This is a story Cael wrote for class recently. I thought it was pretty darn cool, and so here it is.

The year was 2017, I was in grade 8. My language arts teacher, Mr. Hendrick was possibly the most strict teacher around. If he caught you five seconds late he would send you down to the office faster than you could mutter an excuse! I would always be running late, (for very valid reasons) that day was the last time I could be late because one more and I would be expelled! When I arrived 1.3 seconds late he stopped me and laughed, he said, “One more late Vallentyne and I can line you up for an expulsion!”

I mustered the courage to come back and say, “No, you won’t have the satisfaction of expelling me!” I continued, “If someone is going to expel me it will be anybody but you!”

It was a staring contest. Neither one of us was going to walk away or blink. This lasted for five minutes. Then finally the principle came by and told Mr.Hendrick to get teaching. He stubbornly walked away and broke the stare.

When I was walking home a very shady van pulled up next to me a odd bearded man put a bag over my head and pulled me into the van. After what felt like forever he removed the bag and held out two pills. One blue, and one red. He said that if I took the blue pill I would wake up in bed and I was free to believe what I wanted. If I took the red pill, I would have powers beyond imaginable. I asked, “ Who would be dumb enough to take a pill from a van dwelling man?”

He replied, “ If you don’t choose I will kill you.” I thought that was pretty simple. I figured I would just take the red pill. At first nothing happened, I thought it was just a placebo. But then things started to go the way I wanted. My parents were not mad, they just acted like I was on time and not four hours late to dinner. There wasn’t even an amber alert! It was like the world had revolved around me. I felt different, I felt like I could control the world. It was the best feeling in the world!

The next day I wasn’t rushing to Mr.Hendricks, at all. Time just seemed to stop. The first thing I did was get work done. I looked at up coming tests at all my classes. It was magical. I could control time and space. I got to his class on time and he was sure surprised I even made him give me 100% on all tests even if I bombed them. He wasn’t happy at all. On the way home I got pulled into the van again and the man said to take the green pill. I asked, “What does it do?” Suddenly he pulled a gun and looked at the green pill and nodded I knew what I to do. I took the pill and he said, “You tampered with free will and did not use those gifts for good, you have now lost them”

On the way home I realized what he meant and I thought that nobody should have that power. I was never late to Mr. Hendricks again.

The End