Free Writes

Students are encouraged to express themselves by writing about whatever they want in any format they choose. Sometimes students write poems, short stories, or even from different perspectives. The idea is to utilize their creativity and to find their unique voice.

Ghost Story by Jordan Letran, 2026

You are on a camping getaway in the Appalachian Mountains, residing in a cabin that was majorly discounted on Airbnb. This is supposed to be a relaxing trip: no phones, computers, or noise, just the Appalachian landscape to soothe your work-sodden mind. The place is old, built from dark pine, with the kind of smell that clings to your clothes: smoke, damp wood, and something else. Something stale.

The first night, as you unpack, you find a small leather journal shoved in the crevice behind the bed frame. Its cover is worn and cracked, the edges flaking like it’s been handled too many times. The first page is dated October 3, 2007, and the handwriting is jagged, rushed.

You shouldn’t read it. But you do.

Journal

Property of Ryan Carter

2007

10/3

Mom said staying here would be good for my mental health. I’m not sure what she means by that. Nothing has changed ever since Dad died; we both just go through the motions. I still do okay in school, and she still goes to work every day, only taking a week off ever since the funeral. This place is quiet--too quiet, and I don’t think there’s a neighboring house for another 5 miles. Whatever, I’ll just pass the time doing whatever eases my boredom.

10/4

I found an old trail behind the cabin today. It leads deep into the woods, almost like it’s been walked a lot but not by people--too narrow, too twisted. About a half mile in, I saw a huge hole in the ground, around 10 feet in diameter. It wasn’t a cave or a well or anything like that; it looked unnatural, like the dirt and gravel had been magically carved out of the soil and replaced with pitch black nothing. I dropped a rock to see how deep it was--not a sound. The air felt colder there. I turned back fast and ran.

10/5

I heard it last night--a knocking sound from the woods. Three knocks, slow and steady. I thought maybe it was the wind hitting something, but then it happened again. This time closer.

When I looked out the window, there was nothing. But the trees… they looked different, not different in shape, but I don’t know, they looked closer.

10/7

Something’s wrong with Mom. She’s been sitting at the table all morning, staring out the window. When I asked what was wrong, she whispered, “Don’t answer if it knocks.” I laughed a little because I thought she was joking. She didn’t even look at me.

Later, I saw muddy footprints leading from the back door to the hallway. Mom’s shoes were clean.

10/8

Mom’s gone. I woke up and her bed was empty. The front door was wide open. There were marks in the dirt, like someone had been crawling--or dragged. I followed them for a while, but they disappeared near the same hole I saw before.

10/9

I don’t know what's real anymore. I hear Mom’s voice calling to me in the forest, but it sounds wrong. It sounds like someone else is trying to sound like her, the vowels are too stretched, too slow. I locked all the doors, kept all the lights on. I can't sleep, can’t think. Writing in this journal is the only thing keeping me sane.

10/10

It knocked again, this time from inside the house.

--End of journal--

You shiver as you read the very last words, the page is splattered with dark reddish brown blood. Ypu close the journal and the room suddenly feels colder.

Something thumps against the porch outside. Three times.

You freeze. Then it happens again.

This time, from inside the house.

Untitled Ghost Story, Te'anna Godfrey, 2029

Marshie: The door creeped open. My annoying little sister, Maria, pops her head in, “Mom says you have to take me with you or you can’t go.” I rolled my eyes, of course she was going to say that. I texted my best friend, Alyssia, the wicked witch of the south says I have to her goblin with me or I can’t go. “We’re literally going to a cemetery, why would she want an 8 year old there?” She replies. I went downstairs to try and convince my mom that bringing Maria was a bad idea but she refused to hear me out. “Your sister needs to go with you or you’re on punishment. You know she can’t be left alone at home.” She exclaims. “Fine.” I say in an exhausting tone.

My mom leaves out for work and Alyssia is almost here to pick me up. I was thinking about leaving Maria at home but the more I thought about it the more complicated it was so I decided to bring her. We got into the car and headed out. “You can’t tell mom where we’re going or it’s over for you. Got it, pipe squeak?” I say, making my point very clear. “I know, relax, I won't get you in trouble.” She says with a little smirk. I’m a little skeptical about it but we’ll see what happens later on.

We reach the cemetery, it’s so cool how many graves there are and the pretty flowers. We meet up with John, Alyssia’s boyfriend and his friend, Hunter. Hunter unlocks the door and we all go inside. John and Hunter made sure to fill the office with booze and games, it turns out if you stay in this creepy place past midnight “weird stuff starts to happen” As if anyone believes that crap.

It was currently 11:55pm, we’re all sitting around laughing about stupid school stuff, when my whiny sister asked for the bathroom. Hunter decides to take her to the potty which is roughly a minute from here. I went with her to make sure everything was okay. We reached the bathroom and she went inside. Hunter and I were on the lookout. Something felt off…the wind wasn’t howling like it used to and the silence was deafening, probably because we were tipsy. “Hey Maria hurry up there.” Hunter says lightly knocking on the door. We waited, no response. Maybe she was just trying to get under my skin as always. Mind you it’s pitch black with only the shimmering moon as our light source so we’re straining our eyes out to make out nature's details, plus we were already out here for 5 minutes. “Maria, if you're trying to scare us it’s not funny, come out right now.” I say a little louder now fully aware of my surroundings. Still no response. I rolled my eyes and opened the door, it was unlocked, “What is wrong wit-” I stopped mid sentence…she’s not here. “What’s wrong? Isn’t she in there?” Hunter asked. My heart drops. I can feel my face turning cold, I grab my phone to check the time. 12:02am. Hunter lets out at a fake chuckle, “I thought you didn’t believe in all that?” “Well my sister isn’t here, is she!?” I yell out, shaking and my nerves running all over the place. Hunter puts his arm around my shoulder trying to calm me down. What am I going to do? Mom’s going to kill me. We rush back to the office, John and Alyssia are drunken to the bone. I threw water on their faces waking them up, “My sister is gone and we gotta find her.” My mind is racing, my heart is pounding, I feel like I’m in an oven even though it’s freezing cold. I don’t know what to do. Everyone was just standing around telling me not to panic but they’re not understanding the fear that’s rushing through my veins, I have to find her quickly.

I decided to head off into the woods alone, screaming out my sister's name, the silence and the trees rustling against each other was a pain in my ears, the eerie feeling of being watched was slowly creeping up on me. Where is she? She couldn’t have wondered this far? The more I walked into the woods, the more terrified I got, it’s a maze of trees and darkness, then I realized. I’m lost. This is the part where my friends are supposed to come with a flashlight screaming out for me, wrong. Nothing’s happening. I’m just here walking and walking, looking for Maria.

Maria: I stepped out of the bathroom and my sister is nowhere in sight. Is she dumb, why would they just leave me out here by myself? I went back to the office, John and Alyssia were knocked out cold. Great, these two idiots are drunk as a bat, Marshie and Hunter are gone, probably making out somewhere. A 8 year old, in a cemetery basically all by herself. Lovely, I’m so telling mom about this. I decided to go for a walk around, looking for her. “Marshie! Marshie! I’m telling mom!!” I shout into the distance, my voice echoing in the eerie silence. I walked for a few more minutes when I stopped in my tracks. There was a small red shiny ball moving up and down. That’s weird, Marshie’s probably messing with me so I called out to her or so I thought. “Marshie, this isn’t funny.” I say, slowly walking towards the ball. It stopped…slowly the ball stood up tall, maybe like 6 feet high. What in the world? Then…chuckling? The ball was chuckling at me? No it couldn’t be, it’s not even real, maybe I’m hallucinating, am I? I can’t be all I’ve drunk was water. My mind and heart was racing, I’m so confused at this point I knew it wasn’t my sister or her stupid friends, someone else was in here with us. The ball started to move closer, a man, probably late 50s was wearing a raggedy clown custom with the red ball and drippy clown makeup appeared in front of me. I started to retreat in my steps slowly. I didn’t want to trigger any movement…

Scripted in Blood
by Ariana Velazquez

December 12, 2009

Bright red and blue lights illuminated the front of McKinley High School after the school musical came to an end. Quinn stood amongst the crowd of teens as police officers pushed their way through. Quinn looks at Rachel and can see her hiding behind a pillar - watching Quinn from a distance.

Three police officers walked up to the advisor of Glee Club, Mr. Shue. They are all talking in hushed tones when one police officer speaks up and announces,

“Where is Quinn Fabray?!” Students begin to murmur amongst themselves and Quinn begins looking around frantically. Searching for something or someone. She sees Rachel and then notices Rachel quickly disappears behind the pillar completely.

“Is there a cash prize!?” One student yells, while grabbing ahold of Quinn’s arm. Quinn stomps on his foot and the student lets out a grunt, loosening his grip on Quinn. She makes a run for her car in the school parking lot. Police officers are on her tail and one eventually catches up to her, tackling her to the ground.

Quinn thrashes while yelling out, “Rachel!! Rachel help me!”

Want to read more? Finish the story here...https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SrEqSxHP0YrRI2NE5fFPVSE-7R1ke9seJL4fMGqlHi4/edit?usp=sharing

The Bonfire Excursion

Short story By Clavon Jackson, Class of 2025

Resting deep within the mouth of the forest on a camping adventure, you branched off much like the wood of tall, brown, and green titans that surround you. It begins to get dark, so returning to civilization seems like a great idea, as you’re already alone and don’t want to be alone AND in the dark. As you trek back to your campsite, flashlight in hand, you wonder why you haven’t done something like this before. It was some of the most fun and relaxing time to yourself you’ve ever had. Going off the beaten path of everyone else and getting some alone time with the ambiance of the forest ecosystem was great to clear your mind. Taking in all that is nature.

The sound of gravel crunching and twigs snapping beneath your feet slowly fades out and becomes muted by the sound ahead of you—your bustling campsite. Your friends waited for you before deciding to make the bonfire, as they wanted everyone to experience the light show that was about to occur, to appease the mini-arsonist that resides in everyone. They even gave you the honor of lightin’ that bi—; I mean, lighting the logs that sat far away from anything flammable near the forest, surrounded by wet gravel to keep it from blazing the ground as well. You prepare it by dowsing it all in lighter fluid, then advise everyone to back up; this thing ‘bout to get hot.

As you spark the lighter, a flame as large as the RVs parked at the entrance shoots into the blackened night sky. You immediately back up to not lose every piece of clothing attached to your body. You’re thankful that its brightness attracts all the pesky insects that bother you and your fellow campers into its inferno (screw mosquitos in particular. They suck—literally). The wood flickered into the air like a grounded firework. The beacon sitting in front of you is even more mesmerizing than a star-filled sky.

As the fire burns on, the unique aroma of lighter fluid and charred wood fills the camping area. Amidst admiring the campfire, you remember that you also wouldn’t be caught dead going camping and forgetting to bring s’mores. You pop out the graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, and you prepare the most delectable guilty pleasure of every person to ever go camping. A sugary treat that no healthy or sane person should ever consume more than two of (you prepared to eat 5, you’d soon regret that in the morning, but right now, you’re in sweet tooth heaven). As you converse with your friends, you reminisce about how perfect this summer has been, and this night being the highlight of it all.

Before It Happens

By Genesis Barrera, class of 2024

In a small town, there lived a girl named Lily. She was known for her adventurous spirit and kind heart. However, just like everyone else, she had her share of mistakes and regrets. One day, Lily stumbled upon an old, mysterious watch at a local antique store. Little did she know, this watch had the power to turn back time. Intrigued by the possibility, she purchased it without hesitation. As she experimented with the watch, she discovered she could travel back in time. Overwhelmed by curiosity, she decided to go back to a pivotal moment in her past - the day she met a boy named Jake. He had charmed her with his confidence and charisma, but as time went on, she realized he was not the person she thought he was. Lily traveled back to that fateful day, determined to warn her younger self about Jake's true nature. She found herself standing outside her old high school, watching her younger self walk towards Jake. Taking a deep breath, Lily approached her seventeen-year-old self and began to explain. She carefully recounted all the hurtful experiences she had with Jake in the future, hoping that her younger self would heed the warning. But her younger self, infatuated with the excitement and attention Jake provided, couldn't fully comprehend the consequences. She brushed off Lily's concerns, blinded by the superficial charm that had initially drawn her in. Disheartened but not defeated, Lily realized that she couldn't force her younger self to see the truth. She understood that everyone has their own path to walk and lessons to learn. Reluctantly, she decided to return to the present, accepting that some things are beyond her control. As the years passed, Lily watched her younger self go through heartbreaks and struggles with Jake. She wanted so desperately to spare her the pain that lay ahead, but she knew that those experiences would shape her into the strong and resilient woman she would become. In the end, Lily understood that the journey of self-discovery and personal growth couldn't be altered by changing the past. She realized that instead of dwelling on the mistakes of the past, it was more important to focus on the present and shape a future filled with happiness and fulfillment. And so, with newfound wisdom and acceptance, Lily embraced her own journey while cherishing the lessons she had learned from her past. She vowed to help others who found themselves in similar situations and to be a source of encouragement and support for those who needed it.

Racism

Anonymous, Class of 2027

They take Racism as a joke.

They use it against their friends, against other people, it’s not funny.

You hear about Racism on a daily