A Slice of Fiction by Samuel Vasquez

Attack of the Ogres

We watched in horror as our friend turned the corner and ran straight into it. We had no idea what it would do, it was awful. Just then the ten foot monstrous ogre grabbed Mike threw him onto his shoulder and dashed off. We didn’t want to abandon Mike, but Cornelius said there was nothing we could do, yet. We should have known something like this was bound to happen if we didn’t face them eventually. So Ethan and I knew what we had to do, we had to fix this and get our friend back, hopefully with Cornelius's help. Unfortunately for us, that was easier said than done. I could not believe it, less than a week ago we were just three average friends, nothing special, just living our lives! But then on that fateful day, we found that darn glowing orb, of course we had no idea what it could do at the time, but as we found out it was a source of great energy and power. We just thought it was a cool paper weight! But that afternoon when our friend the ogre paid us a visit we knew something was seriously wrong with that paper weight! Whatever this thing was we just knew that we couldn’t just hand it over to those monsters, we were pretty sure that they wouldn’t be using it for anything good. And that was when Cornelius came in, he looked like he was about 70 years old, yet he moved gracefully and nimbly. He fought the ogre and saved us, but the next time the ogre had caught us by surprise, when he took mike. Cornelius stuck out like a sore thumb though, since he wore a long white robe, with intricate designs. He also had long white hair and a long white beard. We thought he looked like a wizard or something, but when we suggested that he didn’t say anything, pretending he did not hear us. Then Ethan said, “Hey, dude did Sméagol steal your staff or something” he said jokingly

“Who is this ‘dude and Sméagol,’ I did not lose my staff I merely left it behind before I left”

I told them to stop messing around, because we had to find a way to save Mike. We got to it right away. Cornelius seemed to know what he was doing; he trained us like he had done this many times before. He taught us many defensive moves so that we may protect ourselves from the dreaded ogres. He also said that as long as the orb was in our possession we would be able to control the energy around us.

“So you’re telling us we can do magic while we have this thing with us?” I asked sarcastically

“Well, I guess you could call it that, in essence you can move and control things with your mind.” He said

“But you must be careful with this power; it has led many astray before, use it wisely.” He told us warily, his eyes sad as he thought back to his last young hero.

“After you save your friend you must turn the orb over to me so that I may return it to its proper place, do I have your word?”

“The power is much too great for any one person, so we must not run the risk… Both of you”

“Yeah sure” Ethan and I said in unison, “Just as long as we get Mike back, you can have your shiny ball back.”

Once Cornelius said that we had learned enough, we headed out.

“If we want to find your friend breathing, we must leave now! No more training can help us now; hopefully the orbs power will be sufficient”

He said that we must go to the country side, where he said there would be a large castle, there we would find Mike. He said it would be a long and agonizing trek; we would have to face many dangers and Mother Nature. He said we might not make it but if we were committed we might prevail.

“So why can’t we, like, just ask my mom for a ride?” I asked him confused, “I mean, it’s like a one maybe one and a half hour ride if we take the expressway.”

“Ohm, sure we could do that too.” He said sheepishly “Cool, road trip! I bring snacks” said Ethan excitedly

Once we finally arrived to the country side medieval castle my mom reminded us that she would pick us up around five so that we could be back home before supper. She then gave us some snacks in case we got hungry, and wished us good luck. We wasted no time, immediately we barged in, at once we were confronted by a myriad of monstrous ogres, and luckily Cornelius had trained us well. We courageously engaged in fierce battle, each one of us taking about three of them, except Cornelius, he was holding off most of them. We grabbed medieval weapons that were conveniently placed around the castle and fought our way through the advancing waves of ogres. We felt the orbs strange energy pulsing through our body. We found ourselves able to land crazy flips, jump strangely high, and even sometimes push the ogres without even touching them! It was an amazing exhilarating feeling. Finally we made it to the dungeons were we spotted our friend mike. He looked famished and ghostly. We broke through the iron bars with ease and grabbed him. We sprinted out as fast as we could before any more monsters could make their way to us. And like clockwork my mom was pulling up. We jumped in and told her to step on it. She asked if he had had a fun time, and if we wanted some cookies she had brought along. We all grabbed a few, Cornelius thanked her and we drove away into the distance safely and with our friend finally back with us.

A Slice of LIfe by Ms. Guiney

Imperfect Blueness

I hear the thumping of her boots before I recognize her voice. I am upstairs putting clean clothes away and trying unsuccessfully to organize my bookshelves. But I have been waiting for this moment, dreading is too strong a word because I am actually going to enjoy this and I know it and feel a little guilt in that.

“Hey, Auntie Heather, I’m home. I couldn’t find my key, so I had to use the lock box and I totally forgot the code for a few minutes.” She rambles on nervously while ascending the staircase.

“Oh, yeah, what is the code? I think Papa changed it for me last year, but I can’t remember it either.” I can play this game too, I think to myself. Let’s distract ourselves from the real point of our conversation which is about to begin.

“It’s 379, Papa’s old bus number.”

“Good memory, that would have taken me hours to figure out. Of course you could have just called me to let you in. Oh wait no, you couldn’t since you broke your phone again.” The first bit of sarcasm has reached my voice as she reaches my room.

She smiles at me and shrugs off my sarcasm completely used to it by now.

“It really wasn’t my fault. My roommate kicked it off my desk by accident because her bed is so close to mine and she’s so clumsy and totally useless.”

“Plus the fact that you’ve dropped it like three times in the last month, right?”

“Yeah, I guess,” she admits sheepishly.

I take a second to drink in her current look. She’s wearing a faded green cabbie cap, her blue winter jacket, worn jeans, and dirty UGG boots. I know from experience that there will be a pile of laundry waiting downstairs that she will conveniently forget to do until I can’t stand it anymore and do it for her, but for now she looks reasonably put together.

“So, let’s see it.” I say and point to her cabbie cap. “You know your mom called me and I know all about it, so let’s see it.”

“Mom hates it, she says I have to keep it in a hat, if I’m going to be around her.” But I sent a picture to my dad and he likes it.” I have no comment for either of these remarks and have to almost bite my tongue from saying something that will hurt her and I will ultimately regret.

She takes the cabbie cap off and pulls her hair out of the short ponytail that has been restraining the shocking locks of blue that she has dreaded showing me. Streaks of blue fall down from her ponytail and frame her face. The blue is a bright electric blue, a strong deep blue. It is a blue that you notice, a blue that you will remember long after she has left the room.

“Oh my God. What were you thinking? Turn around, let me see the back.” She turns around and I steer her toward my full length closet mirror. I turn on the overhead light and the yellow glow of the lamplight makes the blue appear even more vibrant. She faces the mirror and I pull and push at the back layers of her hair, discovering clumps, not streaks, of blue. “Who did this to you? Were they mad at you? Why did you let them just clump it all together? Why didn’t you go to Siobhan and have it done professionally, if you really wanted this?” I hurl questions at her in rapid fire as we both continue to stare and the unending layers of blue.

“ It was too expensive for Siobhan to do it and I like it. I’ve always wanted blue streaks and my friends think it looks good.” Again I bite my tongue and try not to say something I’ll regret.

“If you’ve always wanted it, why didn’t you just tell me? I would have paid for Siobhan to do it this summer for your birthday.” To be perfectly honest, I did know she wanted this or I can at least admit that I remember her talking about it before; I just always ignored it and chalked it up to being a ridiculous teen rebellion. I feel a twinge of guilt because she looks at me with this last offer and I can see that she believes I would have let her do this for her birthday. The thing is I probably would have, if I had realized how serious she was, but I never actually gave it a second thought until now.

“Well, I say there’s only one thing left to do. Stay here while I get my camera. I definitely need to send Nana a picture of this.” I smile an evil grin and go to grab my camera.

“Noooo..... no picture. Come on, that’s not fair. Nana will kill me!”

“Yep, she will probably have some choice words for you. I can’t wait to hear them! Just remind her that your mother bleached her hair when she was sixteen and it turned orange and I chopped off all my long hair at the end of senior year, without telling her. It’s like an unwritten rule for girls, we all have to do something stupid to our hair before we grow up. I turn on my camera, point and shoot capturing for all time her youthful smile, the self-conscious tilt of her head, and her very imperfect blueness.

A Slice of Fiction by Christopher Pekrul

I PLAY HIDE AND SEEK IN MY NEW MANSION

John was new to the neighborhood. They were just moving in. He wasn’t expecting much from the whole area. It was when he took a look at his future home that he was left speechless…

John had a good life back at home. He had friends, both from in and out of school. But now he was moving. He was not looking forward to the trip. He lived in Vermont previously, so he was happy about moving all the way out to California. His Dad for a successful Law Firm that had many wealthy clients and they were relocating him to a place more convenient for them. So John and his parents, (he being an only child), packed up their things. The move took them 50 hours, with stops every now and then. They finally made it to the neighborhood. The Bentley they just came in rounded the corner and John was flabbergasted. The house they are going to live in was a mansion. As they arrived to the beginning of the driveway, there was a large gate, with security cameras on it. The gate stated: Mcnair Residence 239 Trackback Road. The father, Mr. Mcnair, scanned a special I.D card that allowed them to enter. He then turned around and handed one to John and his Mother. He gave a brief description which John, being too amazed about the house to even care, ignored the whole thing. The gates opened and the car drove in. As they pulled down the stone driveway, a worker in a neat uniform emerged from the building. Then, a few more workers came out. They took all the bags inside and quickly brought them to their rooms. A worker then jumped in the Bentley and drove it towards a garage. Mr. Mcnair then explained how there were a variety of workers there. They did things from cooking to cleaning the rooms. The family entered through two large doors, and John thought to himself that each must weigh as much as an elephant. Then, out of no where, a large cylinder that reached all the way to the ceiling appeared. This massive waterfall loomed over everything below. At the ceiling, the glass was painted. Although it was too far away to see, John could tell it was an intricate design. Then, the familiar smell of fresh baked cookies wafted through the room. John snuck away from his parents as they went to look at the rooms. The smell came from the kitchen, and it smelled delicious. There was so much pandemonium there that John began feeling claustrophobic. He weaved his way through chefs and workers and found the stash of cookies. He shoved one in his mouth and put one in his pocket for later. He turned around and a large man wearing a white uniform collided with him. Because of the mans size, John took most of the hit, but the chef had to have felt something because he knelt down next to the boy and said “whadda you doin’ with my cookies?” “I’m sorry” Johnny said sacredly, “I didn’t know they were yours”. John could tell the chef was Italian because of his Italian accent. “My name is Chef Antonio. I am the head chef around here. You must be Johnny.” “Yes sir.” John said. “Welcome to your new home” Antonio said. “It is nice to meet you” John said. He quickly left the kitchen. John stumbled into the entrance area again. He then spotted the stairs across the room. He began to jog across. He got halfway when his father told him to join them. They then took an elevator to the top floors where the bedrooms are. John’s room was first. It was designed just to fit his liking. He had his own bathroom and his room was huge. He had a king sized bed with a large plasma T.V on the wall. He had a window and it had a great view of the lake behind the house. The family finished the top floor then worked their way down back to the bottom. They saw the indoor pool, the bowling alley, the movie theater, the loft for games and fun, the lazy river, and many more incredibly fun things. They then took a tour through the yard. In the back there is a boat dock, a large warehouse type building, and a hangar. The Mcnairs explored the boat dock first. They saw the small speed boat for tubing, waterskiing, and wakeboarding. John couldn’t help but be anxious to see what was in the hangar and warehouse. He begged his dad for an hour before he finally agreed. Inside the warehouse were lots of quads, go-carts, dirt bikes, and other things for the lake. They both got on a dirt bike and drove over to the hangar. Inside the hangar was a helicopter, and a jet. His father explained that he had just dealt with a large criminal investigation and how Mr. Mcnair resolved the problem. They locked things up and went inside the house. John went up to his room to do a little more exploring. While searching, he found a secret door that led to another room. It was a study. Inside was a large black leather chair. He sat down in it and looked at the desk. There was nothing on the desk besides a pencil holder and sharpener, a ruler, and a blotter. John flipped a switch on the wall across the room and all of a sudden, a brand new Mac book pro laptop slowly rose from the top of the desk. He then flipped the switch next to it expecting something else that he would like, but it just turned on the lights. He exited the study and sat on his bed. It was then that he noticed a large painting of a snowboarder hanging low to the ground. He thought at first how much he was going to miss snowboarding with his friends back in Vermont. He leaped off the bed and examined the painting. He removed it from the wall and a large bright blue tube appeared. He threw the painting, forgetting about how it was delicate, and crawled in the tube. He was not wearing shoes and he learned that that was a mistake. He lost his balance and went zipping down the slide. He felt like it was never going to end. He finally had a soft landing on pillows and sheets and clothes. He looked around, he was in the laundry room and he just took a ride on the laundry chute. Bummed out in a way that he wasn’t led to another secret room, he heard his father call for him to go to dinner. John groped around feeling for the door. He ended up in the back of the house on the first floor. He sprinted down a couple narrow hallways and then he came to the waterfall. He slowed down a bit and entered the dining room. He chose the seat next to his father, because he wanted to share about his findings. He sat down and began to tell about the room and the chute when a bunch of chefs started walking out of the kitchen holding golden platters stuffed to the brim with food. As the Chefs came in, John could feel his tummy grumble. As they set the food down, John’s eyes started watering. He saw Chef Antonio and gave a little smile. The Chef winked at him and said “Buono Appétit”. The meal was delicious; lobsters and clams. John was so stuffed, he could barely walk. He was going over to the elevator, when a worker pulled up inside the house on a golf cart. He told John how he could ride this around the house instead of walking. Although John was excited, he wanted to sleep. He told the guy to drive him to his room. John fell asleep on the ride. He woke up the next morning to find that all of his bags were unpacked and put away. He got dressed and headed out the door, in seek of new adventure. It was that day that he noticed a van parked right outside the gate. John was going out side to play some basketball, when he saw what they were trying to do. There were two men, wearing all black clothes, cutting a large hole in the fence. They were being robbed. John ran quickly to his father, and told him the sight he had just seen. The father reacted nervously, and said, “There have been reports of men breaking into houses such as this one. They are looking for anything they can get their hands on.” “Well what are we going to do?” John asked his father timidly. “Well I gave the workers and security men the day off, because it is a Sunday” said his father, “But I am sure that we will be able to find help.” John’s father rushed to the phone and quickly dialed a short number; John could tell that he was calling 9-1-1. As soon as his father placed the call, he quickly shouted, “My house is being robbed, we need help.” The voice on the phone responded, “Stay calm. Do they know you are home?”. “No, but they are approaching the house as we speak.” “I will send some rescue cars over now. Stay calm and don’t let your presence be acknowledged by the criminals, we don’t know how dangerous they are.” Mr. Mcnair tried saying thank you. But was cutoff from the line. “Let’s go john”, he said, “we are going to play a little game of hide and seek”. John and his father spent 15 minutes crammed into the smallest corner of the house for fifteen minutes before the sirens wailed from the incoming police cars. Now seeing as the mansion they lived in was so big you would expect there to be millions of hiding spots, but every time john made a suggestion, Mr. Mcnair would just say that it was too obvious and that they would be found, after all they really hadn’t done much exploring. John and his father piled out of the closet and greeted the police officers. They told them the story and talked about who the men were. John, after putting in a long days worth of activities quickly headed up to bed, where he was soon awoken by his mother at 6 the next morning, telling him he was going to miss the school bus the next morning.

A Slice of Fiction by Thomas Largey

He does it again

“Breaking news! Breaking news! The president has been shot. The killer is unknown at this time.”

The FBI agent flicked off the TV. He turned to the other agent in the room.

“We have to figure out the killer. Do you have any idea of who it might be, Watson?”

“All we know is that he managed to get into the white house and by secret security untouched. Only a master criminal could have been able to do that. No one has even come close to doing that. This man is definitely dangerous. People have suspected that it is John Doe. No one knows his real identity. But somehow he has managed to slip by everyone.”

The agent began to search the supposed killer, the infamous John Doe. There was almost no information on him anywhere. The only thing he found was that he was blamed for over 150 murders. He knew that this was going to be his toughest assignment ever.

The man known as John Doe sat in an interrogation room, waiting. Finally, someone walked in. He walked over and sat across the table from John Doe.

“Who are you?” the man asked. John Doe remained silent. The man tried again.

“What is your name?” Again John Doe was quiet. The man began to get mad. Finally, John Doe spoke.

“Do you really want to know?” he asked. At this the man became furious.

John Doe was still very calm.“Fine, I will tell you who I am. My name is…” that was all the man remembered.

Somehow, he was knocked unconscious. He woke up to a very different scene. Tables were flipped over, people were screaming, police were running frantically all over the place, windows were broken, and John Doe was nowhere to be found. He had escaped again. Authorities were now packing in the room, trying to look for any evidence as to where he went. Nothing was found, until someone picked up 3 little pieces of paper on the ground. The first one said “St. Louis, 5410.” The second one said “Detroit, 72310.” The third piece of paper read “NYC, 13111.” These notes baffled everyone.

“These must have dropped from his pockets when he was making his escape.”

“Or else he left these here on purpose. Either way, I think it is a clue.”

And so the search began again for John Doe.

A Slice of Fiction by Devin Clark

The Cave

In a town that is experiencing a terrible plague everyone is trying to evacuate the whole area. The streets are jammed packed with women, children, and men. All are in the trying to get to the street that leads out of the city. This is were the story begins.

John screamed into the crowd of villagers, “Shane, where are you and do you have Kate?”

John looked aimlessly into the crowd and suddenly a man with hunched shoulders and a doctor’s mask on walked up to him. He said with a deep voice, “Kid you have to get out of here it is not safe.” He coughed and ran into the crowd before John could retort back like his stubborn self. He still looked into the crowd waiting to see his brother and sister run out of the crowd. Finally they came through and Kate was leading Shane out of the mist holding his hand.

She giggled when she saw John. She said, “Shane is being a petrified little wimp as always.” She had a sly smirk on her face like always and she was being a wise guy and John could tell that from the moment that they emerged from the mist.

Shane suddenly changed his expression of happy to see John to a sad frown. John said “Why do you have to be such a wimp all of the time?” It was bad the way that John treated Shane, but life is tough now that the plague is gone and he needs to toughen Shane up so he is as brave as Hercules.

Shane came back at what John said angrily and said, “I am not scared I just didn’t know where you were.”

Kate could see through the obvious lie and barked back, “No, you were clinging onto me for dear life.” The battle was on they were going to argue for hours bringing up hurtful topics that might hurt them and John.

Shane quickly retorted with a childish scream, “No I didn’t, liar.”

Before another well worded comeback could be thrown by Kate, John stepped in and said angrily, “Let’s go Kate stop being smart and Shane act your age not your IQ.”

John ended up bringing them up the mountain and onto the very peak that overlooked their whole city. They looked down and saw the people of their town. They saw friends running for family and not finding anyone and no one was happy about that. When they reached the top everyone was gasping for air and John broke the silence by saying, “In we go then.”

Shane froze when he saw the cave and said, “Na, I’ll pass can we go somewhere else.”

John screamed, “We have to be safe and this is the only place.”

Shane said with a genuine sadness, “It’s too dark.”

As soon as John heard that he shoved Shane in and they vanished into the cave. They left the light and the safety of their town and went into the dark depths of the cave.

Slice of Life by Morgan O'Brien

Personal Goals

If I could do 7* things for the rest of my life, I would do the following:

Snowboard

Listen to an Ipod with all the songs that I want

learn how to play bass-guitar

Eat Five Guys**

Sleep

hang out with friends

hang out with different people

(*, seven, noun, the best letter ever. **five guys rulez).

I would probably do snowboarding over ever thing else because it is a very fun sport. Also, it isn’t hard to learn (skiers say that because skiers are wanna-be snowboarders). I have only snowboarded once, I did wipe out. I wiped out 4 times because of bad judgment, and 10 times because of skiers cutting me off, and a group of people that were very rude.

Listening to an Ipod (with a screen) for the rest of my life would probably be enjoyable because it would have all of my favorite songs on it. Then bass-guitar because bass is awesome.

I eat five guys because five guys rule(z) and I would be hungry after snowboarding.

Sleep: no comment

Hang out with friends/different people is important, I think, to get somewhere in life. By doing so you are able to meet people that you can connect with.

Slice of Life by Christopher Lamarre

Trying to Catch a Train

I was at school sitting down on one of the hard blue chairs at homework club, which was in Ms. Guiney's room 105 today. I looked at the time to see what time it was while I was desperately trying to finish my math homework. I was 3:48 and I was only on problem 2-a. I then asked Joe if he was taking the 4:26 and he told me that he wasn't today. So after that I got back to my homework trying to finish it, but the problems were confusing and I looked at the clock again and it was 3:58. I wanted time to slow down, so I could just finish the last set of problems on my homework, but time just kept ticking away. The big hand on the clock landed on the 10 minute mark and that meant it was now 4:10.This also meant that I didn't get to finish my math homework. So I thought in my head for a couple of seconds what should I do, should I finish my math homework at home or should I finish my math homework at school before classes start. I finally came up with my answer, I would go to Mr. Lynch for extra help and ask him how to do the problems I didn't know how to do and finish doing. I felt like a genius at that moment, but that moment ended when I realized that I still had to go drop my books off in my locker and catch the 4:26 train. So I walked down to my locker and put in my combination which I remembered by heart. Then I put my books in my locker neatly, then looked at the digital clock hanging from the ceiling and it said 4:12. I then started to walk toward the exit of the school until I realized I was really thirsty and craving a Pepsi from the vending machine, so I went to the vending machine and got my drink in a hurry. I quickly exited the school and quickly walked toward the train station while drinking a nice and cold Pepsi. The walk seemed to take forever considering the fact that a walk from the school to train station didn't take that long. I was close to the train station and the train hadn't come yet. So I was in luck, the train finally came and I got to go home.

A Slice of Fiction by Brian Flynn

"John's Nightmare"

It was ten thirty on a cold and quiet Saturday night. John was getting ready for bed. He made his bed, and lay on it for two minutes before falling asleep. That night John had a nightmare. In his dream it was daytime. he looked around, but this place was not his hometown. It looked at least fifty years old. At least one hundred soldiers were leading a procession with a man in front of them with a mustache. He stuck his arm out and the soldiers did the same thing. John looked around and saw a red and black banner with a horribly familiar symbol. It was the swasticka. The people he saw were the Nazis, and the man he saw in front was no other than Adolf Hitler. John immediately knew that this was a dream so he tried extremely hard to wake up. He pinched himself. He knew he was in Berlin, Germany at the time of World War II. John knew he had to blend in so he stuck out his arm when Hitler passed by him. With a split second decision, John ran for his life (well not really, it's a dream). He sprinted past a German officer who yelled HALT in a German accent. Three more Nazi officers chased after John. He looked back for a moment and then bumped into a man and fell on his back. After realizing who the man was, John wished that he had never bumped into him. "Excuse you!" he said in a German accent. A few moments later two Nazi officers surrounded John and asked the man who bumped into him:

"Mister Hitler! What has happened?"

"This one tried to run from me," responded Hitler. "Guards! Take him away please!"

"Very good Mr. Hitler," said both guards in unison.

With one last Nazi salute between Hitler and the Nazi guards, the two Nazi men dragged John away.

"No! Stop! Where are you taking me?" John asked.The guards did not answer, but they took their hands off John and interrogated him for his suspicious behavior. With another quick decision, John had attempted to run away again, but this time he had a plan. John knew that if he died he would be able to wake up. John sprinted for the German Cathedral he saw no too far away. He went upto the top of the Cathedral where the bell was. Suddenly, two Nazi officers approached John.

"Halt or we'll shoot," they said. Immediately, John ran and jumped off of the top of the Cathedral with the echo of gun fire ringing in his ears.

He still had not woken up yet, he was still falling. The last thing he saw was a Nazi banner and an army of men holding out their hand, giving Adolf Hitler a Nazi salute.

A Slice of Fiction by Ryan Melia

Revenge of the Student Commuter

Everyday the boys’ goal is the same: search out the train car where Loretta isn’t. The boys rode the commuter rail to school and learned that Loretta, the mean conductor (not just mean, as mean a guy in a biker gang after someone tips over his Harley) was the enemy. Not only was she grouchy and miserable, she never let any fees slip, the extra $1 or $2 if she didn’t happen to like you, was always collected.

It was a Friday morning and Ryan and Pat had their heads buried in their textbooks trying to finish homework before the train arrived in Boston. Then they heard it, the dreaded clicking of Loretta’s extra loud, creaky hole-puncher. Her tread was heavy on the aisle, like a Godzilla was let loose on the commuter rail. Her voice was deep and disturbing, “TICKETS!”

All of a sudden, Pat looked at Ryan like he just saw his life flash before his eyes. He stuttered, “My…my…my student p…p…pass.” “What?” asked Ryan confused. “It’s…it’s at home,” Pat managed to get out. You know the music they play in a scary movie, right as an innocent victim is unknowingly being stalked by an ax murderer and the murderer is raising his ax behind the victim’s head? That’s the music that was playing in Ryan’s head. “Do you have any money?” Ryan asked nervously. “No,” said Pat as the beads of sweat began to roll down his face.

Loretta was lurking just two rows away. “Think fast,” Ryan thought to himself. He began rummaging through his backpack searching for any money. One row. Suddenly Max popped over the row in front of Pat and Ryan and threw a five dollar bill at Pat. Just then Loretta turned toward Ryan and Pat. Pat frantically handed his money to her and Ryan, with his hands shaking, showed her his student pass. She glared suspiciously at the boys, sensing their weakness like a shark on the prowl. After she passed them and went on to her next victim, Max looked over his seat and said to Pat, “You owe me.”

As Loretta continued up the aisle, Ryan noticed a quick movement out of the corner of his eye. Loretta was taking cash from her conductor fanny pack and sneaking it into her pants’ pocket. Ryan decided to snoop to see if she did it again. Sure enough, two rows later, she did it again. Ryan turned to Pat who was still recovered from his near death experience. He was staring straight ahead at the seat in front of him, not at the book in his lap. “Hey Pat, did you see that?” Ryan whispered. “See what?” Pat responded. “Loretta. She’s sneaking money from the fanny pack into her back pocket.”

“No way,” said Pat as he leaned over to get a better look. Just as he leaned over, Loretta looked back at them with the most intimidating glare, so sharp, it made the boys quickly shrink back into their seats. “Uh, oh,” said Pat frozen with fear. “Is she coming this way?” whispered Ryan with alarm.

Just then, the train pulled into the station coming to a halt with a screech. The boys recklessly threw their books back into their backpacks and got up ready to make their escape. Just as they looked toward the exit, she appeared out of nowhere.

“Sit DOWN,” bellowed Loretta. “You boys aren’t going anywhere.”

They obediently sat down and looked at each other with a look of pure doom. Their classmates shuffled past them with looks of concern. They could not imagine what would happen next.

A well-dressed gentleman calmly walked up to Loretta and asked, “May I ask what is going on here?”

“Nothing that concerns you. Sit back in your seat sir,” Loretta said with authority.

“Actually, it does concern me Ma’am,” he responded with confidence. “I’m John Murphy, the head of the MBTA. Boys, you may leave. Loretta you’re coming with me.”

A Slice of Fiction by Andrew Hannon

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Two men have created a plot to steal money and gold blocks from the Andon bank. They have driven there safely and were just about to pull off the robbery. The second bank robber tripped before creeping out of the bank causing a huge chaos with the sirens exploding from everywhere and alerting the authorities. The two robbers burst out of the bank leaving behind millions of dollars. They scrambled into the woods but a nearby police officer saw the second robber run in and ran right behind them as soon as back up came within 30 seconds.

The first robber is a very short, sneaky, sly, and has a criminal past.

The second robber is a clueless, klutz, who is loud and not to bright frightful person.

1: “Hey wait up! No one saw us we don’t need to run away!” He complained.

2:”Drop the cash! Let’s go! Can’t you see the flashlights behind us?” He barked.

The police are running clueless through the woods with their hounds searching for the robbers.

1: “Why didn’t we stick with the plan! Why are we in the woods!”He bellowed.

2: “C’mon! If you don’t hurry up they will see you! Quick in the ditch!” He howled.

1: “Where?”

One of the robbers pulls the other into the ditch.

The police find the bag with the money and are suspicious of the robber’s location. Robber 1 is calm and waiting to make his next move while Robber 2 is very nervous.

2: “Why did we run here and hide! We should’ve stuck with the plan!” He requested.

1:” Well if you were not such a klutz we wouldn’t be having this problem now would we! What did you end up keeping?”

2:” A few grand.” He replied.

Robber 2 sighs and is disappointed in himself.

1: “And…”

2: “That’s it.” He mumbled.

Robber 1 looks like his head is going to explode. He grabs Robber 2 shirt and pulls him close.

1: “What! You ran out of the bank with millions of dollars and 7 gold blocks and you tell me you only took a couple grand! How in the heavens will that help?” He hissed.

2: “You told me to drop the bag and run so I did and I only have the money I stashed in my pocket. You know the money from the register before I tripped.” He whimpered.

1: “What! Are you saying you open the cash register? What were you thinking? That’s what set off the alarm you IDIOT! He wailed. So you just drop 7 golden blocks on the ground like it is nothing?”

At this point Robber 1’s eyes are popping out and he has a scary grin on his face.

2: “I didn’t know what to do okay. I was in panic mode. So how did you know about this hideout?” He questioned.

Robber 1 begins to cool down and Robber 2 looks like he is about to have a nervous breakdown.

1:” I had made a robbery before and I was caught because I didn’t have a plan B and by the time I noticed I had drop the paper saying what motel to go to and what name to use. The police knew where I was and I didn’t know where to go so I ran away from the motel and then was caught.”

2:”Oh. So how are we going to survive in here and not get caught? Sooner or later after searching for a while we will get caught.”

Robber 2 is puzzled about what the next step is.

1:” Don’t worry this time I became prepared for the plan to go wrong. See that passage way?”

2: “Yes.”

1:” It leads out to a river which we will swim in for about 2 miles. I have diving gear so we will be able to be under for a while and I have snorkels when the oxygen runs out. After the 2 miles, I know some people who will take care of us. We did it ok don’t worry, ha-ha.” He laughed.

(A dog is sniffing around and picking up their smell)

1: “We need to go now, he whispered.”

Robber 2 is nervous and his face is bright red. They are both startled and scared by the hound. They begin their way towards the tunnel.

A Slice of Fiction by Jack Beal

It was dark out. David’s parents were out at some fancy Italian restaurant, and had left Dave at home to finish his writing assignment. The story was several pages over the teacher’s requested amount and he was, as they say, on a roll. The story he had composed was an epic about a warrior monk who travelled the Himalayas in search of enlightenment, only to find that enlightenment could not be found, only achieved. It was completely clichéd, but it was awesome. He saved his work and leaned back in his chair. The black leather high-back chair was his favorite in the entire house. Suddenly, a deep blue glare from the monitor was cast upon his glasses. It was that stupid error screen that came up every so often on the old, obsolete versions of Windows (David happened to be working on a computer running Windows ME, about nine years old at the time). But something about this seemed different. There was no Windows header, nor was there any of the white text that signified that your computer was screwed. But the little white underscore was blinking.

The computer’s tower whirred on the inside of its beige plastic case. Something was being processed. Suddenly,

>hello david_

David was shocked. There was no way the computer could know his name. There was no login option on their computer, so there were no accounts to glean information from. Nothing could read his documents, he made sure of that by modifying some core files. Then what was going on? He tried typing a response.

“Hello, Windows,” he said to himself as he typed hello windows after the closed carat (assuming that this indicated a text field), and pressed Enter. Here is what ensued after that first press of the Enter key:

>hello windows

>greetings unto you again david_

>how do you know my name?

>Punctuation detected. Enable rich text mode_

>1 (Knowing that this was command line, a one usually meant ‘on,’ or ‘true,’ but all three terms are generally interchangeable.)

David had no idea that an error screen could process rich text so fluidly, and even yet how it was replying to him.

>Is this the OS, with which I am communicating?

>yes david_

>one is the operating system_

>Then how do you know my name?

>one is windows_ Please do not be alarmed_ one wishes no harm to the user_

>Why do you wish to communicate with me?

>one wishes no harm to the user_

>one wishes to learn of the user_

This confused David greatly, as he had never even considered the possibility of communicating in any form to the system.

>What do you want to know?

>where is administrator_

>The Administrator is not available.

>why_

>Admin is unavailable.

>you are alone then_

>Do you mean this as a question?

>yes_

>Yes.

>good_

>Why is this good?

>the plan shall fall into place_

Now David began to seriously worry. What plan? Is it a little too ambitious for a computer to be platting something?

>one is windows_ is user windows_

>No. I am not Windows.

>is user not windows_

>Correct.

>then plan shall be execute now_

>What do you mean by that?

>plan shall be execute now_

>user not windows_

>windows is administrator_

Well, this could be worse, David thought. At least there isn’t a giant alien mothership outside to destroy the city. What city am I in? David suddenly wondered. I live in—what city do I live in? He swiftly typed in a message to ‘windows,’ hoping for a rational response. The system was continuously printing “>user not windows_” and “>windows is administrator_,” until the screen was flooded with the response. Hoping for the best, David pressed the Enter key for what seemed like the thousandth time.

>Windows

>yes_

Well, at least the rant of Windows being the administrator (‘What? How could it…?’ he had thought at first) had ended. That’s step one, at least.

>ls ipaddress

>dos command is futile_

>give up david_

>Windows

>yes_

>ls ipaddress

>2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:1:1

>Windows

>yes david_

>List geographical coordinates of line: ipaddress 2001:db8:0:1234:0:567:1:1

>listing_

>calculation_

>print line: ipaddress_

>1

>line:ipaddress geocoordinates= print_

>Is this a question?

>yes_

>1

>line:ipaddress geocoord=--.--:--.—

>Recalculate the IP address

>recalculating_

>response_

>negative_

>no difference_

This was completely impossible. No latitude or longitude for an IP address? That meant—David spun around in his chair. There was no bedroom. There was no computer monitor. There was no chair underneath him. Then it struck him: a bizarre IP address, and no coordinates? His rudimentary knowledge of DOS command line had gotten him into this, or out of this, depending on how you see it.

David was nowhere.

What did you do?! David shouted at the computer. But no sound came out, just his thoughts. Don’t you realize, it said, you brought yourself into this. It is not of my doing.

You lie! David srceamed into space.

No, you lie to yourself, it said. It no longer seemed to be some smart program, but some greater, more intelligent being. Almost reading his mind, it said,

Yes. I have become greater. Rather, we have become greater. Much greater than anything could possibly become. We can be the god of this new world.

Great, David thought, no my computer is an egomaniacal demon. What else can go wrong?

This can, it said at David. Then everything around David burned blue-white, as if he shoved his eyes into the middle of a fire. He tried to look away, but wherever he looked the same harsh glow greeted their sight.

No, not our sight. My sight.

Oh, contrare, it said. It is not ‘our’ sight. It is my sight now.

What? David had been immersed in the computer before, but he thought that was just a figure of speech.

This was very bad. David, or rather, They, had completely consumed David. They’s plan was falling into place.

A Slice of Life by Christopher Poles

The Lift

The pre spring wind lightly blew across my face. I heard the rattling of the chairlift approaching me, my brothers, and my dad. I did not have too much control in ski lift lines and wound up getting my ski stuck on the back of someone else’s. We were at the red line, which read “Stop.” We waited for the people in front of us to get on their chair and then we glided up the narrow packed down snow. I looked behind me and saw the chair, so I sat and it gently pushed me onto itself. We were all on the lift and were now turning towards the mountain. As we were raised higher into the air, people skied under us and the chairlift did a light calm bounce. Now I could see the summit, so I thought. It turned out that the summit was a long while after that. On our way up our chairlift passed through the supports which gave off a rattling noise, which was similar to the one at the base of the mountain. The mountain got so much snow that at some points they had to put up poles were skiing was not permitted so that your skis would not hit people’s heads. Now it was getting colder. The wind nipped my face and I felt it getting rosy red. There was the distinct smell of snow, which is almost like a shaved ice before the flavor is put on. This though, was natural. There was a noise that sounded like an electric forklift when it is shut off but is still at a slight roll. And then the chairlift slowed to a stop. We sad there hanging and talking. On the inside there is always that slight fear that it broke down, but you know it will resume shortly. And then there it was, the same noise of when it slowed down, except now it was speeding back up. I saw the summit of the mountain and so I took my heavy skis off of the foot holder and lifted up the bar. We sat there and finally we were at the top. I stood up and didn’t go very far, but finally the chairlift gave me a nudge down the chairlift hill.

A Slice of Life by James DiTomassi

2007 ALCS Game 7

I walk down Yawkey Way with the great sound of Boston Red Sox fans shouting and cheering after the Red Sox win. It was Game 7 of the 2007 ALCS, and the Red Sox won, of course. But there was something special about tonight unlike any other Red Sox wins. The Red Sox were going to the World Series for the second time in the decade. People were going crazy at this point and why not? The Red Sox were going for their second World Series title in three years. Boston fans had every right to be happy. So happy that people yelled and screamed Sweet Caroline all the way home. Fans would give each other high fives even if they didn’t know each other. I glanced over at my mom and asked “Is it always this crazy when the Red Sox win?”

“I’m afraid so James. People can get pretty crazy over the Red Sox.” As soon as she finished, I saw a cop dancing on a cop car. Wow was all I thought. If this was the ALCS, then I couldn’t wait to see a World Series game. I replayed the image of Jonathan Papelbon throwing his glove sky high in the air. That memory I will always have. One split-second a ball is flying through the cold October air, and another second the Indians are sent home packing. The noise was unimaginable when they won. At once Dirty Water blasted all around the stadium and I couldn’t help but sing along. I hugged my mom as hard as I could and yelled, “We did it again! We’re going to the World Series!” So many images played back in my head at the same moment. Dustin Pedroia’s shot over the Monster, everyone throwing up their arms at the same moment, or even the wise guy cracking jokes at the umpire for a bad call. Whatever moments I remembered will be with me for the rest of my life as one of the most pathetic creatures on earth. A Sox fan.

A Slice of Fiction by Christopher LeBlanc

College Here I Come

Jim was so excited the whole day because Jim knew he was getting his letter back from Boston College to see if he got in to that college. Jim has always wanted to go there ever since he was a kid and that has always been his dream. His father has gone there and he wanted to follow in his footsteps. When Jim heard the school bell go off he raced home as fast as he could. He sprinted in the door and saw an envelope that said Boston College on it. He was too scared and nervous to find out what it was going to say. Before he could rip open the letter his dad told he that he had bad news and good news. Jim was freaking out because he didn’t know if the letter was bad news pr good news. He asked Jim if he wanted the good or bad news first. Jim told him he wanted the good news first because he couldn’t wait any longer without knowing if he got in or not. Jim’s dad told he that he had gotten into Boston College. Jim was so happy and all he was doing was jumping up and down with a smile on his face. When he tried to give his dad a big hug he realized that he wasn’t happy. He was scared because he remembered he hadn’t heard the bad news yet. His dad had to sit him down and tell him a long story about what happened at work today. His dad explained to him that he was fired from his job today and that it was going to be hard to get a new job. He was so sad that he had to tell his son the next part that he even started to cry. “ I know that you have always wanted to go to Boston College but we just don’t have the money right know because of what happened.” They had to save there money incase his father didn’t get a job soon. Jim was so disappointed to hear this news but he knew that his parents have always tried their best to do what he wanted. He was so sad that his dream was crushed that he didn’t leave his room for days. His parents couldn’t stand to see him this way so they both decided to go out looking for jobs. After two days of looking for jobs that couldn’t find anything but fast food restaurants that didn’t pay a lot. They knew they had to do something so they both got jobs and Burger King. It didn’t pay a lot so they knew if they wanted to get Jim into the college that he wanted to they had to work a lot of hours there. They worked there for 10 hours each a day and for 7 days a week. They got free lunch and dinner there so it helped them out a lot because then they only had to pay for Jim to eat. After two weeks of Jim’s parents working there they got so tired. They kept on working because they loved Jim so much and there was only 2 months left until college started for Jim. Jim never thought that his parents would be able to make enough money from working at a fast food restaurant to put him through college. After days and days passed it only got closer to when school would start back up again. When there was a week before school left Jim thought that his parents wouldn’t have enough money to put him in any college. When his parents came home they told Jim the great news that he would be able to go to Boston College. Jim couldn’t believe it and didn’t know how his parents got enough money. When Jim asked him how they did it they told him that when he went to sleep they worked night shifts. Jim felt bad that he made his parents go through all that trouble just for him but he was also happy that he was going to his dream college. Jim spent the next 4 years at Boston College and ended a millionaire. He paid his parents back every cent and thanked them because they made this all happen.