful smile that Persimmon didn’t think was that genuine. “I don’t want to leave anything important behind.”
“I’ll do a double-check,” Persimmon told her, and left to look through the house.
Abandoning their home was a last resort, and according to Ayla time was running out quickly. Their train left at noon, so there were still several things that they hadn’t been able to fit into their suitcases: the furniture, the larger objects…
Persimmon didn’t want to leave anything in the house behind, but she knew that in order to safely make it away sacrifices had to be made. But there was one thing that Ayla had insisted they leave behind that didn’t make any sense to her: the golden bracelet Ayla had worn everywhere.
It was small enough that it could fit and she had thought it was important to Ayla, so she didn’t understand why it had been abandoned in the empty house. She couldn’t help but feel a bit sad for the bracelet, being left behind after being taken everywhere.
“It won’t destroy anything…” Persimmon told herself. She sighed and grabbed the bracelet, stuffing it into her jacket pocket.
She walked back to the living room, where Ayla was wiping something that might have been tears away from her eyes. As soon as Ayla noticed that Persimmon had returned, she quickly stood up and grabbed her bags. “It’s almost time to go. Did you find anything that you wanted to take with you?”
“Nope,” Persimmon lied, ignoring the weight of the bracelet in her pocket as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her bright blue suitcase.
“Okay. Let’s go, then,” Ayla said with a smile, though she didn’t seem to completely believe Persimmon’s lie. The two walked down the neighborhood’s streets, knowing full well that this was the last time they would ever see the familiar slightly-worn-down roads, houses and objects with faded paint, and cracked sidewalks.
A few times, Persimmon made an attempt at conversation, but Ayla didn’t answer and so they walked in mostly silence. They boarded the self-driving train quietly, and the train took off for the city.
The sun was setting when they finally got to the city. There, Ayla unlocked the door to an apartment near the train station and they walked inside. The apartment just had a bathroom, a kitchen, one large room at the center (which the door opened up into), and a bedroom.
Ayla dropped her bags off in the bedroom next to the bed that was inside, and after a long pause so did Persimmon, who then collapsed onto the bed and went to sleep.

After a few weeks, the two got used to their new routine they had adopted while in the city. In the morning, Ayla would be the first to wake up. She would go to the kitchen, cook herself breakfast, then leave a plate of food on the table for Persimmon. After Ayla had left for work, Persimmon would wake up and have breakfast, then entertain herself until it was lunchtime, when she would put together a sandwich or something similar and eat it while continuing her activities until Ayla returned.
Every other week, Ayla would come back with an object that had the logo of the company she worked at on it: a pen, a journal, a sketchbook, several pencils, a T-shirt, a jacket… The logo was round with white details and the letters SWC, and the motto was “chaos, writing, mangoes, parodies + fun”.
On weekends, Persimmon would go out and explore the city, maybe buy herself something from the marketplace or program a simulation. One such weekend, she bought herself a golden bracelet that looked like the one Ayla had worn so that she could pretend the bracelet was another one.
This routine continued for several years, but one day Ayla came back in tears and holding a note.
“Uh, what’s that?” Persimmon asked.
Ayla shook her head with a grim expression. “No time for questions. Just grab your things and go.”
“Okay…” Persimmon quickly packed all of her belongings (except for the golden bracelet that she had bought) into her backpack and came back to where Ayla was, in the central room of the apartment.
“Leave using the fire exit,” Ayla told her. “Don’t look back. Use another name, get a house somewhere else in the city.”
“What- why?” Persimmon asked.
“Just go!” Ayla shouted, and Persimon ran to the fire exit, footsteps echoing on the metal steps. Persimmon did as she was told and continued running, not looking back even when there was an explosion behind her. She ran until she couldn’t run anymore, where she walked instead and made her way to the government’s headquarters.

A year or two passed, and Persimmon eventually got a job in the government as a Peacekeeper under the new name of Aelyx (inspired by Ayla’s name) and at the fake age of eighteen. There, she honed her magical powers that began manifesting at the age of eleven, and when the opportunity was offered that she explore the strange new portal that had appeared in the Republic she quickly accepted the offer, tired of her routine life.

July 10th daily || 619 words || Words used in the Wordle: Point, stare, steal, steam, steak, stead
—–
I was in the dining room, ready for dinner. I looked at the clock, noticing how late it was.
“Oh my… I have to be at my play soon…” I said, worried. I had to perform tonight, I've been practicing for months, I didn't want to waste it all to be late. I looked at the time, frantically waiting for my food. I could see steam coming from something in the kitchen. I peaked my head around the doorway, seeing my mother, cooking.
“Mom! Hurry up!” I exclaimed.
“I know, I know! I just wanted to have a decent dinner tonight.” said my mother, annoyed at me yelling. “I'm sure we'll have enough time to make it to your performance.” I groaned. I could see some steak cooking in a pan. Why would she cook a complicated dinner that took a while when it was obvious that I had something of great importance tonight? I walked back to the dining room and took a seat at the table. I looked at all of the clean cutlery and plates sitting on the table, neatly set up thanks to me. I looked around a bit, waiting.

“Dinner's ready!” called my mom as she brought out plates holding piles of food. It did look delicious, but it left us very little time to get to my performance. I gave her a good stare as she walked past me. She set the food down on the table and I instantly grabbed a bunch of food and ate it as fast as I could.
I was finally ready, but my mother wasn't. She was being a slow eater once again. I tapped my foot as I looked at the clock again. 30 minutes remaining. That's barely enough time to drive there.

(Yes, now it's going to be in 3rd person POV)

At the theatre, the host of the play looked around.
“Where is she?” he asked, trying to find the lead. Was she really late? The host sighed. Suddenly, a beautiful, and probably popular, girl walked up, doing a cat walk. She was wearing fancy yet trendy clothing, and her hair was neatly brushed and flowed down, fairly close to the ground.
"As the lead's understudy, I will take her stead.“ said the girl. The host agreed out of desperation. The play was supposed to start now and the lead wasn't even in their costume.
A few minutes later and the girl was all ready. The curtains were pulled up and the play began.

(Back to first person POV)

We rushed to the theatre as quickly as we could. But it still wasn't enough. We got there and the play had already started. My understudy took my place. I started crying.

The play ended and I watched the actors come off the stage. My face was still red and damp from crying. I looked at the host of the play.
”I was going to be there soon. Why did you immeadiately turn to the understudy? Why did you make her steal my position?“ I said, still upset.
”Well, do you think I knew how long you were going to be?" retorted the host. He made a fair point. I walked away, feeling completely useless and empty.
“Hey!!” I heard a kid exclaim before I exited the theatre. I turned around. “I'd just like to say, you would've been great. I'm sorry you were late, because you would've been much better than our understudy.” the kid continued. I looked at them, feeling not as empty as I was.
“Thanks…” I said shyly. I waved and went on my way. I smiled to myself. Hopefully the next play I was in I was not going to be late.

Daily #10 7/9/2022 (EDT)

Word count: 427

Words: Arson, mango, goats, stole, steal, and stead

“Paige, come on!” I call, walking behind her, “Be reasonable about this!”
Paige rolls her eyes, "I am being reasonable. Ara was here in my stead, so I couldn't have stolen the pasta sauce.“
”Um- so you were the one who stole the pasta sauce?“ Ara asks, confused.
”Ye- No!“ Paige exclaims, throwing their hands up in the air.
I sigh. ”No one ever accused you of stealing the pasta sauce,“ I respond gently, ”Paige, are you sure you didn't steal the pasta sauce?“
”It was the goats, not me!“ Paige claims, ”I was trying to get the pasta sauce out –not to steal it mind you, but to make spaghetti– when the arsonist of a goat came up to me and took it from me. That was before I fell and lost my balance because they just ran off.“
Cheese rubs her hands while laughing maniacally, ”My plan to take over all cows, goats, horses, and all livestock is working.“
”Cheese, would you happen to know where a stash of pasta sauce is?“ Ara asks innocently, as Cheese looks around for a way to get onto the ceiling fan.
”Pasta sauce? Not so much,“ Cheese manages to say as she wobbles on the edge of a chair, ”I've got a stash of a lot of mangoes!“
”Cheese, please be careful,“ I say, worried, watching as she unsteadily balances on the chair.
”Unless Cheese Jr. ate them all already; he better have spared a mango for me. Woahhhhhh-!“ Cheese crashes down and hits the marble floor. Before anyone can come up to help her, she quickly gets up. ”I do not need any help, but did I hear any of you accusing me of stealing? I am highly offended.“
Ara shakes her head, ”All we asked, Cheese, was if you happened to have any pasta sauce lying around.“
”Of course, I am able to steal!“ Cheese cries, ”Geez, you guys can think so lowly about me. You know, I would think that after all of this time, you guys wouldn't underestimate me! I am so disappointed in you, Ara.“
”So, about the goat that can commit arson…“ I ask Paige, ignoring the chaos around me, ”Any story behind that?“Paige looks less at me, but more at what is going on behind me. ”I'm not sure if this is the time for that-“
”Paige, please help me here; Ara should be able to-“ I start when I'm cut off by a smash. ”That was the fan, wasn't it?“ Paige nods her head. ”Yep, we've got to go…"

Daily (10-7-2022)

Words: Purse, Daisy, Sands, Smile, Steak, Stead

There was to be a fantastical dinner party at the Paradise Mansion, afterall, it was Mistress Evony's 80th birthday, a day worth celebrating. Mistress Evony had planned this day for years. It was going to be the day of her retirement as a Civil Engineer, finally after 50 years of work. She planned on spending more time with her family, and watch as they grew as people, and maybe help them along the way. Her thoughts, hopes, and dreams were abruptly postponed by a knock on the door.
“Granny Evony! Where here!” exclaimed a couple of muffled voices.
She could hear laughter, and talking outside, and she got up from her stool, flattened out her dress, and gave her butler, Robert, the cue to open the door. As the massive double doors creaked and became a jar, a rush of family, friends, and coworkers filled the entrance room. They all tracked in dirt, soil, and mud as they came, the housekeepers looking pained at all of it.
“Everyone get into the dining room!” Robert exclaimed through the noise.
People slowly filed out and into the much larger, more spacious dining room. Mistress Evony was about to follow, when she felt a tug. She looked down to see her grandchild, Flora.
“Well, hello, dear, how are you?” she asked.
“I'm good Grandma Evony, but I have something to give you!” she said excitedly.
Flora took out a box, out of her mini backpack, and gave it to Mistress Evony.
“Open it, open it!” Flora exclaimed.
Mistress Evony smiled and opened her gift. Inside was a card, reading “Happy birthday, Grandma” with a drawing of her.
“This is lovely!” she said, beaming once more.
“There's another surprise!” replied Flora, giddily.
Mistress Evony took out the card, and saw underneath a daisy brooch, embedded with Swarovski gems.
“I bought it with my own money!” Flora said, proudly.
“I love it honey!” Mistress Evony exclaimed and quickly put it on her dress.
Hands interlocked, they walked to the dining room together.


In the dining room, everything was a chaotic mess, but everyone was happy. Children sloppily ate their mashed potatoes while adults nibbled on their ribeye steak. People were telling stories, some real, others not.
“In the sands of the Sahara, there lives a monster who eats GIRLS!” narrated Joe, another one of Mistress Evony's grandchildren - this story caused much fear among the little girls.
Dinner rushed past, and so did dessert, which consisted of cakes, pies, cookies, icecream, merengues, cupcakes, and pudding. Soon, it came time to open presents, and Mistress Evony received many.
From purses to books, she was grateful for every single one of them, but in her heart, her daisy brooch was still her favorite. After all of this was done, it was time to announce something weighing on her mind.

“As founder (and CEO) of Modern Engineering, a Civil Engineering company, I have been given the task of picking the next CEO. I have thought this through, and have made my decision.”
There was a sudden tension among the employees that night.
“I have chosen… Dove Wakefield.” There was clapping.
“Dove, you have been appointed stead of this role.” she ended.

Suddenly, Dove walked up to the front, and said a single word.

“no”


(552 words)

༺═─── daily 10 ───═༻

adieu, stead, berth

༺═── word count; 431 ──═༻

“Goodbye!” shouted a person standing on the dock, directly beside where the ship's berth had once been. Now, there was nothing but the ocean and the lingering scent of sea-salt which plagued its inhabitants eternally. The sun, setting in the background and spreading golden tendrils across the sky, seemed to beam just that slight bit softer on the person's face as they stood alone on the dock.

Alone. She was used to that. It didn't mean that it didn't hurt, though.

The ship was a magnificent thing, steady in its path, a glorious object of dark planks and the classic sail hanging down from the mast. Even from here, she could see the deck alive with people, pushing around each other, all in good humour.

She wondered whether the silhouette she was thinking of was there on the deck, alight because she was on the sea again, hopeful because she was going home, the perfect image of a pirate in her prime. The girl on the dock remembered her dark hair and that steadfast glint in green eyes too pure for piracy.

Remembering. She doesn't often make memories.

She turned, kicking a rock that was in her way, and held her hands up in the departing line of light. The sunlight seeped onto them, as if gnawing away at her skin to leave only a bright light that smelt faintly of roses and the sea. She brought her hands up to her chin, draped in shadow, and sniffed.

“You're really scent-oriented.” Carmen laughed, bringing her face up to rest on her knees.
“Am I? I never noticed.”
“Here.” The dark-haired girl crawled over the sand, gazing up soulfully into her own eyes. Intoxicated by the closeness of it all, she sat there, smiling deliriously, noticing only the twitch of the girl's eyebrows, the way that she brings her hand up to touch her own cheek, her fragrance, oh, the fragrance, smelling of the open air, the sea and the beach, peaches and daises; perfection.

Memories were useless if the person that you shared them with was steadily leaving for their home, the open sea, and there was nothing between you that could keep them safe. She had no ropes, no strings. No tugging reason for a beautiful pirate to remain. There was only laughter, nights on the beach, in the café. There was only longing on her part, and resilience on the other's.

She wished that she'd stayed, and hoped that if her lost soulmate looked over the side of the ship, she'd see herself in the shadow of the boat.

༺═─── weekly 2 ───═༻

part 1: 817 words
part 2: 892 words
part 3: 656 words
part 4: 256 words

༺═── word count; 817 ──═༻

➺ part 1:
Fake crime — Write a report on a fake crime, but be sure to keep it Scratch appropriate.

Recently, a tragic crime happened in a small bank at the edge of a town. A person, dressed in all black clothing, broke in and stole – wait for it – all the chairs in the bank lobby. However, we do not know how exactly this crime was committed and who it was who committed it.

The first piece of evidence that was noticed by the detectives was that every room and vault except the main lobby was locked. When they looked in every room for the stack of chairs, there was nothing to be found except money; distressed, one officer even checked the back of the bank, which has a bin large enough to shove the chairs inside and call it a day. However, they didn’t call it a day, as the chairs were not anywhere in the building, leading us to believe that they were stolen.

Secondly, the main doors were locked and bolted when the detective crew arrived, but there was a large hole in the ceiling of the main office. An expert came inside to inspect the damage, and it seems that a hammer was used to break in through the roof. Nobody observed from below anyone breaking onto the roof, so we believe the crime was attempted during night, where most of the civilians would be asleep. This, however, is a guess.

Our next point to cover was that there was a market going on in the town that day, one that primarily focused on furniture, and had a large exhibit of chairs (for some weird reason). This was deemed unrelated to the case.

Looking inside the lobby, there is all that a normal lobby would have; a large desk, with space where a large armchair formerly would have been placed, a couple of tables with empty spaces around them, and a radio with pleasant classical music floating out of it constantly. There is a lamp in the right corner facing the door that flickers on and off occasionally, and when questioned, the music played is mostly indie.

After all the physical evidence was tested, the detectives moved onto suspects. The receptionist was interrogated merely hours after the crime was committed, and this is what she ended up saying;

Detective, name withheld; Please tell us your name, age, and detail the events that led to last night’s crime, as well as describing the relationship between you and your employer.

Elizabeth (Beth) Connor: Gladly! I’m Elizabeth Connor, but my close friends tend to call be Beth. I’m, as of April 10th, 2022, I’m 38 years of age. I’ve been working with this specific bank for a great while – five years, in fact, and I have always found that my employer and I have gotten on fabulously! The bank treats all its customers fairly and I have no idea why anyone would ever do such an outrageous crime, perhaps we’re simply too nice and our chairs are too comfortable?

Detective: Could you provide a detailed description about what you did yesterday, around 6.30 pm to 8, if you were at work at that time?

Elizabeth (Beth) Connor: Oh, of course! I normally stay at work until around half six, maybe seven if I know that my family won’t be home until late, so I was there at about six yesterday.

Detective: Exact numbers would be preferred.

Elizabeth (Beth) Connor: At around 6:08 was when I locked up, as I glanced up at the clock located above where the largest chair used to be (and was, at the time). I’m only in charge of locking up reception, so I leave my co-workers with the valuable things – unfortunately, it seems that some other person has different tastes about what is valuable and what is not.

Detective: So, in your opinion, the stolen chairs are not valuable?

Elizabeth (Beth) Connor: They are, they are! We invested a lot into those chairs to make the experience of sitting in our waiting room one to remember.

Detective: Proceed.

Elizabeth (Beth) Connor: I closed off the room to the main vault, locked it, and then went outside to lock the main entrance, too. A man collecting furniture to donate to charity was there, and I initiated pleasant conversation about his work. We talked for several minutes before he went to go request more furniture, and I proudly donated a couple of chairs being lifted down from the top of the building to go into storage.

This was the most information we could get from her before our interview ended, but our team of experts have deemed all this information unimportant and therefore have moved on to more intricate methods of discovering the ins and outs of this case. As of today, they are launching stage three of their investigation.


However, it is also to be noticed that a furniture removal van had been spotted departing with a couple of chairs in hand.

༺═── word count; 892 ──═༻

➺ part 2:
Music review — About a piece of music and possibly the meaning behind it, information about the artist.

Today, I’ll be reviewing a song by beabadoobee called Everest. My music taste is entirely indie rock or indie pop, so I’ll be analyzing this song in the perspective of someone who likes it a lot, so be prepared for some intense compliments.

First of all, the tone. I’m absolutely obsessed with it. She conveys emotion so well, and her voice is so soft, which definitely fits with the song’s lyrics. I absolutely love how serene the music is as well, and it kind of feels like a hug incorporated into music. I can’t really describe it, unfortunately, but I love the whole tone of the song and it matches so well with her style.

My second thing to rant about is the album cover, which I really like as well! It’s quite simple, but the album is simple perfection too, so they suit each other well. The autumn vibe from the art becomes tangled with the song if you listen to it while looking at the art, and I love the feeling of listening to this song and imagining rainy autumn days.

Now, moving onto what I personally believe is one of the most important parts of a song like this; music. Of course, the song is designed for you to focus on the lyrics, but the gentle strumming of her guitar in the background, as well as the gentle supporting music that sounds like a genuine lullaby. The music adds so much more depth to the song and truly makes you imagine travelling up mountains and fighting off monsters in my opinion, but in a soft way that I personally think turns all these expeditions into a bedtime story. That is just how I interpret it, but the song is probably different for everybody.

I suppose it’s time for me to rate the lyrics; however, I’ll be scouring through the lyrics to find lines that I can explain well and aren’t about any touchy topics, though I do have to say that the whole song has amazing lyrics and I would highly recommend listening to it.

The first verse revolves around the basic human needs and how people find it hard to follow them. I’m not going to review this verse thoroughly but it’s put so gently and confidently that it reminds you how hard it is sometimes but that life will get better, and I honestly appreciate that. Remember to sleep, eat and hydrate, you deserve to.

Now, chorus! I’ll take this line by line because it hits hard for me – not that I have any experience with anything like this myself, but I remember listening to it for the first time in my car after a day of driving and it just sounded right to me. I was also extremely exhausted at that point.

“’Cause even if your eyes are black, your bones are always gold.”

Everyone’s worth something, just take care of yourself. And go to sleep if it’s past half ten/eleven for you, you need to relax!

“’Cause they’ve climbed up every mountain that no story’s ever told.”

Everest – mountain? Though this line honestly hits the hardest to me. As humans, we’ll go through so much in our lifetime and other people aren’t going to highlight every trial you’ve faced, every terrible day you’ve had, so remind yourself that you’re brave, okay? This line is a reminder that you’ve gone through just as much as we force our protagonists to, and that doesn’t have to be passed down through the decades to make that fact true.

“’Cause even if your bags are packed, you’ll never leave your home,”

Taking it back, every line of this song is incredible – but I don’t think I’m the right person to critique this part as there is so much raw emotion I’m obsessed with.

“’Cause you’re scared of all the monsters that are waiting to unfold,”

I’ve climbed up my mountain and been scared to face the monsters in the dark, so it means a lot.

Second verse! It talks about how silence can hurt more than sound and where hiding gets you. Again, no input on this because I don’t think I’m in the right position to remark on it as I’m not even sure what it means completely.

Then, she repeats the chorus and ‘boy, I’m scared’ four times, but you don’t have to be scared.

This really ended up as a vent, didn’t it, but basically, I love this song and I think the meaning behind it is really special, the music and lyrics combine to make a pleasure to the ears, and it’s fine to not be fine, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. Also, crying helps release physical and emotional pain, so if you feel like you want to, cry. I’ve done it a couple of times this week and I’ve felt better afterwards, so that’s the end of my rant about ‘Everest’.
However, I'd like to add that rant by recommending beabadoobee. If you're a fan of indie music, she has variations of louder and softer songs, as well as acoustic ('bedroom') versions, all of which I really enjoy. She's collaborated with Cavetown on a song or two and that's how I discovered her, and she's definitely worth listening to if you like that sort of music!

༺═── word count; 656 ──═༻

➺ part 3:
Goose's Advice Column
warning: I am not qualified to answer questions.

Question One:



Goose's Totally Terrible Expert Answer:
This question is quite common, so there's no shame in asking – but the first thing that you should do, according to my research, is not to panic. Panicking can lead to a panic attack, which is where regions of your brain become hyperactive. You don't want anything worse to happen, especially not around the vase (because, who knows, it could develop a brain of its own at some point, and do you really want to be the one who taught a vase how to have a panic attack? I think not).
My next bit of advice involves tossing something into the vase and seeing if it disappears. If it doesn't, then maybe you just got a glow-in-the-dark antique vase, which is literally amazing so go wonder who time-travelled back in time to glow-in-the-dark-ify your grandfather's antique vase. If it happens that the object does disappear, then you should start worrying; though no panicking, remember!
Black holes are said to be ‘tears’ in space-time, so the vase that you speak of is stronger than a black hole, which is a former star, so there's a fun fact for you to tell the vase if you end up speaking to it. Anyway, my next piece of advice involves quite a bit of reading on your behalf, so I'd suggest a snack before you go and confront the vase.
At this point of time, you have three options;
Option One; dispose of the vase. Get rid of it. Sell it to that scientific laboratory near your home and never look back. Make sure to tell them that it's an antique, though, and it should be handled with caution.
Option Two; become a scientist. Preferably a scientist who knows how to deal with antique vases destroying everything that we have already determined in our universe. I, as a humble advice-columnist, would then know less than you do about the situation, and I could not be held accountable for any problems that might occur.
Option Three; explore that hole in space-time! You could perhaps be a renowned explorer, when you return; or you won't return at all.
I hope that this advice helps you in some way!

Question Two:



Goose's Totally Terrible Expert Answer:
I'm not entirely sure either, as it seems my own friend trapped me down here, traitor! /j
In reality (or the kind of reality where you are trapped in a basement and I know the format of one) you should be calm and collected. Who wants to kidnap someone if they're calmly eating your annual mango supply in your basement? Try bargaining. If they'll give you cookies in exchange for your current word-count for this session, they I would definitely make that deal! You need cookies to boast about to your word-count-less friend. Anyway, after that, you should look for an escape route. If you tend to vent, then find a vent and crawl through that. If you like windows more, then find a window and climb through that. You could also pick the lock of the door to the basement, or you can simply use a turning motion to open the door-handle and walk out. I hope this advice is helpful! (also I sound like wikihow now pfft)

Question Three:



Goose's Totally Terrible Expert Answer:
Don't be ashamed! We all (or, at least, some of us) platonically like some random animal-shaped thing, so it's not like you should be embarrassed. Have you tried a picnic? Treat your stuffed pig as if it can talk, but in a different language. Nod along to whenever you think it is saying something and offer lots of sugar to make up for your actual answers. I know I said not to be ashamed, but if I were you, I'd keep any meetings you have out of public. I suggest in your room, garden or local basement, if you have one accessible to you. Remind yourself why you like him. Your relationship will prosper with effort and time <3
Hope it all goes well!

༺═── word count; 256 ──═༻

➺ part 4:
Advertisement (fake or real) — Advertisements for applications/inventions/sales/coupons/etc.

Are you getting bored of having to write towards cabin wars and stay on the defensive, rather than going around and recklessly attacking and betraying every cabin on the leaderboard?

Look no further, as I have exactly what you’re looking for; (that is, unless you’re in Script, Poetry, Non-Fi or Real-Fi, as Sun literally wrote a poem for you guys, as that should fuel your passion for writing in cabin wars. Also, seeing as every other cabin is included in the poem too, nobody else is allowed to attack Hi-Fi, thanks!)

Here is my introduction to the newest product on the SWC market, the; ‘Have a healthy sleep schedule and Goose will write your words for you and it will definitely count’. Or, in short; ‘HAHSSAGWWYWFYAIWDC’. Although the title is a little lengthy, it’s only more words for your cabin during cabin wars if you’re willing to pay the low costs for this product.

There are only a couple of things you need to do! They will be listed in order of most to least important; Criteria One; you must solemnly swear to never war us again and promote #hi-fihype in every place possible.

Criteria Two; you must have a healthy sleep schedule and not put cabin wars over your mental health (or any other part of SWC).

Criteria Three; you must be a part of SWC.

Wow! Just using that three-step-plan, Hi-Fi has an extra 236 words to add to its total and another step towards my word count, which is proof that this works!

Weekly 10 July - 17 July
IMMA FINISH IT THIS TIME

SCRATCH TIMES

Main Information Article (839 words)
Headlines - Mark Abbott has finally lost?

The Match on Saturday last week has been a great blow to some fans and a huge success to the other latter
The Golden Hustlers versus The Running Aces were the teams for the season. The Golden Hustlers were in the lead, and we were all expecting them to win. But they took a turn for the worse when Mark Abbott, The Golden Hustlers' star player, as most of you reading this article already know, missed the shot before the whistle blew for half time.

We could not believe our eyes, a shot that this great basketball player, Mark Abbott had missed. It had spun right on the hoop for the longest time while the players watched intently, and then bounced off. THe Golden Hustler fans in the crowd were outrageous.
Eden Holt, The Golden Hustlers' leader, said, ‘Do not worry. This will not be the end.’
Some of the fans calmed down, while the others were still fuming at The Running Aces' fans, who were cheering like anything.

We thought a Riot was going to break out! A few security guards had to come in, just in case something happened. Some particular fans actually had the nerve to come up to the edge and shout at the referee!!!
Some of the fans left the stadium!! This was just over the top! None of us knew that Mark Abbott would miss the shot, and he seemed pretty surprised himself.

And even after all of this, he has agreed to give us an interview. One of our best reporters, Madeline Hale, is on the scene right now. Let us see what he has got to say -

Mr. Abbott, are you angry? asks Madeline, while indicating to her assistant, Zea Ford, to start writing, and young Zea starts scribbling something on her notepad.

“No, actually not that much. I'm a little disappointed in myself, though. But I must keep playing on and keep the team spirit. Sure, they broke our winning streak, but The Running Aces beat us fair and square. I would rather lose with my head up high than with my hopes diminished. besides, there's always next season to play again anyways”, he says.

Is this the end for The Golden Hustlers?, shouts Madeline over the noise of the crowd.

"Oh no, definitely not! I am positive that we will make a comeback. We will not go down without a fight!', he declares.

Mr. Abbott, you are the star player of The Golden Hustlers, are your teammates disappointed that you missed the shot and missed blocking the shot?, says Madeline, while Zoe's hand is a blur in all of our eyes.

'Sure they are. But we all learn from our mistakes. I mean, human beings aren't perfect. At they end of the day, failures are what help us rise again. How did we learn how to make fires before trying harder and harder? How did we learn how to hunt without scaring the animal away first? All these are forms of failures turned into major successes.', he says.

Is your rivalry against The Running Aces something more?, asks Zoe, while Madeline glares at her. Zoe shrugs as she continues writing at top speed.

'Actually, we are all pretty good friends outside the stadium. Infact, sometimes we plan places to meet for an after party before the match stars so we have something look forward to. Simon Malone and I are actually distant cousins! We realized we were relatives in one of our earliest after parties', he smiles and says.

Describe how you would feel if you lost this season., ask Madeline, a question which all of us were thinking. Zoe hd time to stop writing as Mr. Abbott took a little time to think about his question.

'I would feel a little upset. But remember what I said in the previous question, there is always next season! If our winning streak will break, we will rebuild it again. It is just a matter of a little hard work here and a little smart work there. I always follow this quote when I'm playing basketball - ‘It takes three things to become a special player, talent, character and competitive fire.’ And I add my own bit to it - ‘But it doesn’t mean you don't have what it takes if you don't have them.' When I was a child, playing basketball in my school, I usually lose. And I would tell my parents - ‘I can’t win.I am nothing compared to the other kid in front of me', and they would always tell me this same quote. '' he says

Did you enjoy this match?, asks Madelie, her final and most important question.

'Yes! Of course! This was one of my most favourite matches! It was exciting and challenging, and I can't remember the last time I had this kind of match. Infact, I would love to have this kind of breathtaking match again ' he says happily.


Let us all wish both the basketball teams a good last match before the season finishes!




Main Opinion Article
Fablehaven spoiler alert (1006 words)

Ok people. I bet you are all thinking ‘I bet I know everything in this article because people ALWAYS talk about popular things’ but I'M going to talk about something which I'm sure most of you have never heard of. Fablehaven is the most wonderful book ever ( almost beat Malory towers but that's a different story). Fablehaven's main characters are Kendra and Seth. They are traveling to thier paternal grandparent's house, as thier parents are going on a cruise. They are uncertain to go as they have never seen these set of grandparents except once, at thier other grandparent's funeral.
The name of thier grandparents are Stan sorenson and Ruth sorenson. Kendra and Seth estimate that they will be extremely bored this summer, but what they do not know is that Grandpa sorenson is the caretaker for a magical refuge called fablehaven. This is where creatures of all magical types stay. There are many magical refuge all over the world like fablehaven, all to preserve these almost extinct magical wonders. Exciting? Of course. Magical? You already know that. Safe? Er… Maybe not…
From nipsies to fairies , sure. Satyrs, nymphs (except the naiads, mind you, they like to drown people who come to close to the edge of the pond) ,centaurs (ok maybe that's a bit disagreeable), Astrids, all the good things. But other creatures also exist. from ghoulish gnomes to ghastly jinns, from hideous demons to horrendous witches, from incredulous illusions to impish… Well… imps, from… Ok I'll stop now or you'll get nightmares…
Seth is naturally a rule breaker. He likes to explore, and in his terms. The moment they set foot in the house, Grandpa strictly restricted them from the first, not go into the forest. Of course, that was a silly thing to say, as Seth immediately wanted to go into the woods.
Kendra's friend was Lena, the house care. She has been around for a long time, though her face had ageless quality, and had some stories to tell. She also was good at everything she did, and you could never beat her in strategic or logical games.
Seth never listened to Kendra, and he went into to the woods anyway. Slept, the story progresses until one day, Kendra finds the three words , ‘drink the milk’.
She had seen dale, another person who takes care of things in the house, put out some milk, and had made up a lame excuse when she caught him. So she made Seth drink the milk first (very sisterly).
Seth Gasped, and said he could see fairies. Kendra uncertainly took a drop on her finger and licked it. She could now see fairies too. Grandpa and them then had a very big talk, where he explained fablehaven to them.
And as the story progresses, the main villain is muriel taggert, a witch. Seth meets her as he is exploring in the forest. He sees her in a disturbing state. She wore rags, and one of her eyes was bloodshot. Next to her was a rope, with two knots in it. She was chewing and gnawing one, and it was fresh with saliva. The other knot has dried blood on it, and it looked like she was chewing that one some time ago. She had no teeth, and Seth wondered how she expected to untie the knots with just gums. When she spots him, she drops the rope, straightens her rags and clears gets voice. She welcomes him into her shack, which she called home. Seth avoids going in because he knows it's trouble. She brings out a big box full of nails and needles, and tells him to stick his arm inside if he really was so brave. Seth walked away, disagreeing. A few minutes later, many things start to hit him. A tree branch almost knocked him out, and he runs back to the garden, where things stop hurling themselves at him. He tells Grandpa about it, and he warns him that she was a very dangerous witch.
In the middle of the story, Seth tries to catch a fairy. He succeeds, and kept the fairy inside overnight. When he wakes up, he sees a frightening creature in place of the fairy (which he soon found out to be an imp ) and accidentally let's it go down the drain. The fairies take revenge on him, turning him into a mutant walrus. They are forced to go to muriel. Grandpa blows on one of the knots, and muriel casts a spell, and changes Seth back. Muriel now only has one knot. Seth is explained to that if you keep a takes fairy in the house overnight, it turns into an imp.
On mid Summer's Eve is where all the boundaries for evil creatures are down. The children are to stay in their rooms and not open any windows or doors until the adults came to them in the morning. But of course, Seth is tricked, and he opens the window. This results in horrible creatures entering thier room. Dale comes in with a shotgun. And the creatures follow him below. Morning comes, and the others are no where to be found.
Kendra and Seth are scared, and they decide to go investigating. They find out their grandma has turned into a chicken, and thier only choice is to go to muriel again, freeing her as they blow on the last knot. She flies away, free, as there are no more knots left. They go to the troll nero, to find where Grandpa, dale and Lena are kept, captured.
As the story continues, Seth and grandma are too captured and Kendra is left all alone.
What will she do to save everyone from muriel taggert, and at the same time, prevent bahamut, the evil demon who was locked up for millenias , from breaking free from his prison? Read the book now to find out!! There are many things which I have not written about, which will make the story even more fun and interesting, and one of these things is Seth's incredibly stupid humor.
Enjoy the book!!

Advice (530 words)

Welcome back to another page of ADVICE!!
we only have one answerer left, and that is our worst best one, me!!! Here are my horrible inexperienced expert answers-

Kosmos_Kitty : What to do when you caught your kittens eloping with an idiot?

Why that's obvious. Either beat the idiot and take the kittens away, or Ellie with HIS set of kittens in turn. In the rare case that he does not have any kittens (which is absolutely impossible), throw mangoes at him. And in the very rare case that you do not have any mangoes on you ( I mean EVERYONE has mangoes on them… Right?) Throw your kittens at him. Your kittens will not appreciate it, but it is a hard life and we have to make sacrifices.

-lilybell : my best friend hates goats and MANGOES. Should I unfriend him?

Absolutely. DEFINATELY. Who wants to be friends with that gormless person?? (Incase you're wondering what a gormless person is, you're gormless yourself.)
Who could hate MANGOES. I mean, goats are understandable since a few people find them a bit disturbing, but mangoes. Yes, I know Pete, don't cry on me, the world is a cruel place. Ok now STOP crying you'll wet the paper.
A different alternative is buy a pet first for them, and eat lots of mangoes in front of them, so they start liking them too.

pure_randomness : How can I stop procrastinating on literally everything, even things that I want to do?

First of all, you should buy some mangoes. Mangoes always help. Then take a marker, then draw a scary face on the first one. Then draw a happy face on the other. Then everytime you procrastinate, take a bite of the happy face, and everytime you don't, take a bite of the scary face. If you finish eating the happy face one (depending on the fact that you haven't already eaten it on the way from the shop) then you are left with the scary face one. That proves that all you'll ever do is procrastinate hope this helped!!

charliesunset : For weeks I've been trying, and miserably failing, to hypnotize my friends with swinging mangoes. None of them have fallen for my trick. Any tips?

There are two options here-
First: the mangoes are bad. The thing that causes the mango to hypnotize people is the seed, of course. Either your mango seed is too big or too small.
Second : unfortunately, you can't open the mango to see if the seed is the correct size, because then you won't have the mango. So use grapes. Grapes are pretty good for hypnotizing too.

Dark_Ehko : Will I ever get to scream as loud as I want to ?

That depends, really. If you ever go to a mountain, of course. The beach when it's empty? DEFINATELY. But if you are in your house surrounded by people, you can't possible scream, because they will probably send you to an asylum.


Isauree : M..my goats eat my mangoes and MarcMangoson won’t give me any more because he thinks I’m a liar and GeraldGoatson won’t take responsibility. Any advice?

This is a very bad condition. Tell MarcMangoson that he has no brains and can come look after your goats for a day. And they GeraldGoatson that if he didn't take any responsibility, you're gonna go sell him to MarcMangoson. That way, both of them get inconvenience. BOOM. 2 birds with one stone.



Recipe (232 words)

Chai biscuit!!
Warning - just because it is named chai biscuit doesn't mean that it's made of chai or that you only have to eat it with chai


Hi everyone!! It's chef Icebunny!! Today the Scratch times got me here because they loved my recent recipe so much, the chai biscuit, and asked if I could share it with thier readers!! Well here it is :

1. Take any biscuit, the only need that it must not be that flavored. Some biscuits are Ritz and fifty-fifty
2. Take a nice cream which you like. Top it on the biscuits. Spread it however you like, but maybe sure it has a little sticking up at the middle.
3. Now, take some capsicum or tomato , and cut them into finely chopped peices. It is good to cut only the amount you need. A good chef never wastes anything!
4. Sprinkle the cut peices on top of the cheese, as much as you want.
5. If you want, add some spice with just a hint of red chilli powder. Or you could add the tiniest bit of salt. But DON'T add sweet. I mean, you could if you want to, but I refrain from it.
6. That's it!! Your chai biscuit is ready!!

Tip - don't keep it in the fridge, it might get soggy.

I hope you all liked this recipe, and that a few of you will even try it!!!

Very messy sum up lmao-

ME AND TWI (( @TWILIGHT_A )) ARE PLANNING TO COLLABORATE ON A STORY *it started out as an rp this is just the idea of what we’re gonna write idk why I’m posting this when it’s not ready ig just for the sake of it aaa*



Vc555
Rp )) “HAI!” A random voice echoed from out of nowhere.




* TWILIGHT_A 

I was absolutely terrified. “Who is this?” I shouted back. 





* Vc555

“It’s me.” The voice chirped back. 






* TWILIGHT_A 

I calmed a little. The voice didn't sound dangerous. “But what is your name? Why are you here?”




* 


* Vc555

“Oh, I’m Vi.” The voice chuckled simply. “And I’m here because..” she paused for a second. “Actually, I’m not quite sure why I’m here. I only remember that I was trying to get to the grocery store.” 
4 days ago Reply 



* 


* Vc555

(52 words so far ) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

“Well, how odd,” I said. “Because the grocery store isn't here at all. It's at least two miles in the other direction.” I was starting to get a little suspicious, but I didn't show it. “Perhaps you were misguided?” 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

(77 words for me) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

(I mean 66 typo) 




* 


* Vc555 

“Oh-“ she said surprised. “Oh, uhm, can you help me? I do tend to get confused sometimes.” Vi pulled out a cookie from her pocket and cheerfully handed it to Twi. “Here, you can have this. You seem like a nice person anyway.” 




* 


* Vc555

(( 104 )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

I hesitated a bit. What if the cookie was poisoned? I took it but didn't eat it. “I'll help you. Come with me. By the way, what did you want to go to the grocery story, Vi? Thanks for the cookie, though. Here, have this.” I offer a muffin to Vi. “I'm not a really good baker but I hope you like them.” 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

(( 129 )) 




* 


* Vc555 

Vi took the muffin with wide starry eyes and gobbled it down as soon as she hand it in her hand. “Wow, this is so yum!” She mumbled though chews. “It’s unlike any pocket muffin I’ve tasted before!,” Vi gulped down the muffin. “Anyway, thanks for helping me.” 




* 


* Vc555

(( 152 )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

I smiled. “Thanks!” I felt ashamed for not eating the cookie, so I gobbled it up, and felt the sweetness pass down my throat. “This is great! I'd love to have more of these!” I did mean it, and I felt like laughing at my suspicions. “Where did you come from, Vi?” 
3 days ago Reply 



* 


* Vc555 

Vi was delighted to see that Twi liked her cookies. “I’m so glad you like it! I have loads more..” Vi scrummaged in denim overall pocket and pulled out some stuff, “Oooh, okay, I have a little slice of cheesecake that I made yesterday, another cookie, and OH YES! My trusty ancient flute from the City Of Darci.” She handed the cake and cookie to Twi and blew into her old, moss covered flute. The flute let out a out of tune, high pitched squeak. “Ah, I still got it.” She shoved the flute back into her pocket and looked at Twi. “Oh, yes, I came from.. Actually, I don’t really remember where I came from either, come to think about it.” 





* 


* Vc555

(( WOOOEE 284 )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 
a
I smiled. “I have some stuff too!” I rummaged in my pockets and pulled out a few items. “A donut, three muffins and a book!” I gave them to Vi. “Do try the donut. I gave my all into it. And the book too! It's absolutely wonderful! It's old but it's still got a lot of charm and wit.” I dusted it and flipped the pages once. “I don't play any instruments like yours but I do love to sing.” 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

“What?“ I asked, surprised. ”Don't you remember what it looked like? Like maybe white walls or a red roof or maybe a mango tree?“ Perhaps Vi had a terrible memory? 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

(( 291 YAYY )) 
3 days ago Reply 



* 


* Vc555

To Twi’s suprise, Vi looked astonished. “W-wait, you can pull stuff out of your pockets too?” She stammered, then her eyes went wide. “It can’t be.. another picopocket?!” Vi’s mouth gaped, but then she stuffed the donut into it.



* 


* Vc555

@Vc555 (( 323 )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

I arched my eyebrows. ”Of course I can-“ I paused. ”Are you a pickpocket?“ I snatch the book and glare at Vi. ”Are you here to pick my pockets? Are you here to take my valuable items? Thank God I haven't showed them all to you!“ I step back in surprise. ”Tell me who you are!“ 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

(( 347 )) 




* 


* Vc555

“Not PICKPOCKETS! Picopocket! Picopoket’s are special people who can take anything out of their pockets!” Vi explained. She stared at Twi. “The Picopocket people have been endangered for centuries..” She stared at Twi. “Before I tell you, you have to tell me- Where do you come from?” 




* 


* Vc55

((370)) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

I stared at Vi in surprise. ”I-I don't know where I exactly come from! Once I was 7 and I was on the street! I have no idea what happened before that. It was as if my memories had been erased-.“ I started feeling curious. I really could never define how everything i wanted to take with me somehow reached my pockets. 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

(( 409 )) 
 




* Vc555 

Vi suddenly turned serious and stared at Twi for what seemed like an eternity, and then put two hands on both her shoulders lightly. “Do you know what this means?” Vi looked into her eyes. “I’m not the only Picopocket child in existence. You- you’re also one!” 



* 


* Vc555

(( 417 )) 




* 


* Vc555

Vi’s eyes darkened. “But.. d-do you have parents?” 




* 


* Vc555

(( 425 )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

I stared at Vi, almost wanting to believe it was a joke. ”W-what? You're joking with me, right? How could I be a Picopocket?“ I couldn't believe it! Me, a Picopocket? Did that explain the appearance of items in my pocket just when I needed them? 



* 


* TWILIGHT_A 

My head drooped just a little at the question. ”I don't know. I just landed on the street one day. It's a long story after that." 




* 


* Vc555

(( nOonE qUestiOns tHe pIcopoCkEts XDXD )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

(( 479 )) 




* 


* TWILIGHT_A

(( i dO )) 



* 


* Vc555 

Vi came back to her original caring, innocent self. She gave Twi a quick hug. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, but then took a step back and looked at Twi, a mixture of excitement and worry plastered on her face. “But you must come with me.” She told Twi sternly. “Together.. we could change the world.” 






vi’s words: 480

twi’s words: 479

total words: 959




yay

Vi’s July SWC 2022
#poetryftw>B))


* 


Daily July 10th
(676 words)


There was fire everywhere, and the school was ablaze. People were evacuated as fast as they could, but still, some people got left behind. And this all happened when I opened the Index.
The Index of time.
It all started a week ago.
Hi. My name is Mina. I'm from India.
And this is my first day at middle school!
I'm so excited. I've heard middle school has all sorts of stuff which primary does not have. bye bye to fifth grade, hello to sixth!!
As I walked into school, I met my friends, Ginika and Ina. We chatted as if we hadn't seen each other in years while we walked to ur class, 6-C.
Our first period was Math, and our teacher, Mrs. Munoz, asked us to introduce ourselves.
——Timeskip to The end of the school day brought to you by Bruno—-
I hate school. It's horrible.
First of all, I failed the math introductory test, and I felt horrible because everyone else passed.

Second of all, a boy sitting next to my called ALfred kept throwing paper at me, and I got annoyed so I whispered at him to stop, but the teacher apparently thought I was giggling, so he brought me to the front of the class to scold me. I tried to convince him it wasn't my fault and it was Alfred, but Alfred kept a straight face the whole time The teacher was looking at him, and only sneered at me when he looked back. So I got a huge lecture in front of the whole class which almost brought me to tears.

And third, I got abandoned by my own best friends. I was thinking we could sit in the cafeteria together, but apparently they went to sit with the ‘cool’ kids, Maya, Nancy, Tina and a few others. And what's worse was that they didn't allow ME To sit with them because they thought I was a LIAR but they let ALFRED sit with them. ANd by the time I finished arguing, my best friends looking at me with pity in their eyes as I walked away, all the seats were already taken, so with a few tears forming in my eyes I walked out of the cafeteria as steadily as I could, and went to eat in the gap between the two school buildings. It wasn't dirty, in fact people played hide and seek there. SO i sat down on the grass and let tears flow freely because I knew no one could see me. But then a few children came up, who looked like they were in third grade, and started laughing at me so I couldn't even eat THERE in peace. Why were they even here ANYHOW.

'I wish I could rewind time', I said, pulling on some grass after shooing away the third graders.
A book was in front of my. as thick as anything, and I picked it up in curiosity. It had a yellow eye on the cover, and a little chant under it -
Open if you dare
No it wont give you a scare
This book is deadly
If you open the Index, Be ready
Changing time is horrible because time is sacred
Do not face the consequence like I did

And On top of it all were 4 words=

Tнё Їпдёж Ѳf Tїѫё

Aren't ther supposed to be 8 lines in this type of poem? I thought, but then shook it off, focussing on the important matter. Open it or not open it?
And, stupid me opened the book.
It flashed back, all the way back to the beginning of my day at school.
This time, everything went right. ALfred got in trouble, I passed my test AND I got to sit at the ‘cool’ kid table.
I'm going to keep using this, I thought, smiling.

SO I kept using it.
And using it.
And using it until one day it went terribly wrong. ANd a fire broke out of mid-air, like from another dimension.
And I watched in horror as the flames licked my school clean, devouring at least four children before the others realized what had happened and started to run. I dropped the book and ran with them too. And before I left, I saw the book rise up, It's yellow eye blinking. And then it ended the poem -

Time is as sharp as a knife
If you treat it badly it will end your life

My words were rainy, pulse, happy, dance, vague and quiet.

I was sitting in my bedroom, observing tiny raindrops slipping down my window. I matured out of raindrop races, but I still felt compelled to watch which one slipped down the quickest. After watching my chosen raindrop lose five times in a row, I plopped myself onto my bed, covered in warm sheets. Ah, how I love rainy days.
I listened to the lo-fi tunes playing through the speaker in my rooms and stared at the warm yellow lights as the rain pulsed loudly outside. I poked my head out of my window, only to hear vague music. It sounded like one of those old timey dance songs which the street dancers used to dance to. I wore my rain coat and slipped out onto the eerily quiet streets, walking towards the noise, which was slowly becoming more audible to my ears that were listening carefully to the distorted beats. I walked towards an alleyway, I scurried through it out of fear. There was no sign of a boom box or speaker, or even a house that might be playing the music. Maybe a dancer was dancing to it, on the street, or in a studio with exceptionally loud speakers. No, there weren’t any dance studios around in my town, and it couldn’t possibly be further than that, I would need six times better hearing to hear music from that far away.

I continued walking through the empty streets, watching each street light flicker as I passed it. I felt the raindrops patter on my head. I felt happy. Soon, I heard loud music coming from right beside me. I turned to see a girl in a ragged, but bright pink, green and turquoise bodysuit, glittering from shoulder to toe but still looking like a beggar. She was dancing gracefully and energetically to the beautiful music playing through a speaker beside her. It didn’t look like she was controlling it, the songs changed abruptly and so did her moves. It looked like the speaker belonged to the people living in the house in front. She didn’t care, and continued smiling as she break danced to the music. I thought of the girl, dancing out in the rain with such fire in her moves, and myself, who was a few minutes ago observing raindrops going down her window. I wanted that passion, that motivation to learn, but how was I going to find it?

Weekly 2

The SWC Gazette

Article One - fake crime

Popular Café “Sunset on the Schism” ROBBED!

Recently a new café, named Sunset on the Schism, has been robbed and vandalized. It is located in Schism City, one of the SWC sibling hangouts. It started to get popular after many famous scratchers posted about its famous Sunset Smoothie. After a month of business, things seemed to be going well for the café. Then, the café got robbed.

The robbery was at 4:12 PM on a peaceful Wednesday, and was conducted by three individuals, each wearing black masks and wielding weapons. They walked into the store and first threatened the cashier to give them all of the money they had. They then stole some cookies and a sunset smoothie, and took out some tools. Around 4:27 PM, they finished vandalizing the store, and they walked out. The police arrived just in time to capture two of the criminals. Unfortunately, one of the criminals rode a car and got away. We are yet to find the third criminal.

Our reporter Leila Gardiner and our journalist Rick Barlowe interviewed the owner of the store, Irene Blue, who was at the store at the time of the robbery.

Q. What do you remember about the robbery?
A. I was helping the cashier because there was more business than usual. Then, three men who were wearing black outfits and had concealed their faces walked in a threatened the cashier. She handed the money to them and they started to vandalize the store. I sneaked to the back of the store and used my phone to call the police. They arrived in time to capture two of the robbers. I’m glad that Hailey (the cashier) is safe and that no one was injured.

Q. Did anything change to the customers after the incident?
A. Some people came (to the store) to check if we were okay. I’m happy that people still care about our café. We’re actually still open. We started a small street vendor just outside the vandalized building. Most of our regulars still come, and some new customers have come too! We’re starting to grow again. We’re currently working on fixing the building, and it’s going very well.

Q. Did you talk to the criminals?
A. Yes, I did. They both had quite the bad mood. When I asked about why they vandalized the store, they didn’t reveal any information. Most of the things they said was bad things about the café. They also told me that the criminal who got away would find me. I wasn’t scared, though. They couldn’t do anything to harm me, and if they did, I would protect myself and my family.

Q. What are your current plans, and will there be any changes to the café?
A. We are currently raising money to rebuild the store. You can donate to our GoFundMe. We have already raised half the money needed for the rebuilding in a week! There may be a few changes to the café. We are working on a few new products for the store, and a new chain somewhere else!

Q. You mentioned new products. Can you share some of the ideas you have?
A. Most of it will be a surprise, but I can share some of the new products! We’re going to be making some more pastries, like the Berry Burst Danish and the Caramel Croissant. We’re also working on three new drinks. One of them will be the Peach and Mango Smoothie.

Q. Was there any other robberies or attacks at or near the café?
A. Not a lot. The only time it happened was when a restaurant across from the café called Amy’s Beehive got robbed, but they caught the robbers and put them in jail. Nothing really happened other than the occasional shoplifting or pickpocketing. Everyone was surprise when our café got robbed. The area it’s in is known for being quite a peaceful area.

Q. Did anyone know about the robbery before the café got robbed?
A. A little bit. We got an unusual amount of hate emails and threats before the robbery, but we didn’t think much of it. We’re now more careful when we check our mail, since we could be getting a hint at what could happen next.

Q. This is the last question, but definitely not the least. What are you doing to help catch the last criminal?
A. That’s a really good question. I am currently working on interrogating the two criminals that were caught. Hailey (the cashier) was the sister of one of the criminals. She was heartbroken when she realized that. We didn’t know who the second criminal was. We think he’s a friend of Hailey’s brother. We are working day and night to bring these criminals to justice.

The two criminals’ trial is coming soon! Our reporter Leila Gardiner and our journalist Rick Barlowe will be back next week with some more exciting news!

That’s it for this article! Keep on reading to keep up with today’s society! Don’t forget to donate to Irene Blue’s GoFundMe to help rebuild the café.

Article two - real-world opinion

WILDFIRE at Yosemite National Park

Have you heard of the giant sequoia trees at Yosemite National Park? You probably have, since they’re quite famous. This national park is famous for its sequoia trees that are huge. They can grow to more than 250 feet in height and 35 feet wide! That’s taller than a 26-story building! They can also live up to 3,000 years. They’re quite rare, since they only grow on a 260-mile wide strip of land. The largest giant sequoia tree in the world has about 52,000 cubic feet in volume!

These trees are special, and they’re protected by the national park. People cannot cut them down to use their wood. The park is very popular, with its stunning views of the landscape and the giant sequoias. About 5.29 million people visited the park last year. The giant sequoias were safe in the national park, but recently, disaster struck at the southern end of the park.

Recently, a wildfire started in Yosemite National Park. It burned plants, harmed animals, and released smoke everywhere. The fire was first reported by visitors on Friday, at the Washburn Trail in Mariposa Grove, when about 250 acres of timber and brush was burnt. As of Sunday, the wildfire had blazed through 1,600 acres of timber and brush. Luckily, none of the sequoia trees have been lost to the inferno yet.

After the fire was reported, the staff of Yosemite National Park immediately closed Mariposa Grove, home to over 500 mature giant sequoias. They also evacuated the community of Wawona and the Wawona Hotel and campground. Though this decision may have saved many lives from a fiery demise, it didn’t save many people’s vacation plans. All of this started during the peak of tourist season at Yosemite National Park. About 1,600 people were displaced when park personnel closed Mariposa Grove. They weren’t very happy about it.

Luckily, the park’s most famous places, like Yosemite Valley, are still accessible to visitors since the fire was at the southern end of the park. Unfortunately, the fires weren’t just burning the plants and polluting the ground with ash. It was letting smoke go into the air, polluting the air and clouding the air with smoke and soot. Because of this, many views of landmarks like Bridalveil Fall and its surrounding cliffs have been dimmed. On Sunday, wildfire officials warned that the air quality in the park has been reaching unhealthy levels. This means that the air people breathe will be filled with ash, which gets in their lungs. That can cause breathing problems, and in a bad case, death.

Giant sequoias have thick, spongy bark that can save them from fires, fungal rot, and wood-boring beetles. This bark is about 6 to 10 inches thick. Fire is actually part of a healthy ecosystem for sequoias and other trees. It’s even vital for spreading seeds, since the trees’ cones require heat to crack open and spread the seeds. Unfortunately, climate change has been causing a drought in the area, causing many sequoia trees to be dehydrated and vulnerable to fire. This means that the trees’ natural protection from fire is now obsolete, so the sequoias are now unprotected from fire.

One of the main causes of wildfires all around the world is climate change. Our use of fossil fuels, gasoline, and other things make a chemical that traps heat in the atmosphere, which heats up the Earth, causing droughts and making the air less humid. The drought kills many plants, and the air isn’t humid. This makes places like California a perfect spot for wildfires. More people need to be educated on this to help save our Earth.

Firefighters have been working hard to protect the national park. They have been removing anything that could become fuel to the fire, like dead plants and branches, and using sprinklers to increase the humidity in the air. The firefighters are confident that this will help extinguish the wildfire. The cause of this wildfire is still under investigation. No injuries or deaths have been reported so far.

Thousands of these amazing trees have already been lost to six major wildfires that have blazed through California’s Sierra Nevada range over six years. These wildfires burned about 85% of all giant sequoia groves. This is getting worse, since climate change causes droughts, making plants die, strengthening wildfires, and hurting many more species of plants and animals, even the ones that are protected.

These trees have been cherished and protected by people for many years. We need to help rebuild the ecosystem and bring back every tree that was lost. We need to stop climate change and save our world before it dies. How can we say that we love and cherish this world if we are the ones destroying it? The sequoia trees of Yosemite National Park are one of the many examples of how we are destroying what we protect.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
-The Lorax

Column - Advice

Ask WC

Do you have any questions that remain unsolved? Well, this is the place for you! Ask questions here and we’ll answer it!

Our first question was asked by _kittykay_! The question was: It’s not mango season here where I live and I really want to eat mangoes. what should I do?

Our answer is: You should find a mango, and then use the power of copy and paste to duplicate them. You can also start a mango plantation and have a lifetime supply of mangoes.

Our second question was asked by BooksDontHaveTitles! The question was: Look, my toes keep telling me they want some privacy. But the thing is, as soon as I put on those individual toe socks, they have attachment issues. ;u; i dont know what to do

Our answer is: Cut holes in the individual toe socks. Then, your toes have their own space, but they can still visit each other! You can also try to break them up so they don’t have attachment issues anymore. Then you can wear normal individual toe socks.

Our third question, asked by ButterPopcorn8, is: I accidentally killed my best friend of 20 years, Mango, after I got too hungry and inhaled it as a last resort. Now Mango's ghost is haunting me in my sleep and threatening to feed me to the great mango king and use my skin as a new fashion line. What can I do to escape this horrible fate?

Your solution is: Make a shrine to the Great Mango King, and an altar for your friend Mango. They should be made out of any kind of wood, and shaped like a mango. Inside should be some candles, a photo (for your friend Mango), and some offerings. Bring them offerings of mangoes. About 2 mangoes per day for both the altar and the shrine should satisfy them. You should also pray to the Great Mango King once every day, so he doesn’t get mad at you.

Next, we have a question from Polarbear_17. It is: my toilet won't stop talking to me – i kicked it and it just makes it talk louder


This can be tough, but it can be fixed with one quick action: Close the toilet lid and if it still makes noise, use a spell to make it quieter. This can be done as long as you have any kind of magic.

Next question, from –kitti-kat–, is: Why was my kitten t-posing while sitting in the air?

The answer to this question is: Maybe they were watching too much Youtube. Try to keep them away from Youtube for at least a week. Another solution would be to set up restrictions against t-posing on your kitten’s device. Your kitten saw something and decided to copy it. So try to make sure your kitten doesn’t see any t-posing for a while.

We now have a question from ArtisticOne111. Here it is: All my friends are fake, and they left me all alone. I don't have any new friends for the next school year, I'm not confident enough to ask someone to be my friend. What should I do?

Here’s our answer: It’s good that your fake friends are gone. It can be very hard to make new friends, though. Try engaging in new activities or things that interest you, like a club. It’s important to find people who have the same interests as you. Try to be confident, even if it results in failure.

We have a question from smalltoe, and it is: I think my cat is plotting to kill me. What do I do?

Our answer is: First, find out how your cat is going to kill you. Then, you should teach your cat that killing people is illegal, and if you die, you won’t be able to give your cat food or water anymore.

Our next question, from Cherrie_Tree is: My mother said I have Anger Arson Syndrome where every time other Cabins get a point I burn an object. What should I do?

Your solution is: You don’t have to do anything. Arson isn’t bad, but if you really don’t want Anger Arson Syndrome, here’s a few tips:
Whenever Cabin Wars start again, try to make cabins lose points.
Try to change your habit from arson to something more peaceful, like writing or art.
When another cabin gets a point, take a chill pill so you don’t commit arson.

Other - Awards and Recognition

“Shining Star” award: what happened and who received it?

Recently, a person named Perri Wilson received and award called the Shining Star Award. The town had not given any awards to anyone recently, so people were curious about what Perri did to receive this award.

Last month, Perri started an organization to donate money for the poor. She and her team did a great job raising money. Perri decided to go the extra mile by making a YouTube series where she did challenges and other things to help raise money. Perri’s efforts made her famous and helped surpass the team’s goal of $10,000. The fundraiser is still accepting donations. Last week, they passed their second goal of 1.5 million dollars. They celebrated with a special video on Perri’s YouTube channel.

Soon after the fundraiser raised 1.5 million dollars, Perri received the Shining Star Award. She announced it on her social media, and celebrated with her friends and family.

When reporters asked Perri about what she was planning next, she said she would be making another fundraiser, this time to spread awareness about global warming and the environment. She hasn’t revealed a lot of information about the new fundraiser since she wants it to be a surprise.

Make sure to donate to Perri’s fundraiser! (Link)
Don’t forget to support Perri on YouTube! (Link)

Daily 7/10
Wordle Words used: video, rodeo, verge, verse, heart, reset
——
Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate.
I just couldn't lose focus on the reason I was even here–which was to watch all the videos I could find about my family, and see if it could lead me to where they ran off to.
My parents disappeared a few weeks ago, and supposedly ran off to some rodeo show, which was just for the two of them apparently. When they never came home, I rushed to check the rodeo–because maybe there was some clue there–but it was all closed and shut down. So whatever happened there has been covered up quite nicely.
All day, I'd been running around like crazy, hoping to find some small clue or note they might've left me, but then I realized that that was probably unlikely. Whatever happened to them had to be an accident, not on purpose, so it's not like they could've predicted it and written me a note.
I sat on a nearby park bench, feeling waves of frustration and sadness washing over me. I was on the verge of tears, and I honestly didn't care about anything else at that moment; I just wanted my parents back to me. My heart ached just hearing the sound of both their voices, and I knew I'd never forget that.
So taking a very shaky deep breath, I worked up the courage to sing a verse in a song that my parents used to always sing to me–Someone You Love, by Lewis Capaldi–

Now the day bleeds
Into nightfall
And you're not here
To get me through it all
I let my guard down
And then you pulled the rug
I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved

Once I finished singing, I heard clapping in the background. I snapped my head up, and saw a young boy, around my age, standing right next to the bench.
“That was really good.” he told me, sitting down beside me.
I felt my face flush. “Oh, thank you! I…I didn't know anyone was listening.”
“Well, I was,” the boy replied, glancing all around us. “So. That song sounded really sad, so I do need to ask if everything is okay.”
I bit my bottom lip. I appreciated all his support, but he was still a random stranger for all I know. "Let's just say I need a reset. A total reset.“ I said instead. There. I gave an answer. Maybe not as much of an answer as he'd like, but I still gave an answer.
The boy reached over and grabbed my hand. ”Me too, Caitlyn. Me too."
Oh my gosh. He knew my name…
How he knew my name? I'd worry about that later. Right now, all I was focused on was the present.

Main Cabin Daily 7/10
433 words

(no spoilers here, used the scratch version) share, ready, caper, gamer, water, later

“But do we really need to share the case?” Rita was still complaining. “I’ve been doing this for forever, how’s she going to be able to help me, she’s a newbie, she’s not ready, I can do it alone—”
“You’re going to do it together.” And that was that.
Rita stomped over to me, case file open in one hand. “A caper in the city, across the river.” She stared at it, holding it at an angle so that I couldn’t see it. Okay, so it’s like that. “Hey, let me see.”
‘Honey, you can’t get anything out of this. Leave the work to the experienced detectives.”
I shoulder my way into view of the papers. “Fifth and Park, that’s the gamer lounge. The suspect went between two office buildings, AC&C and Tapple. That’s a dead end alley. However, with a key, you can get through into a residential area that’s heavily geared toward safety. Knowing that the suspect had the key, we can check the cameras to see if anyone left the community. If so, we’ll know what direction. If not, we’ll know they live there, and it’s just a couple of fingerprint checks.”
“They didn’t find fingerprints,” she responds indignantly.
“Well, then, maybe we’ll just have to find some for them.”
She combs a hand through her hair. “I already knew all that,” she said. “You’re still not being helpful. Let’s go.”
We make our way down the street in satisfied silence. We may not look like the stereotypical detectives, with fedoras and long coats, but that doesn’t change anything. The bridge begins to appear in front of us and we step onto its foot path.
Suddenly I spot something in the water. As she keeps going, I peek over the edge to get a better view. It’s a pair of black gloves, the ones they sell at the lounge where it happened. They’re soggy, but not completely full of water. They probably got thrown in… less than a day or so ago. Last night.
Rita finally notices I’m not still following her and runs back, grabbing by the arm. “We have work to do! You can look at the water later! God, it’s like I need to keep you on a leash.”
I rip my arm out of her grasp. “There’s something we need down there.”
“Oh, yeah? I don’t see anything.”
I point. “Gloves. Full-hand gaming gloves. Probably thrown in last night. I think we might want to check those out, don’t you?”
“Fine,” she says.
I pat her head. “Leave the work to the better detective, honey.”

Daily for July 10th

Steal, Jello, Tends, Party, Berth

I utterly despise my job. It's like every day gets more and more ridiculous. I wonder what the heck is wrong with this town, everyone here has way too much free time and no real news. Last week I had to report on a local restaurant getting someone's order wrong which apparently never happened before. I know that 2 years ago I wouldn't have taken this job for a million dollars. Yet things always tend to change.
One thing I know won't change though is my hate for this dreaded newspaper and this dreaded town in the middle of nowhere.
Yesterday I had to write a story and even conduct an interview about jello getting stolen from the local grocery store and how the most likely insane owner assumes that someone working at some office stole it to have a jello party with their colleagues. Maybe I should've taken a business job, boy would I have loved stolen jello parties. Assuming they happen from time to time.
The store owner even wanted to get the police involved! Perhaps it would not have even come to this if that bonehead put up some cameras which he could without doubt afford. Ten packs of jello wouldn't make him go broke. This newspaper would without doubt rub off poorly on me in the end.
I never thought things would change around here, especially today. But they finally did. You see, near our town is also a dock that used to be very popular but now it was practically abandoned. Well that's exactly what changed. A huge ship berthed at the docks today. It was carrying priceless artifacts for a museum in the capital and it must've gone way off course if it came here, a place where the most interesting thing that happened is some jello being stolen.
The ship didn't exactly bring any more change here. I don't think even God could do that if He tried. However I had an idea that would without doubt get me out of this boring town and my boring life. I would pretend to be a crew member of the ship and hop off when it got to the capital and then finally, start a new, better life in the capital, blissfully forgetting this place.
Plus, the only illegal part was getting on to the ship and I think I know enough to get away with that.

407 words

Daily 10:400 exactly. =0

Words: ratio, blame, likes, place, piece, plead.


On the blackboard of the classroom were the calculations of the ratio of the world.

When everyone was out for playtime, my teacher told me to stay there as I had a special guest for me. My teacher knew them, of course, and she said that they were a lovely person. She likes them, so I should get along with them too.

She walked out, and another unrecognisable person walked in.

They walked in like a prowling cat, silently fierce. They noticed me, smiled, and asked me to calculate the ratio of the world.
A command, not a plead. Fit the final piece into lace and it will be done.

The machine.

I had spent the day and night writing monotonously on the blackboard, scratching the worn down chalk bits with wide, staring eyes. My movements automated, my mind set to the calculations.

By the end of the day the blackboard was filled with diagrams. No one had the heart to blame me. The blackboard had grown bigger, and bigger until I had figured out the ratio of the world.

I wrote the number at the middle of the board and called over for the person, surprised at my own voice and sound.

They came over to inspect my calculations. They told me I was very good then, spending some of my time helping them out for a bit. They wrote down the number and proceeded to their lab.

I followed them out of the city and far away at the beginning of the stars. The lab was an old shack on the outside and was a made of metal and concrete on the inside. That was where I saw the machine, surrounded by scientists in shining white lab coats. The machine was called the world-eater 3000.
That’s it. World Eater.

I tried to steal the scientists notepads and erase the number, but it was too late, It was activated by my special visitor.

By then, the machine was in full swing, and invincible. It brought tears from the sky and pure anger from within. The sky had cried so much it made puddles the size of oceans that swallowed the world.

The next day, the puddles were gone and I was back to regular sized, empty blackboard when my teacher walked in and told me I had a special guest.

I told her that I already met the scientist.

July 10 main cabin daily

I flipped through the book, desperately trying to find what I was looking for.

“It's somewhere around here, I know it!”, I assured my sister, who above all looked a bit bored.

“Why don't you just go to the minifig index–”, she began, but I cut her off.

“There IS no minifig index in this version!”

I continued turning the pages of my Star Wars Lego Visual Dictionary– the updated one, to be exact. The previous version had featured an index of every minifigure listed in the book, and I loved to examine them, watching how the yellow smiley faces became detailed, skin-colored faces, and how the aliens with special head molds became more colorful and interesting over the years. When I saw the new, 20th anniversary edition at Barnes and Noble, I couldn't help myself. However, it was basically the same as my old, tattered edition, except it had some small new sections to include content from Solo, Rogue One, Rebels, and The Force Awakens. And of course, it was missing the valued minifig index.

At the moment, I was trying to find the single page dedicated to Rebels– funny how you stumble upon things all the time, until you actually want to find them. Finally, after a few more minutes of turning the pages back and forth, I found it.

“There,” I said, pointing to the small box in the corner, which showed all the minifigures for the Ghost crew.

“Wow, Sabine looks so old with that hairpiece,” my sister exclaimed.

“I know, right? but Chopper– I think he looks pretty cool.”

My sister peered at him. “Why's he so short, though?”

“Because that's what Chopper looks like!”, I said in response.

“So…” my sister said, “this is what you wanted to show me? The Rebels minifigs? …That's it?”

“Well, it would have been better if I had found it sooner,” I replied, now feeling annoyed.

“Oh. Can I look through it?”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Okay, I wanna see the minifig index,” she said, to my amazement.

And with that, I started to rant. “THERE IS NO MINIFIG INDEX!! I don't know why they think this book would be ‘better’ without the minifig index, but look!” (I flipped to the back of the book) “Just a boring old regular index that tells us what page to find…” (I scanned the page, looking for something ridiculous-sounding) “… the 2011 Advent Calendar! If you wanna look at minifigures, go look at the old book!”

I dug through my stuff, looking for the battered copy of the Star Wars Lego Visual Dictionary (the non-updated one) and finally found it. My brother had accidentally torn the cover off a while ago, and some of the pages were torn, patched together with Scotch tape.

“Here it is,” I said calmly, my composure regained. I flipped to the minifig index and me and my sister started looking at the minifigures.

Every once in a while one of us would comment on one of the figures, but mostly we just stared at them. I don't know why I found it relaxing, but I guess some things are just like that. The other book remained on the floor nearby, almost as if it were waiting to be read, but the old, torn-up copy seemed to tease it as me and my sister enjoyed looking through its worn pages.

My words: Adieu, Chose, Henry, Berth

One night, Charlie came up to me and said, “Adieu.”

I sighed. “That’s goodbye, idiot.”

He continued, “Would you like to… Go somewhere with me?”

“Hmm. Why?” I had replied, looking up from my book.

“Oh, um, ‘cause you’re not doing anything right now.” He seemed embarrassed.

“Yes, I know that, but why now, why me, and why do you need to go out with someone anyways?”

Charlie fidgeted. “I’m… not really allowed to tell you until later.”

I spun around in my chair, kicking dust off the floor, and looked up from my book.

“And… the rest of my questions go unanswered.”

“Well, I was rushed, it’s cool at night, and you were the only one who had finished.”

“Not true. It’s almost 10, lots of people have finished.” I glanced around the room. Sure enough, multiple people had already gathered in the corner and were chatting quietly.

Even though the mask covered his face, I could tell Charlie was blushing anyways.

“So let’s go out there, yes?”

And that was how I ended up going on a date. Sitting on top of the rebel headquarters licking a ridiculously large scoop of ice-cream.

“It would be nice if we could do this more often you know,” he said, staring at the skyline. It was highlighted with lights around the edges, and accented by the deep night sky.

“Well, yes it would be, now please tell me why we’re on a date, thankyouverymuch,” I said, impatient.

The answer I had been trying to get from him the last 10 minutes.

“Oh, fine, fine. It was a dare from one of my friends in the government, Henry. I had to go out with someone. Or else I had to give them half of my anomalies.”

“Aha!” I crowed triumphantly. “So you like me! You chose me!”

“Um… well, yes technically.” Charlie tried a quick kiss on the cheek, which was ignored.

I paused for a moment. “Did you say that you had friends in the government?”

He laughed and jokingly put his hands up. “They’re not really friends, just people I sometimes play with for anomalies.”

He then kissed me, and I gave him a wide berth.

“OK, this is getting weird. No romantic kisses or anything like that yet. Maybe later.”

“Later as in…?” He asked hopefully.

“A few weeks, if I still like you then,” I answered.

“So you like me now,” he said, and smiled.


Why the heck did I do this again? Oh right, because I spun the wheel and it landed on romantic. Ah. My friend and I are making a fanfiction, spinning the wheel to decide what we're doing, but only when we like what the wheel decides.

Weekly #2 (3125/2300 words)

PART 1 (1470/800 words)
Updates on the Harley O'neill Case

Just two months ago, in the town of Wartwood (snicker) 11-year old Harley O'neill disappeared while walking with her dog in the streets of her neighborhood. At 10pm in the night, Harley's dog returned home, safe and sound – but the girl was nowhere to be seen. Her body was never found either, though the search continues – recently, local police and detectives have discovered an interesting clue.
A family living nearby the supposed intercept place, just a few blocks down had actually installed a tiny security camera under some of the shrubbery of their front lawn. They claim to have “forgotten about it until recently”, when alerts began popping up on the family computer about lots of speeding cars passing by the area. Police investigated the security camera and sure enough, as the Griffiths had insisted, the camera seemed to not have been touched for about two years.
In the corner of the recording, for a minute and twenty three seconds, there is a lot of movement. On the day she disappeared, Harley was wearing a bright pink sweater black leggings, and blue sneakers. A pink sweater sleeve and two blue sneakers can be seen flashing around before disappearing, plus a person (police couldn't tell their gender) who was around 5'6''-5'9'' and was wearing all black. Unfortunately, the security camera did not capture sound so no further information was found of the supposed kidnapper's voice.
Police did add the Griffiths to the bottom of their suspects list though, along with Harley's father, who happened to be emotionally abusive, her mother, her 16 year old brother Douglas whom she didn't have a very good relationship with, and a group of 13 year kids that were in the most well known gang in Wartwood. They graffitied buildings and commonly stole from shops, but no efforts were made to stop their behavior because all five of the children were labeled as emotionally unstable as well as having several underlying personality disorders.
Police decided to investigate the area of the kidnapping a bit more, but nothing seemed to be off about there. Of course no hair or fingerprints would be left after two months of non-stop rainy days.

Recording of interview with Mr. O'neill, taken a day after Harley's disappearance:
Officer: Just so you know, sir, this interview is entirely optional. We're recording okay?
*He taps the recorder multiple times.*
Mr. O'neill: I know. I just want to find my daughter, wherever she may be. I miss having her around, uh, she was always way more energetic than Douglas.
Officer: I'm presuming that is your 15-year old son?
Mr. O'neill: Um, yep.
Officer: Alright, so let's start. You say the last person Harley saw was you… care to give more information on that?
Mr. O'neill: Um, so first of all I would never harm my own daughter. Maybe I was a bit strict on her sometimes but I had never wanted to harm her. *He coughs* I told her to be back before five for dinner, to make sure she didn't forget that Marley wasn't allowed off his leash yet because he was still being trained and also, um, to stay away from strangers. I told her to just walk around the neighborhood once and come back home. I don't know how this happened… Harley was a very bright and happy girl and she never made any enemies. Besides, our neighborhood is a very safe place.
Officer: I see. How was she acting right before she left?
Mr. O'neill: You're not suggesting my daughter would have…?
Officer: No, of course not. Sorry, sir.
Mr. O'neill: Good. Well, uh, she was pretty happy, I guess. It was the first time we were letting her out on her own. *He sighs* We shouldn't have, it was her mother's idea, said that she was, um, growing up and all and that Harley deserved more independence. It was her fault! It was all my wife's fault. *He growls*
Officer: Calm down, sir. So, you say that your daughter is of short and skinny stature, around 4'9'' and just around 55 pounds?
Mr. O'neill: Uh, yeah, I think so. It was mostly her mother checking her height and all that.
Officer: Okay, thank you, sir… I think we've heard enough.
Mr. O'neill: But I just want to say, whoever has my daughter right now, you are being very evil keeping her from me…
*Recording clicks*

Police didn't find that Mr. O'neill's interview was particularly suspicious, except for the fact that he kept using past tense and stuttering. Plus, some of his dialogues were questionable.

Recording of interview with Mrs. O'neill, taken a day after Harley's disappearance:
Officer: Just so you know, ma'am, this interview is entirely optional – you have the chance to back out whenever you'd like. We're recording this for some purposes- okay?
Mrs. O'neill: Yes… I understand.
Officer: First off, you can start by telling us anything you know. The more information you give, the faster we might be able to return your daughter to you.
Mrs. O'neill: *sniffs* I miss Harley so much. I just want her back, she is- was- I don't even know- an amazing daughter, everything I could- *sniffs* ask for, wherever she is I just hope she is safe…
Officer: *clears throat*
Mrs. O'neill: Um… yes, sorry. I think it is my fault, umm… I told Harley she could, um, leave and take our dog on a training walk, since we just, um, got him recently. She was 11, I thought she was old enough… I forgot that to most people she appears as an 8 year old, maybe 9 year old. With her height and the way she dresses and everything.
Officer: I see. Actually, ma'am, you've been a big help. Thank you very much.
Mrs. O'neill: *sniffs* Please just find her quickly…

Recording of interview with Douglas O'neill, taken a day after Harley's disappearance:
Officer: Just so you know, sir, this interview is entirely optional. We're recording, okay?
Douglas: Yeah.
Officer: Okay, so first question, care to give any information on your sister? Maybe you might have known her better than your parents.
Douglas: Honestly, Harley and I weren't that close. But I would never, like, harm her or anything. She was kind of rash though and made lots of stupid decisions when we were young, like putting plastic in the microwave even though I specifically told her not too. *Sighs* She annoyed the heck out of me sometimes.
Officer: Okay, so you are saying your sister is impulsive at times?
Douglas: Yeah, I guess.
Officer: Do you think, if a person were to tell Harley they had candy, or kittens, or anything similar in their home or on their car, she would follow them?
Douglas: I mean, she was impulsive, but not stupid. We always told her to not trust strangers. I bet she was taken by force. Maybe the man got out of his car, they wrestled for a bit because Harley took karate and knew how to fight and then kidnapped her?
Officer: Hmm. You say Harley does karate?
Douglas: Yeah, she started when she was 6.
Officer: Alright, thank you very much, Mr. O'neill. You've helped us so much.
Douglas: No prob, officer.

Police found Douglas O'neill's interview rather suspicious, but no further investigation was taken.
However, just one day later after the police posted the update in Nextdoor (an app/website that allows people who live within a certain range of each other to communicate), Harley's family received a letter that had just three words on it: I have her.
Police immediately inferred that, whoever her kidnapper was, lived nearby. They tried to link them to a couple other missing children cases, particularly girls who were similar to Harley- girls that had been out in the evening, and had a short and skinny stature.
They also looked through the comments on their article, but nothing was particularly helpful.

Comments from the article “Updates on the Harley O'neill Case, 1/14/18”

Oh no I hope they find Harley soon, poor girl. her family must be devastated….

Whoever is doing this should be locked up for life. They are taking innocent children away and ripping apart families >

i send my sympathy to the O'neill family

One comment that police found interesting, and was posted Anonymously:

this is pure evil. i hope they find him soon. who knows what he's done to other girls her age?

First of all, the commenter had been assuming the kidnapper was a man. It could have just been gender-bias, but most people were using they/them pronouns for the kidnapper. Plus, what did the commenter mean was “pure evil”? The article, or the kidnapping?
But until this case is solved, Harley O'neill's disappearance remains a mystery.


PART 2 (880/800 words)
Paper Crown by Alec Benjamin

Alec Benjamin is one of my favorite singers of all time. (Tysm for @LilCutePusheen for introducing me to him <3) I think Paper Crown is one of his less well-known songs, though, because it was released in the early part of his career, around 2014- and it's no longer in Spotify (he lost rights to own that song, plus around 30 others, for a dumb reason, but it's a long story).
The first time I listened to the song, just heard the first three seconds, I was immediately drawn in. Alec's voice sounded very different from how it usually sounds (usually it sounds very gentle and quiet, but in this song it sounded much louder and forceful). The tune of the song was great too, and I found the music video very intriguing.
Most musical artists make super weird videos to go along with their music that I'm not going to mention. But Paper Crown actually had a very simple black and white animation and I thought that was interesting. I kept watching and the story unfolded.

Lyric Interpretation
All of Alec's songs have extremely well written lyrics to go with the mood of the song and to portray really deep themes (he doesn't write about shallow things, like most other artists do. He writes about his past, and also the pasts of others, so he writes about stories). One of the lyrics that particularly hit me in the song were: And there's no one to love you when you build // Your walls // Too high.
Of course he's not talking about actual physical walls, but rather, I think, walls inside your heart? The main character of the song was separating herself from the rest of the world. After that, there are mentions of a war (She's looking out // From the war that's inside // She's screaming out // ‘Cause no one survived) – but the war is inside herself. She is hiding alone inside (her walls), and comes out to find only that everyone she loves is gone.
“She’ll make it out // But she's never the same // She's lookin' down // At the scars that remain” I can't really “describe” what this means, it's mostly up for your own interpretation. Basically, the narrator has been through a lot. She'll be able to get through all of it, but she won't be the same afterwards, because of all of the (probably emotional, maybe some physical) scars that her past has left behind.
“But you hold your ground // Though your kingdoms in flames” This lyric is pretty self explanatory. The narrator holds her grounds while her kingdom's in flames – rather, she holds her ground, despite how difficult life's obstacles are for her.
“Cause it's the story of a queen whose castle has fallen to the sea // Knowing there's no one who will be // A king that will come and save his queen” This ties back to the first lyric I wrote about, the one where you build your walls too high. If you try to separate yourself from others then nobody will be able to help you in the end (I think that's what he was trying to say but I could be wrong. Alec writes about mental health sometimes, though).
“When all she needs // When all she wants // And all she finds // When all she is, and ever was // Is compromised” These lyrics are immediately followed by “Cause there's no one to love her when // You built your walls // Too high” In the end, the narrator learns that if she tries to separate herself from others, then maybe she won't be as happy as she would if she let them in.

Music
The music for Paper Crown is EXTREMELY well written. It's simplistic, but beautiful in its own way. It matches the theme PERFECTLY (I don't think there could be a more perfect written song for the lyrics). It's simple with piano, a simple drum beat, and acoustic (I think?). Even without the lyrics, Paper Crown is still very pretty to listen to.

Alec's Past
The most interesting part, I think, is actually Alec Benjamin's past. He didn't really begin writing music until he was around 17, and he wrote Paper Crown when he was 20, just three years later. A lot of his other music (around 30 other songs) were also created when he was young.
Then he got dropped from Columbia Records, which he was working with, and lost rights to all of those songs he had made. He didn't have the money to re-record all of them either.
There was actually a time when he cried on the streets, because he wasn't able to feed himself, but didn't want to burden his parents by going back and asking for food. But I think it's really amazing that despite all that he continued to write music. He recorded demos for his songs and posted them on YouTube (though he couldn't on Spotify or iTunes).
So personally I think it's amazing how he got through all of that and look at him now! He has over 15 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

I think Paper Crown could be a very relatable song for some people, especially once you read through the lyrics, just like many of his other songs. I'd really recommend listening to it :] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzmjdntlRJk

PART 3 (556/500 words)

Note: Please don't be offended if there are any similarities to you or anyone you know in here, these are all fictional characters.

Gossip Girl
Hey there!! My name is Wendy Porter and I'm very happy to be YOUR PERSONAL STORIES writer AND editor for the Alderwood High School Newspaper!!
First of all, didn't anyone see the new backpack Abigail Laurence has been using for a week now? OMG, it's literally hideous. It was a neon green and orange roller backpack with little neon pink hearts all over it. Who uses roller backpacks as a Junior in high school? I heard she just had her birthday recently, maybe that's what her parents got for her. If it was your parents that got the gift, though, I feel SO SORRY for you, Abby! They obviously have horrible taste. If not, though, and it was actually you who selected that backpack… then sorry, girl, but I think you may need to take a few classes with me.
Didn't anyone hear about how Bella Scott failed the first major Trigonometry test of the year? Mr. Brown got so annoyed and yelled at her for not paying attention. Poor girl! Then he said maybe she belonged in Algebra 2 and shouldn't have skipped a year of math. The poor thing ran crying out of the classroom and didn't come to school the next day!
Am I the only one that saw the supposed ‘Cutest Couple Of The Year’, Thomas Dougherty & Bella Scott (yep, the same Bella from above!) arguing during lunch last week? Dang, girl, it was heated. I could only catch a few words, but I can swear on my wallet that I heard the words ‘cheated’ and ‘Abigail’!! OMG, what if one of them CHEATED on the other with ABIGAIL LAURENCE? I haven't heard any rumors about Bella being bisexual yet, so I'm just going to stick with the theory that Thomas decided to cheat on Bella after she failed the test, with Abigail! How amazing is a juicy, big romance drama in our boring old school? I want to hear all about it!! Please text me if you have any more information, BTW!
Did no one see Charlotte Smith with her new iPhone 13 Pro?? I'm so jealous, girl! I wanted one of those, but my parents said my iPhone SE was good enough. I can't even take good selfies with that thing! My Insta followers even decreased by 4% over the course of just a week. Charlotte's dad spoils her rotten. I heard he's super rich. Maybe he was even a KING in his past life, because that man has as much money as every businessman in the WORLD combined (okay, maybe not that much)!!
Plus, didn't anyone see that horrific outfit one of my (actual) besties, Iris Serrano, wore to school last Tuesday? (Iris, don't get mad at me!! xx) It was so terrible I couldn't look at her for the whole day. Iris dyed her hair an unnatural color, dark purplish-indigo with a bunch of dark blue and lavender streaks in it. That was the first mistake. Then she wore a maroon top and a brown skirt (I think that may have been against the dress code too!). I mean, Iris usually makes great outfits, but this one made me rethink her ENTIRELY. I just hope it was her senile old grandma who paired those two together.
Anyways, that's all for this week! Wendy Porter, signing out

PART 4 (219/200 words)

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