Category: 8 years old

The Very Secret Map

CLUNK! CLUNK!

The shaft on Caroline’s shovel rattled loudly. Lola had been waiting for years to hear that sound. This time, Caroline Crackenhatch and her archeology partner Lola Lovelots had definitely hit something big!

They were on the hunt for a very secret map. Everyone talked about it, but no one could find it.

CLUNK! CLUNK!

“We are even closer now,” said Caroline eagerly. She dug a little more.

“Lola, look!” she said. “There is a shoot! Let’s go down it!”

Lola wasn’t so sure. “There must be lots of holes,” she said.

“Not this one,” said Caroline. ”It might lead to the map.”

Finally, Lola agreed and they slid down the shoot and trudged into the dark.

“It’s really dark!” said Lola. So Caroline grabbed her flashlight and switched the off to on. They kept walking. Once they stopped, they saw that there was a huge wall, with a little keypad.

“It looks like we need a password,” said Caroline. 

“Hey look, it has hints!” said Lola. The hint was “Who was the first president of the United States of America?”

“Oh that’s easy. George Washington!” Caroline said.

Lola typed in the name George Washington. The door creaked open and the sun beamed in their eyes! The girls saw a map on four pillars. Flames were licking the pillars,

“These are magical flames. I read about them in books,” said Caroline. “They never go out.”

“So how are we going to get the map?” asked Lola.

“Too bad I left my shovel on the other side of the tunnel,” said Caroline. “I could probably have prodded the map out if I had my shovel.”

“There surely has to be some sticks around here somewhere,” said Lola. They looked around but there were not any sticks.

“We could use something else like a piece of wood,” Lola said.

“Great idea!” said Caroline.  “I should have thought of that before.”

They snatched a plank from the side of the wall where planks leaned. Then they carefully walked to the flames, that protected the map protected in their grasp.

Carefully, Caroline pried the map from its resting place with the plank in her hands. When she got the map, the girls cheered. Then they saw the door creaking shut. Hurriedly, they sprinted to the door and Caroline placed the plank between the door and wall before it closed.

They pushed the door open and climbed happily out of the shoot. They had got the map! Hooray! Now to find the treasure.

Trevor is Trapped

Trevor is Trapped

by Caroline Reid, February 2020

Trevor blinked. He blinked again. “Where…where am I?” he said softly to himself, his eyes scanning, focusing on his surroundings.

Trevor had been on a hike by himself through the woods behind his house. And this afternoon, he felt adventurous and had taken a different trail towards the mountains. But as he walked, Trevor had tripped on a large root and hit his head on the ground. Hard.

When Trevor came to, everything he gazed at was so colorful, more so than he remembered. And something about the breeze and the water bubbling seemed a bit “off.”

As Trevor sat up, he reached out his hand to touch the grass. Surprised, he stopped short. “Wait… did I just see my hand flicker?” Trevor wondered, in disbelief. Yes, his hand flickered again, right before his eyes.

It was then that Trevor realized. He wasn’t on the mountain trail behind his house anymore. No. He was trapped. Trapped in a video game.

 “I’m stuck in a video game?” Trevor said to himself.

As he sat up, he saw he was sitting on a smooth platform. He started to walk forward. Then he stopped. In front of him was water, with lava spitting out in the middle of it. There were a few rocks in the water and lava, leading him off of the platform.

He recognized where he was. This was one of his favorite video games, but he had never dreamt he’d ever be inside a video game!

He realized he still had his backpack on, but it felt heavier than usual. He took it off. Inside was a little ax.

“Whoa, cool,” he said. “Now I’ve got a gadget.”

He started walking forward on the rocks. Then he came to a big one. He climbed on top of it. But he slipped.

“Ahhh!”

He grabbed the ax and swung it toward a hook on the next rock, barely missing the lava below. He got on to the next rock and carefully walked on the rest.

He went to the teleport, but when he got to the next level, he realized he had dropped the ax and picked up a bow and arrow. He saw there was an icy water slide that he could use to get a boost. But if he wasn’t careful enough, he could go right into the snake and into the aliens that were on the other side.

Instead, he saw a little passage, and he went there. There was a wall of lava that blocked the way. He had to go on the slide. But before he actually went down it, he took his bow and arrow and aimed carefully. He shot the snake. The aliens were mad now. They tried to get him, but Trevor saw that they did not have real heads. The aliens had ice cream heads, so they could not see well. He aimed for the aliens when they were both behind each other. He left the arrow go, and the arrow went into both of them and they both died.

Trevor went down the slide carefully and got to the next teleport.

As soon as he had entered the teleport, he suddenly work up.  He was back in the woods, where he had fallen.

“Whoa! That was scary, but also cool!” he said. Then he walked back home.

The End