Realistic Fiction

The Television

By: Caeden (5th Grader)

Heads Up! this story is very sad and some violent subjects Recommended reading age: 5th grade +

Nobody is stopping you from pursuing your dreams, decisions are made by you, and YOU are who pursues them.

Sam never left when I was a pup, he stayed close while I nibbled on kibble in my bed. But, while I grew up, he left more often. Even so, he always left the television on. He went to what he called, “work.” Still, I didn’t understand. The magical box gave me lots of interests, and knowledge with it. There was the sports channel, the weather channel, the rated R movies, and then there was the history channel. My favorite! I learned a lot about the outside world of Sam’s apartment. When he came home, I ran to the door and bark.

“Easy Buddy,” he replied. I sit calmly, waiting for him to say something. “Let’s eat some dinner, and get to bed, I'm beat.”

He turns to the TV, and chuckles. “How long have you been on this?” I look at the fur that I left on the couch.. As I'm sleeping, my mind travels off to the Amazon Jungle, the Sahara Desert, and the Rocky Mountains.

As I wake up, the sun sneaks through the window, and I roll around on the patch of carpet. As I make my way downstairs, Sam is nowhere to be found. I have a staring contest with my bowl, I give in. I guess Sam decided for no TV. Then I took a nap. Dogs are great friends. They don’t interrupt, and we just listen. Because humans can’t understand us! A day had passed, and I was starting to fast the crumbs in my bowl. That night, as I was sleeping, the door creaked open. I jumped up with all of my strength, and I raced down the stairs to find two men in costumes. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t Halloween, and I was positive that there was no candy in our house. I growled. “Easy Buddy,” they had said.

“Trying to act like Sam,” I had barked.

“Silly dog,” they laughed.

“Silly!,” I roared, and then I took a gnaw at the man’s leg. He cried out to the night.

But, I made a mistake, the partner pulled out a toy and a bolt of speed came out and struck me in the hip. They went on with their business, and ran out to the streets with their new haul. The liquid grew below me, covering my shadow through the night. But, this liquid wasn’t an accident. It was the beginning of the end.

Finally, the door opened again. This time, it was Sam. He stared at me, and hesitated without fear. I was rushed to the hospital, wrapped in a towel. When they finished the testing. The doctor took Sam into another room. I wished to watch one more documentary, one more episode of “Jason Around The World. ”

He walked out of the room, his eyes pink. “Buddy,” he coughed. “I went to look for money, so we could get a house, a better job. And… I was in such a rush, I betrayed you. We were a team, and I let you down.” He hesitated, and sniffled before continuing. “And the only reason we cant be a team is because I messed up. It’s gonna be hard without you, and I wish I could give you a better life, and enjoy more time with you. I’m sorry.” Then he broke down in tears. I had no strength to raise his spirits. Instead, a weak bark left my mouth. I wanted to say, “I’m ok, now you can go pursue your dreams.” I wanted to say that, but my last breath breathed out, and I was lost in my dreams.

The Seven Children

By: Kaitlyn (5th Grader)

“Let’s go!”“I’m coming!””C’mon Danielle!”That was what it sounded like in the Mcgilvery House on a Friday morning with several children and one adult in a house. I was just getting up when my younger brother Henry yelled in my face from on top of the bunk beds that we shared “ GET UP!”I groaned and shoved a pillow in his face, for this was how I was woken up most mornings since my little brother turned three.

I got out of bed and headed to the dresser, which was a poor sight. Clothes were falling out of the old wooden drawers, socks were laying out around the dresser like a messy Force field and I didn't even want to get started about the other rooms in the house. I and my three younger siblings shared the bigger room, while my older brother and two older sisters shared the other room and my mom got a room all to herself.

This Friday was off because Mom was at a work conference and Victoria, the oldest of all of us was declaring that Mom should come back to a fully clean house. Anyone younger than the age of 10 was to go play outside, while the others were going to start cleaning up the house. Victoria was going to supervise the two groups.

I was assigned to my room with my older sister Luna. She was always making up fun little stories and I’m sure she would be a great storyteller. She was going to get a laundry basket to pick up all the dirty clothes even though I’m pretty sure everything in this room is dirty. I grab the vacuum and start to pick up all the things on the ground until a come to a picture of the entire family, including Dad, before he became a jerk and moved over to California and forgot all about us. I crumpled it and threw it in the waste bin. Perfect. That was where he belonged.

I finished picking up and then started vacuuming and the floor started to look brand new. Luna starts taking the laundry basket back and forth to the laundry room. I stop vacuuming and start to take the dirty sheet off the four beds. We scrub the windows, dust, polish and once we’re done, the room looks brand new. First room down, ten rooms to go.

It takes another 2 hours to get through the upstairs and by the time we finish cleaning, Victoria has made lunch and the downstairs is clean. We have to play outside until Mom gets home to make sure that the house stays clean for our surprise. While outside, I pick a bouquet of daisies and daffodils and put them in a glazed vase that I made not long ago.

I headed for the mailbox to look through the junk mail and instead find a very bright picture of a very fake person that has bubblegum pink hair and is offering to babysit us for a discounted price. I shove into the trash but then a bright idea pops into my head. There is a store down the street that is offering up jobs for 12 and older for 5 bucks every hour. Since we are homeschooled, I have about 4 hours of free time. I could make twenty bucks a day!

But before I could say anything, Mom pulled up in the car. “ What’s happening? Is everyone all right?” I smile, “We’re fine Mom. We have a surprise for you.” We tell her to close her eyes and lead her into the dining room. “Oh you guys!”” It looks so nice!” She gives us a big group hug and I know she loves each and every one of us. We ended that night with ice cream and a movie. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Chicago!! Part 1

By Hasti (5th grader)

¨Come on grandma, it's time for another story,” I say while rushing into my bedroom then past my closet and into bed.

“Ok now which one would you like.¨

¨I really like the Chicago one that you always tell grandma.¨ Before I say anything after that, she's already bringing out the journal she always gets out when she's telling me the Chicago story. She opens to a rusty but beautiful handwritten page and clears her voice while I close my eyes knowing what the entire story is about.

She started to read in her soothing voice. “The first time I went to Chicago, it was like a door opening up, showing me how It’s like to be free. When I went through that door the breeze hit me and made my hair float up like a small tornado letting in a mist that made me feel stronger. But for some reason it felt like the sun was shining above only me and my family’s heads. Now, because of that wonderful feeling, Chicago is my happy place that makes me feel comfortable and safe just like everyone does when they have their own happy place. Chicago is also the place where I found my best friend, but most importantly it's the memories we made that make chicago so special to me. Grandma looks at me and touches my face. ¨Okay, now go to bed¨ ¨But Grandma I say, looking into her sparkling eyes she gives me whenever I want to be upset at her but in the end, never am ¨Chicago sounds like a dream and I really want to go.¨ Then she gives me a stiff but sweet look that makes me take a big although it comes as a quiet exhale and I duck into my covers like when the teacher wants to call on a random student. I knew what grandma was going to say next. ¨oh honey, I know how bad you want to go to Chicago and I miss it too I mean I was born there, I was the one who felt comfortable and safe, but you have to understand that it's a big world out there and I'm not so sure you are ready for it. And that's where everything started, where my life turned upside down. I was the most mature out of all my siblings, grandma said it herself. I mean, I am the one who always babysits and I'm not even the oldest out of my siblings. I knew she was hiding something and that something I was going to figure out.

Play (By Hasti)

5th Grader

I walk as fast as I can so I then I can put the first song in the car before my mom can, but I end up peeking my head inside the Orchestra room. I admire all the instruments and find the piano in the far back corner and I come back to a horrible memory that I speedily make that memory go away but remember only one word that wouldn’t get out of my head. “ Just play, play!” and I hear crying that sounded just like mine. The next day, my first special is music which I don’t mind because I really like playing the guitar which I’m not perfect at, but I know how to play yankee doodle pretty well. Although, I find out that were not learning guitar were learning piano which I should have saw coming because there was literally a grand piano in the music room. My stomach tightened the entire time I walked to my seat. Apparently we have to play a song on the grand piano that we will be practicing on the keyboard before. I put my hands on the keyboard, ,y fingers getting used to the feeling but still stiff until i’m pushing chords like it’s nothing. I end up catching myself smiling in the moment and upgrade to a harder song each week. Soon, I play on the grand piano and one guy said good job to me right after. I decided I was going to take piano lessons and guitar lessons and even join orchestra the next year. My fingers become friends with the piano and let loose as I learn new songs each week. And then one day i’m getting ready to play my new song and then I hear someone saying “play” “play” and I realized that there is a new memory that will be replacing my bad memory. And then I did something I never thought I would, I whispered “play” “just play” then my fingers moved and swayed and made music like it was the only language they knew.