Christoferson Crossing
6th Grade
The Banging on the Door by Josiah Yocom
I sit very still eyes locked on the window in front of me. “What was that?” my sister Autumn asks in a very scared voice.
Silently I walk to the window examining the outside.
“I don’t see anything,”I reply. “It was probably just the leaves.” I casually sit back on the couch as if nothing ever happened.
“No it definitely sounded like something,” she says. I think I'll go outside to check.”
I hear her slam the door shut as I continue to watch tv. I can't help but being recalled to a time that was very similar to this very occasion.
***
“Autumn, when is lunch going to be ready?” I ask my sister.
“In a little bit,” she replies. I continue to finish my homework that I was forced to do on this long February weekend. My sister and I were left home alone while our dad was cleaning the church next door and our mom was stuck working a twelve hour shift at the hospital.
I suddenly hear the deafening sound of the oven telling us that our food is done cooking. I race to get my lunch because I was completely starving. Once I get my food It does not take long before I start eating as if I had not eaten for months. I walk back to the couch in hopes of finishing my homework, when all of a sudden I hear…
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The sound nearly makes me drop my plate. I walk over to see who is at the door. Maybe it was my dad. Maybe it was the lunatic neighbor. Surprisingly, it was none of those people. It was actually a strange man that I may have identified as the tallest man that I’ve ever seen. Perhaps one of the strangest things about him was his ski mask that was as dark as night.
The man knocks on the door once again “Who’s at the door?”Autumn asks. She decides to see for herself, and I can see the shock on her face. The man must have scared her more than he scared me.
Without saying a word, she quickly grabs my arm and pulls me to the phone in our parents room. She picks up the phone and immediately starts dialing our dad’s phone number. No answer. By now, what used to be a regular knock on the door has now turned into a loud banging. I think that if he were to bang any louder, he would probably punch his fist through the door. After a few more tries of calling my dad with no luck, she decides to call our mom. Again no answer. I can see her start hyperventilating. I try to calm her down; this in turn causes her to get even more worried.
Then as if things couldn't possibly get any worse, the power shuts off. We both run as fast as we can to our parents bathroom, considering that it is the safest place in the house. I was hoping that the banging would stop after a while, but it only just keeps getting louder.
***
I hear the door open as I am brought back to reality. I see my sister walk through the doorway.”Did you find everything that you were looking for,” I say is a sarcastic tone.
“No, but at least I went out to check. You probably would have been too scared to check anyways,” she replies.
“The only reason why I didn't go out there myself is because I knew that there was no reason to.”
“What would you have done if there was someone out there and I didn’t go out there?”
She has a good point. I’m not really sure what we would have done if someone did break in. We probably would have been shot before either of us would have an idea.
I decide to just continue to watch TV and Autumn does the same. I sit back as I continue my recollection
***
I had two main questions in my head about what had occurred. First of all, why would a criminal shut off your power before breaking in second of all, why would he bang on the door really loudly on the door rather than just breaking it down? None of these questions mattered right now, so I didn’t give them a second thought.
At this point, thankfully, the power has come back on, however, now he has started banging on the back door. Suddenly we hear footsteps going across the kitchen floor.We were more terrified now more than ever.
It did not take long before Autumn picks up the phone again, only this time, she does not call either of our parents, she called the police. I watch her dial the numbers 9-1-1 into the phone. “What are you doing,” I ask. She however could not answer me before the police answered the phone.
“9-1-1, whats your emergency,” The police tell my sister.
“There is a large man outside with a black ski mask and he’s banging on our door, and he’s really big, and were home alone, and-”
“Okay, just stay calm. What is your address.”
“1610 Orval B. Avenue, New Mexico,” she replies.
Wait, that wasn’t our current address. That was our address from our previous house, I think to myself.
“Sweetie, we really need you to be serious. Can you please tell me your real address.”
How embarrassing, telling the police your wrong address. She quickly hands the phone over to me.
“1410 Southview drive, Liberty Missouri,” I say into the phone.
“ We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
My sister and I sit in silence for another ten minutes. The banging has finally stopped. How convenient that the man decides to leave right when the police are about to show up. In my mind, I am relieved, but somewhat furious at the same time because now we will never know who was banging on the door.
My sister and I decide to leave the bathroom once we feel it is safe. We see the police along with our dad. Well now he decides to show up, I think. I’m sort of nervous that the police might think that we've made up this entire story and called them for no reason.
We walk outside into the freezing cold weather. I give an awkward smile trying to hide the fact that his timing was a little unfortunate. The policeman asks for a brief description and the event in order of when they happened. He took a moment to put all the pieces together before jumping to a conclusion. “I’d say it was most likely one of the electric companies from down the road trying to warn you that they were going to shut off your power.”
“Why was he wearing a black ski mask?” I ask the police officer.
“He was probably just cold,” he replies.
At first I think that his story was ridiculous, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Suddenly I am overcome with a wave of embarrassment. We called the police on an electrician. The words hit me like a ton of bricks. I was so shocked from what I had just heard that I didn’t even notice the police leave.
I walk back to the house listening to my dad apologize for not answering his phone. “You did the right thing,” he says. I completely ignore him. In what way was what I did the right thing? I completely embarrassed myself.
It took me a while before I could actually find this story funny, but before a while, I was telling it to everybody I knew. The story had eventually become something I could find enjoyable.
***
I hear the door open again, only this time, it was my parents carrying groceries into the kitchen.
“Autumn thought there was a murderer outside. She was afraid of the leaves,” I say to my parents as soon as they enter the kitchen.
“Shut up!” she says angry that I ratted her out in the bluntest way possible.
We explained everything that had happened, along with what it reminded us of. Overall, I just hope that nothing like that ever happens again
M&M’s by Jessica Buser
It had been a normal day, or I thought it would be. It started when Mom picked me up from the bus. As usual I got in the car and we drove into town. Everyday we went to the Post Office, before going home, to get our mail. Sometimes we went to the grocery store. On the way, I was thinking about the usual nonsense. Things like homework, friends, drama, ( and me being me) how hard the tests in law school are.
“ Mom where are we going?” I asked.
“Oh, there’s some things I need at Safeway.” replied Mom.
“ Ok.” I said.
“How was your day?” Mom asked
“Fine,” I said back
I said “How was yours?” I could tell her day was difficult, but then again she’s got a difficult job.
She replied “It was O.K., I guess.”
As we parked the car I kept thinking, thinking about nonsense thinking about nonsense. We walked up to the entrance. While we were walking it became hard not to the notice the homeless man with a guitar, singing Christmas carols. I felt horrible as we walked by him without anything to offer. Especially since he wasn’t just begging, he was trying to earn the money he made. He looked like such a sweet old soul, the kind of person who would always say please and thank you. I bet he had never walked out on one of his friends, or left them behind. I bet he never ever forgot someone’s birthday. When we were shopping, I wasn’t really shopping I was in my head thinking about what I could do to boost his spirits. I came up with nothing. I had a lot of time, me and Mom went down almost every isle.
When we done shopping, Mom was in a good mood. I like it when she is in a good mood, we’re less prone to get mad at each other. While we were in the checkout line she randomly asked if I wanted a candy bar. Then it struck me! What if I got the homeless man outside a candy bar? “ That would really nice!” said my mom after I asked if I could. She said we could get an extra one. That meant that I could have one too, while still getting him one. I picked him out a bag of regular M&M’s. I didn’t know what he liked. He looked like an M&M’s man, I didn’t get the extra flavor ones because he might have some food allergies. I got so nervous, what would he say, what would I say, what would Mom say? What if he was if he was in the middle of a song? Would I interrupt him, or would me and Mom just stand there and wait until he was finished. I became more than nervous, I became scared. I became scared in less than a minute.
It was coming, that one moment where all my fears could become real. We were walking towards the door, step by step, I got more scared. The door opened, we kept walking. I suddenly heard him finish a song. My chance had arrived! Before he started his next song, my mom gave a faint smile. I walked up, M&M’s in hand. I held my hand out, with a tiny smile across my face. He stretched out his hand. Saying “God bless you”. All I did was smile bigger. As we walked away to our car I looked back. He was putting the candy away, I knew he was going to save them. When he started his next song, he seemed a bit happier. I knew he wasn’t completely happy, he was still homeless, cold, and broke besides his guitar playing money. At least he wasn’t hungry.
After that we went home, as normal. Except it wasn’t going to be normal. Mom told me I was a good person. I said thank you and started staring out the window. Every time my mom looked at me after that she smiled. On the way home I was thinking about my thoughts. I was thinking about how earlier about friends, drama, and my future. When I didn’t realize that I should be grateful to have friends, people to talk to. And his drama wasn’t my friends ignore me simply because I stated an opinion. His drama was no food, no house, no money. Future, his was uncertain,unknown, undetermined. For all I know he might not have a future. Then I realized that I wasn’t just thinking those thoughts for that man, I was thinking those thoughts for thousands of people all over the world. My next thought was how many people are thinking the same thing I am, or rather realizing it. My last thought, I should and shouldn’t worry about this. I should live life and live well while I can. I should also try to help people in that sort of situation, when the opportunity presents itself. I shouldn’t put my life on hold, but instead make them part of my life. Now I look out on life in a new way.
Christmas Day by Evolyn Rayburn
Welcome to my story, the story of Christmas Day. I was awake by the time the clock struck midnight, trying not to slip as I put on my socks. I crept down the stairs, peeking in on my mom sleeping on the couch. I tiptoed to the fridge inspecting the gorgeous food mom spent hours on. My hushed footsteps piercing the silent hall, I stumbled toward my bedroom.
After what felt like five years of sleep I rolled out of bed listening to the pots and pans noisily banging around. I fled from my room anticipating the time when we were allowed to open presents. I headed into the kitchen daydreaming about eating sweet, fluffy pancakes when a bitter stench met my nose.
“Mom?” I asked.
“Mm.” she replied.
“What’s burning?”
“Oh no!!!” she groaned.
At that instance the smoke alarm went off. I bolted to the door worried down to the bone. My mom tried to calm my sister, Gyda down from hysterics. The cranberries were still burning on the stove. While my sister was screaming bloody murder mom started to shout.
“It’s just the cranberries, I left them on the stove.”
While I calmed Gyda down the hustle and bustle of the kitchen returned, leaving Gyda and I in the living room. I asked her if she wanted to help my bake a Christmas cake and, of course, she said yes.
Smile! by Mia Stickens
On this hot, summer day, my friends and I sit on the scorching, hot pavement. I don’t know about my friends, but it feels like I am about to melt into a steaming puddle. But, I don’t care. My shoulders slouch, and I straighten them immediately. I look over at my friends and am surprised to see that they are blinking tears away. I flick my eyes to the ground, and focus on not tearing up myself. My eyes sting, though, and it seems like those tears are winning over me, so I focus on everything around me even more.
I focus on listening to my dad mow the lawn in the backyard. I focus on my burning back that is facing the beautiful, 2 story house I am going to leave in a few days.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see my best friend get up from the pavement front step we are unfortunately sitting on, due to being inside all day.
“Hey, cheer up, guys!” He says. His voice says nothing but cheerfulness, but when I look up at his blue-green eyes, they are obviously dimmed with sadness. This makes me sigh. My friends always care about me, and each other.
“How could you say that when our best friend is moving away, stupid?” Ruby mutters, glaring at the green grass that fawns out in front of us. I consider sitting on the grass, and thnk about poking at it with my toe to see if it’s cool enough, since the sun has been out all day, probably frying it. I hesitate, then quickly poke the grass.
“Ouch!” I whisper quietly, drawing my tender toe back.
“Are you okay?!” Jaylee cries, somehow hearing me. She sounds like a worried mother. I glance at her. She’s biting her lip, which is something she does when she is worried. Luciel has his arms crossed, a sign that he is worried.
“What happened?” he says, taking a step in my direction. I quietly snort. My friends can be worrywarts sometimes.
“Oh, nothing. I’m alright, don’t worry about me!” I say quickly. I look over at Ruby, who is now glaring at a ladybug crawling on her foot. Ruby somehow senses me looking at him and looks up at me, and we both roll our eyes, stifling giggles.
It falls silent again, and I let my mind wander. I mostly think about my friends, and how I am going to live without each and every one of them. Them and their special personalities and traits. How am I going to live without Jaylee’s craziness, her weirdness, or her sweetness? Without Ruby’s sarcasm, or her hilarious, sarcastic jokes that made no sense, but kept you laughing for hours anyways? Or without her weird, judgemental gossip about others that cracks you up? Without my best friend in the whole world, with his special advice, and his comforting hugs he gives out for free if you need them? Without his friendliness, patience, kindness and much more? They all mean so much to me, but I’ll have to leave them soon. I feel my eyes sting. Oh, no you don’t! My mind screams at me, telling me not to cry.
“I’m going to miss you..” I hear Ruby mutter. She sounds awfully quiet… I think to myself. That’s unusual... I look over. She’s crying, oh my gosh. In all of the two years I’ve know her, I’ve never seen her cry. I feel my tears spill over, but I don’t swipe at them. I turn to look at Jaylee. She’s crying, of course. I’ve known her since first grade, and I’ve seen her cry about a million times. But that’s okay. I look up at Luciel, who is staring down at the pavement our feet are resting on. A tear goes down his rosy cheek. I’ve known him since preschool, and he has always been there for me when I’m sad or crying. Now it was my turn.
“I’ll be okay. We can still text and write. Right?” I say, looking at all of them in turn.
“Right…” they mutter back.
“Since Mia is moving to Colorado, we can go visit her, and..” he pauses, his face thoughtful. I can tell he’s trying to make us all laugh. Suddenly, a mischievous smirk loons over his face.
“We should go in the winter, so then we can pelt you with snowballs,” he says, grinning.
“If it snows!” I say, fake glaring at him.
“Even if you don’t come in the winter, you’ll try to come in the summer, or something, right?” I ask. Not that I’m worried. I know they will come, but I was just making sure.
“No, I would go anywhere but,” Ruby says, shuffling her feet.
“RUBY!” Luciel snaps, actually glaring at her.
“Don’t SAY that!”
“Dude, I was JOKING. Plus, YOU, mister, was JUST joking with her a few seconds ago!” she screeches, roaring with laughter. Jaylee and I join in, giggling. Luciel licks his lips, ready to argue back when my brother opens the front door behind us.
“Who wants ice cream?!” he bellows down at us.
“ME!!” we yell, and push ourselves up, Luciel in the lead, since he wasn’t sitting down along with the rest of us.
“Cheaters! I didn’t know we were racing!” Ruby calls, behind us. We continue running inside, shoving, and laughing. At the familiar big brown table that my first memories all come from, we all stop. I stop laughing, gazing at it, thinking about the move. I hope we find a nice house, I think to myself. And nice friends, I think, frowning. Smile! You’ll be okay! my mind says.
My mother scoops ice cream up and plops it into a bowl. She hands it to me, and I smile broadly at her. Then, I turn to my awaiting friends, who already have their ice cream. I smile at them. My friends that I will leave for hopefully just as good friends.
We Meet Again by Emma Sewell
I opened my eyes and thought I was flying past the clouds. I daydreamed for that moment and then realized I was in the plane again. Before I knew it we were falling from the clouds, and racing over New York City. In the distance I could see a giant seafoam green statue, the statue of Liberty!
“There it is,” my mom said as she pointed at the copper giant.
“Wow.”
Right as I said that, ding! The seatbelt sign came on, preparing the passengers for the rough landing. I grabbed the edge of my seat belt and buckled it in the other side of my seat. A sick feeling formed in my stomach as the plane lowered. My blood rushed up to my head. Still, a smile was still on my face, I couldn’t help it, an hour from now I would be driving to Creeley’s aunt’s apartment.
Once we lowered I looked out the window and saw the enormous airport. The building stretched out for what looked like miles. Around the building, little tiny people roamed around below looking like ants dancing around on the ground.
As the plane touched the ground my mom squeezed my hand tightly. I looked up at her smiling face.
“We are here,” she whispered in my ear.
“Where do you think they are?” I asked her.
“Melisa said they are at the baggage claim.”
“Oh,” I mumbled as I looked back out the window.
When the plane attached to the boarding tunnel my mom stood up. Click, the baggage cabinet popped open and my mom grabbed my bag and handed it to me. I clutched it tightly. Closing my eyes, I could see the scene happening. I would be running to word Creeley and wrapping my arms around her in a big hug.
I opened my eyes and felt a tear dripping down my face. I was only allowed to see her for four small days.
My mom looked down at me. She sat down on the seat next to mine with her bag in her lap blocking my view of her face.
She wiped the tears off of my face and said, “Don’t you dare stick that lip out further young lady.”
I couldn’t resist it, a grin grew bigger and bigger across my face and I started giggling.
Standing up, a rush of relief swept through my veins, I would soon be off of the plane that made my brain run down to my stomach. We walked out into the aisle, turned and move towards the exit. Every step I took, you could hear the thump of my boot on the ground and the tires against the bumpy aisle floor. That sounded like confidence to me. I was walking to one of the most important things of my life.
What pulled me out of my daze was the flight attendant standing at the end of the plane.
“Did you have a nice flight?” she asked. I looked at her with a puzzled look.
“Did you have a nice flight?” she asked again. She was demanding for an answer from me, so I had to respond.
“Y-y-yeah,” I stammered quietly.
She then looked at my mom with a frown on her face.
“She said yes,” mom said and then leaned forward towards her, “She is a little shy.”
Then the flight attendant smiled at me sweetly and patted my head. It completely messed up my hair so I fixed quickly so she couldn’t notice.
Mom and I started walking again. We took a turn to the left and entered the passenger boarding tunnel to send us to the airport. I took my mom’s hand in mine. Goosebumps popped out of my arms making me shiver. Still, I kept putting one foot in front of the other. I had to get to Creeley. I had to see my best friend.
Once we got to the end of the plane, we stopped. My mom let go of my hand and shook the smiling ladies’ hands. Again, goosebumps nudged there way up to the surface of my skin.
When my mom reached down and grabbed my hand again, my goosebumps went back under the surface.
Then, we moved on ahead. The shouting of all the people made me feel like my brain was trying to nudge it’s way out of my skull and onto the floor.
I looked up at the sign above me and saw the words in big bold letters, Baggage Claim Ahead.
When I read that, I completely lost it. I dropped my mother’s hand and started running. Running as if there was a bear chasing close behind, running as if I would never stop. I dashed past people, escalators, and security guards as I followed the signs pointing towards the baggage claim.
Even though a pain was rushing up my legs as if teething puppies were gnawing on my muscles, I kept running, I couldn’t stop. I sprinted although my shouting mother’s voice was calling from around me, I wouldn’t stop.
Once I passed ten signs, I got to the baggage claim. I stopped and looked around, hoping to see my friend’s smiling face.
After two minutes of looking around I could see her waving her arms in the air, signalling to me that it was her. I looked behind me and saw my mother was behind me I started running again.
I never saw the foot in front of me. Not even the person, but it was there. I trippecd over the foot and crashed. The tip of my head landed about 12 inches away from Creeley’s feet.
“You okay?” She asked.
“Urgh!” I answered.
We looked right into each other’s eyes and started laughing hysterically until we couldn’t breathe anymore.
When I was able to stand up my lungs ached from all of the laughter and from getting the wind knocked out of me.
When I was on my feet Creeley tackled me with a giant bear hug. We kept on laughing until we almost died because we didn’t have enough oxygen.
Once we stood up again Melisa took Creeley’s hand in hers.
“You ready to go you two?” she asked.
“Yes!” we both screeched at the same time.
Right after I greeted the others my mom showed up. Her face was bright red and sweat flowed down her face and dripped onto the floor.
“Why did you start running?” she panted, gasping for breath. I looked at her without an answer on my tongue hoping she would forgive me. I gave Creeley a squeeze trying to signal to my mom that I found them. After a minute she stopped waiting for an answer.
She walked towards Melisa and Eric and gave them both hugs. They started talking, but I didn’t know what they were saying because I was too focused on trying to wake myself up from this dream. I kept trying but then realized this was real, this was all real.
Then, we walked straight out of that airport and waited for a shuttle to arrive so we could go to the parking lot.
Five minutes later, a shuttle arrived. I hauled my suitcase up the stairs and into the hands of the driver who then put it on the rack.
We walked to the back of the bus and sat down on the plastic covered seats that made a squeak when we sat on them.
From that moment on I knew that Creeley and I would be inseparable. Even when I was on the other side of the country. We would always be connected by heart, no matter what happens.
Runaway Child by Becca Stambaugh
Every year me and my family go to a chili supper held by the fire house, but this year was a bit different. I was so excited! As we walked in getting to skip the line because we since we are firefighter family. I was greeted by my friend Makala, “hey Becca, how are you?” i was is a very good mood so I was being a little bit of a jerk. So i replied
“ Get out of my way!”
She looked at me with pure confusion.
“ Sorry, i was joking. How are you?”
All she gave me was a mean look.
We walked into the little meeting room, ( when I say little I mean TINY) things were normal. The rather large table in the tiny room, with three chars around it. A case with 20-40 trophies filling up 3 walls in the back. The kitchen smelled like beef and dough. The only non-normal thing was all the people in the room… Talking as if meaning to shout, like guys calm down you can talk to your family without shouting jeez. Then Makayla pulled on my sweater,
“Becca come on let's get away from...this”
So we left to go get some food.
As we were getting our drinks. Tea for me and kool-aid for her. A friend of my uncle who we call “Tater Tot”, came up to use with his new 6-year old niece Emma.
“Hey! Would you two mind watching Emma for me? Its ok if you can’t i’ll have someone else do it.”
I guessed Makayla was about to say no but I went ahead and said sure. He motioned his niece tourds us and we started to head to the tables. We soon picked up that Emma was a very shy child. She always held her huge Minnie Mouse doll (that thing was bigger than her!!). After we were done eating, Emma was looking at the fire trucks. Makayla and I thought that it was a good way to keep her entertained.
Emma was fascinated by the big green trucks. The three of us walked around some more until Emma sat down. Makayla and I sat down as well, then Emma pulled on my sweater.
“ Hungry” she said shyly
With a sight of execution we walked over to the food table with almost nothing left from all the hungry visitors. Emma got her two rolls, and headed over to the table as she ate her rolls Makayla and I talked on how to keep her entertained for two more hours. We knew it would take a lot but we came up with this: look at trucks, get her to talk to some friends then….then we didn't know but we figured that we would find out.
Just as we finished talking I went to grab Emma to go back to the trucks. Only when i got there she wasn't sitting in her seat.
“ OOOHHH SSSSSSSSSSSHOOT,” I basically screamed.
Makayla came over with the look of pure fear. The next thing that happened was a mixture of “HOW ARE WE GONNA GET HER!” and “ WERE DEAD!”. Then I saw a little figure walking passed a huge crowd.
“ I see Emma!!”
We dashed through the fire house to see if we could catch her. Both of us made it out of the first crowd. The only thing stopping us was the second one. This one was bigger with more people and an unwillingness to move out of the way. That was our cue if we wanted to live we had to get through.
I looked at her with a I-don't-want-to-do-this look. She gave the same look back. We looked for an opening none. We had to do this the hard way. Both of us counted down
“1..”
“2…”
“3!!!”
“Splllliiiiiiiiit!!!” I shouted.
At the same time we dashed and ducked though the wave of pepole. Broke a few toes, and maybe a couple of noses. That's not important though those people are fine now… I think. Suddenly I saw Emma and grabbed her Makayla caught up she was out of breath like me. Then Emma slipped away.
“ OH.MY.GOD” I stamped
“ Let’s go” Makayla instrucked.
She went left while I went to get some help. Lucky Anna and Kenzey were at our aid. We decided to go four different ways into four different rooms. I would go into the meeting room, Makayla would stay in the main room, Anna would go outside just in case and Kenzey would go upstairs ( at this point if your wondering how three 11 year olds and one 14 year old can’t catch a 6 year old child I have no idea).
All of us split into position. What I didn't tell you is that Makayla only stayed in the main room to Lead Emma to one of us. Emma went upstairs where Kenzey got her, for the last time to. For two hours we had been chasing this child tough a NOT VERY BIG fire house. All Emma said was “ That game was a lot of fun!!! Let's play again!!” I almost jumped of the railing ( I would have been fine if I did). The others were all too tired to care.
Least to say we brought Emma back to her uncle. Makayla and I sat on the couch and calmed down. Anna and Kenzey went home, things went back to pretty much normal. Except when the christmas party rolled around but…. that's another story. See ya!
