About the Author: Aldwyn is 14 years old. He likes to ski, read, and play soccer in his free time.
Reed
“NO! I don’t want to take this medicine!” Reed wails at his mom from across the kitchen.
Reed didn’t think that the pollen allergies that always affected him during the springtime were that big of a deal, but apparently his mom thought that they were.
“You don’t have a choice in the matter! Your father and I have paid a lot of money for this experimental formula and you are going to drink it right now!” Lilly Ylf yelled back.
Reed begrudgingly let his mom carefully measure the thick black liquid into one of those silly little measuring cups designed specifically for medicine, and he then drank it. It left a terrible aftertaste that only medicine can leave. Just as he was walking over to the sink to rinse out the bad aftertaste he saw a fly buzz right by his head, only to go and settle down on the top of the windowshade where it couldn’t be smacked fly swatter.
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Gorf
What even is this? Gorf thinks to himself as he pours exactly twenty milliliters of the thick black liquid supposed to be “allergy medicine”. He drank the medicine, and quickly chugged a glass of water to get rid of the bad aftertaste. He was sitting outside the orphanage, gazing into the pond’s murky waters as he saw a frog emerge from the reeds. Its slimy green skin glinted in the sunlight, while it sat upon a lily-pad in the middle of a thick patch of reeds.
“Ribbit, ribbit” croaked the frog.
“Gorf, come inside and get packed up, your new parents will be here in half an hour,” Mother Abigail hollered from the bright blue doorway of the home he had been staying at for the past two years.
“I’ll be right there!” replied Gorf as he picked up the allergy medicine and his water glass.
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Reed
12:00 AM
I really need to get to sleep, it’s midnight and I don’t even feel tired. Oh well, I guess I’ll just be tired for school tomorrow… not that school even matters anyway.
“Bzzzzz Bzzzzz.” The noise of the flies wings pierce the quiet air as it enters Reed’s room through a hole in his window screen. It goes and immediately lands right on Reed’s nose. I can’t go to sleep, and now there’s a fly in my room!
“BUZZ BUZZ” Reed hissed at the fly, hoping to scare it off.
POP! Reed tried to release a scream, but it never got the chance to come out. Then the pain came. It racked his body, it felt like there was a needle-toothed creature gnawing at him from the inside out. And then it was gone, like nothing ever happened. What happened? I look around and nothing looks familiar. I’m lying right next to a giant cave, with a huge blue mountain behind it. None of this makes any sense! I look down at my hands, but don’t see them. Instead, I see six spindly little legs. I feel something weird on my back, then just as easy as breathing, I start to fly. As I get higher into the air, I realize where I am, my room!. That huge cave was only my down blanket, and that mountain was just my soft green pillow. This is the strangest dream I’ve ever had...
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Reed
12:17 AM
What just happened… I know I had a weird dream about becoming a fly, but now it seems as though I’ve woken up, and am back to being a human. Unless, it wasn’t a dream… no, that’d be impossible, but I don’t remember falling asleep. Reed stared at the low ceiling, pondering what had just happened in the past fifteen minutes. He dozed off, and had a nightmare racked sleep.
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Reed
“Get out of my way, nerd!” Reed hollers as he pushes one of the younger kids down, just as they were about to pass him in the hallway.
As Reed pushed him, he smiled, knowing that no one could stop him, simply because he was a lot bigger than all of the other kids. Now that he was in fourth grade he was basically the king of the school, but he was not a kind and good king.
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Reed
Oh great, math class next. The only thing Reed hated more than nerds was Math class. He hated everything about it, Geometry, PEMDAS, the silly “You Can Do It’ posters hung around the classroom, but mostly he hated the teacher, Mrs. Nevin. Because of the way that Reed treated everyone, the feelings between Mrs. Nevin and Reed were pretty mutuall. About halfway through class Reed decided he was done with Math for the day, so he raised his hand to ask to go to the bathroom.
Once he was there he whispered “Buzz Buzz” under his breath and
POP! This time the pain wasn’t nearly as bad, and only lasted a few seconds. He then quickly flew back into the classroom and started biting people, including the math teacher.
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Reed
A new kid had just arrived, and walked into Reed’s L.A. class. He was tall and lanky, with short red hair. He was wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit him, and had piercing gray eyes. He introduced himself as “Gorf”. What a stupid name. A few minutes after Gorf had introduced himself, he raised his hand and asked where the bathroom was.
Reed put on a fake smile and with a hint of malice in his voice, said “I’ll show you. Just follow me.”
The second that the bathroom door closed, Reed checked the hallway to make sure it was empty.
The halls were clear… “Buzz Buzz” he whispered, his voice barely audible.
POP! He flew under the door of the bathroom, and bit Gorf just as he was washing his hands. Then to Reed’s utter surprise, Gorf said “Ribbit”. POP! And there Gorf was, a bright green frog sitting right there on the floor. He hopped up onto the sink, and tried to stick out his long pink tongue to catch and eat Reed. This sent Reed out of his momentary shock of what had just happened, and he flew back under the doorway with great haste. He flew back into the classroom where he proceeded to annoy and bite everyone in class. After about ten minutes later he knew that his time was up, so he went back out into the hall. POP! Then, minute later from the bathroom, POP!. The door opened and Gorf walked back out
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Reed
DING, DING, DING!
“Hey Reed, come play some football with us!” A few of Reed’s cronies yelled across the field as he walked out to recess.
“I got something more important to do” Reed hollered back.
This response was met with grumbles of disapproval, but eventually they went back to their game. Reed started to head over to Gorf, who instead of playing was just leaning against a large oak tree, reading a book.
“I saw what you did in the bathroom” Reed said accusingly.
He carefully marked his page with a bookmark, and set it down on the grass.
“What are you talking about?” Gorf answered back calmly, but Reed could sense the worry in his eyes.
“You can turn into a frog, can’t you,” Reed replied with a smirk. “I saw it all.”
Reed quickly checked around to see if anyone was watching, the coast was clear. POP! And there, right where Reed had been, was a deer fly.
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Gorf
Reed had just flown away to go bite the other kids on the playground. I can’t believe I’m not the only one! But I still don’t trust him. So far I’ve seen him just be mean to people. I rarely use my gift, because of the pain of changing, but it seems that he uses it all the time. Of all the people to have it, it had to be him, a bully. All that he uses it for is to go around and bite people. Maybe I ought to teach him a lesson. Next time he comes over I’m gonna give him a scare that he won’t forget.
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Reed
“Hey Reed, come over here!”, Gorf yelled from behind the big oak tree in the middle of the playground. What could he possibly want anyway? Reed flew quickly over to the tree. When he got to the tree he looked around, but Gorf was nowhere to be seen. He then looked down at the ground, and saw the large green frog. It was sitting under the shade of the tree, it large dark eyes popping out of its small dark green face. It almost appeared to be smiling. It must be Gorf, but what could he possibly want?
“Ribbit,” the frog croaked, but somehow Reed understood. He wants me to come down there with him. Reed decided that nothing bad would happen, so he flew down and landed right next to the frog and landed on the soft, green grass. Gorf opened his mouth, showing the black depth of the inside of his mouth and throat. Gorf’s tongue flew out of his mouth, stuck to Reed, and yanked him toward his mouth. It’s all over. I’m only in fourth grade and that’s as far as I’ll get. I’m about to be eaten by a frog… what a stupid way to die! Just as Reed had accepted he was about to meet his end, Gorf released Reed onto the grass in front of him.
“Reed, if you don’t stop being mean to people, and using your power for bad, you will pay for it.” Gorf croaked.
“Why should I listen to you, you’re just a big green dummy!” Reed buzzed in reply.
“If you don’t stop being mean to people, I will eat you, so that you can’t hurt people ever again.” Gorf croaked menacingly.
“Fine!” Reed agreed, but simply out of self-preservation “I’ll stop being mean, and using my gift for bad.”
Within two minutes they had both turned back into their human forms, and Reed had shaken Gorf’s hand to signify that he would abide by his promise. For the next few months Reed hated Gorf, for threatening and humiliating him, but was too afraid to do anything but be nice to everyone around him. Eventually Reed realized what had happened after had begun to make good on the promise, so he felt better. Reed was surprised to find out that treating people better, and being nice, also made him feel better. Reed soon forgot about the promise he had made, but continued to be kind, and only use his power for good.
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Reed
“Hey Gorf! Wanna come play some football?’ Reed called over to Gorf as he was walking out of the school door.
“Sure, why not?” Gorf called back with a grin
He walked over and they started running around, passing the ball, and making eachother laugh until they fell over.
They played until dusk that day, knowing there would be many more days filled with laughs and games. It was the start of a long-lasting friendship