Stranded

“Mom! Dad!” I yelled but there was no answer. I got up from the debris and started to look around but I could not see anything through the smoke. I called their names again, but I received no answer. Then I saw a light.
“They’re here!” I exclaimed to myself and ran to hide under a broken wing from the ship. I kept low and quiet and watched as the vehicle searched for any survivors, I started to pray to God that they would not find me. When I saw the vehicle leave, I got out from my hiding space but then another vehicle spotted me.
“A survivor!”
I got up and ran as fast as I could through the broken pieces of the spaceship. I could hear the hunters shooting their laser guns at me. Just when I thought I was going to die, a man came out and fought the two hunters. While they were fighting, I was able to find a place to hide in the debris and watch from a distance.
The man wore a cloak and I saw the crest, the crest had the symbol delta on it, and the delta covered a picture of the Milky Way galaxy. From the crest, I knew that the man was part of the Galactic Police Force or GPF. The man was able to get the hunters to go away and after fighting them, he came over to me. From my pocket I got out a knife, just in case if he was an imposter.
“I was trained to fight,” I said but the policeman just stared at me. He got on his knees and looked at me face to face.
“There is nothing to be afraid of. I’ll make sure you return to your home planet,” he said and then he looked at my crest. The crest I wore symbolized the planet I was from.
“You’re a long way from home. Are you hungry? Come with me, I’ll get you something to eat and drink,” He slowly grabbed my hand with the knife in it and I gave it to him. I knew that he could help me return home.
“What’s your name?”
“Andrex,”

“Mr. Moslow! Welcome home! How was work?” I asked when he arrived home. Mr. Moslow patted me on the head with a big smile on his face.
“My day was good. I got in touch with your home planet. A ship will be on its way to pick you up next week,” He said after giving me a hug.
“Andy, want to play Mario Kart with me?” asked Tracy and I nodded.
Mr. and Mrs. Moslow both worked for the Galactic Police Force, but Mr. Moslow was the one who worked in the field while Mrs. Moslow was part of a forensics team. Their children don’t know about their work and believe they work for their home world police force. Mr. Moslow had to inform me that their planet knows nothing about other life forms and believe that they are the only planet with any living humans. I remembered mom and dad telling me that there were planets in the universe that still did not know that there were other humans out there because they were not ready.
“The wii is broken,” Tracy said frustrated and disappointed.
“I bet I can fix it,” I told her and walked over to the device. I got out a screwdriver and undid a few screws to look inside. I found what the problem was and fixed it. I closed it back up and it was working as if it was brand new.
“Wow, how did you do that? You must be really smart,” Tracy told me.
“It’s a gift,” I told her forgetting that the children on this planet knew very little about mathematics and science.
“Tracy, you have to go to your tutor soon,” Mr. Moslow said. Tracy sighed, I knew she hated math and I wished I could help her, but Mr. Moslow told me that I could not give away to anyone that I knew so much. Including his children.
“Andy. Mrs. Moslow went out to buy stuff for dinner. I’m taking Tracy to her tutor and the boys are out. You’ll be home alone for a while. Are you alright with that?” Mr. Moslow asked and I nodded. They left.
I went to the guest room, where I was staying, and got out a book. It was a book from my home planet. The book was filled with pictures of my family. I opened it and the first picture was of my parents and I on planet X-13 when I was two. My parents are smiling and laughing while holding me. My mother gave me a kiss and I giggled while my father held us both. It was very difficult for me to believe that they were gone.
I heard the door unlock and I closed my book because the book would give away evidence of things that this planet thought were impossible. When the door opened I saw Mr. Moslow run in. He was out of breath and I knew something was wrong.
“Andrex,” he said using my full name, “They’re here, the hunters. They are looking for you. I informed my family, we have to leave now. Get your stuff we are leaving now,” I quickly grabbed my backpack and Mr. Moslow took me by the hand. I heard a loud noise from the kitchen as if someone just broke in. That’s when I knew the hunters were there.
“Give us the boy!” a hunter yelled. Mr. Moslow and I turned around to face the hunter. Mr. Moslow was ready to fight, but I used my power of telekinesis to push the man back into a wall. I pushed him so hard that he fell unconscious.
“Good job, Andrex. Let’s go. We have to go,” But there were more hunters and we ran into the back woods. We were able to blend into the woods and then it was silent. Mr. Moslow looked around and then down at me.
“Andrex, keep going straight and you will go into town. Once there, get on a bus. Any bus. Stay on there until someone from the GPF finds you. You got that? Here is some money. You have to run, I’ll fight them off. Run as fast as you can. I know you have the power of super speed so run as fast as you can. As fast as you can, you understand? Go, go, go!” I then took off. I never saw Mr. Moslow or his family again.

“Get off this bus! Get off! I won’t allow pathetic urchins on this bus! It’s bad business. Go or I’ll call the cops! Get out of here!” yelled the bus driver. He picked me up by the collar and grabbed my backpack. He then threw me and my stuff off the bus.
“Let me back on! I have money! Please!” I begged. He turned around, grabbed the wheel and drove off.
I looked around and I found myself in a small suburban area and I thought that maybe someone would find me. I wiped the dust from my clothes and from my bag and walked into town. When I found a bus stop, I sat on the bench and waited for the next bus to arrive.
“What’s a boy like you doing waiting for a bus?” asked a lady. I looked up and just stared at her.
“Anyway the bus doesn’t stop here anymore. I just wanted to inform you,” she said and walked away. But I sat there, thinking that someone from the GPF would find me and then another woman stopped by.
“Are you lost little boy?” she asked and I shook my head.
“Where is your mother?”
“Not here,” I answered. She looked worried and walked over to a man who wore a funny brown hat with a brown uniform on. He crossed the street and came over to me.
“Hey son, where are your folks?” I said nothing but I started to get nervous.
“Are you a runaway?”
“No sir,” I answered.
“What’s your name?”
“Andy”
“Where are you from Andy?”
“I don’t know.” The man who must had been an officer started talking to the nice beautiful lady who talked to me. The two of them seemed to agree on something.
“Do you have a place to stay?” He asked me and I said no.
After staying at the police office for an hour, the nice lady said that I could stay with her until someone came to help me. She said that she had a son about my age name Joe.
“Joseph!” she yelled and a fat boy with curly hair came to the door. His mother explained the situation and his was happy to show me his room. His room had an extra bed that I could sleep on.
“You’ll like it here. It’s a nice town,” he said with a big grin on his face. I could tell that Joe was just as nice as his mother.
“I like to do magic. Can you do any magic?” he asked me.
“Yeah,” I said and showed him all the tricks I could do, but the truth was they weren’t tricks; they were my power of telekinesis.
“Can you teach me to do those tricks?” Joe asked. I smiled at him and nodded. Then his mother called us for dinner and Joe ran down stairs.
Before going downstairs, I looked out the window to see the backyard and other people’s backyard. I knew that the hunters would have a difficult time trying to find me in a place like this, but so would the GPF.
“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay,”

Desert

I dropped my bat and looked up. The sky was as blue as the sea, the clouds, as white as clear milk, but there was a shadow - a shadow growing bigger and bigger. I ran as fast as my friends ran and I heard it explode.
People were running and screaming in every direction. Young children got separated from their parents, and some parents even left their children for dead. I heard the loud noise again and I kept running. I couldn’t see where I was going with all the dust in my eyes, but I found an empty house where I thought I could hide. I ran to the corner, I crawled into a ball, and put my hands over my ears. To keep my hopes up that I would live, I thought about my mother.
She was a beautiful woman who married my father while she was still very young. She cared about everyone: my father, my sister, and me. She said that someday everything would get better and that there was more out there than this desert town. My mother was dedicated to teaching my sister and I how to read and write, which was forbidden in our country. She was a perfect mother who everyone loved.
My sister was only four and I eight. Father had left early that morning to work at the factory. I could smell the oatmeal that mother was making for my sister and I, and I heard the door bang open. My sister and I jumped out of bed and ran upstairs to see what was going on. There were two soldiers; they wore their light army uniform and their helmets with the crest of the country on the front. They wore durable boots and dark sunglasses, and, of course, they carried guns. I saw one soldier burn all our books and papers with which we practiced the alphabet. The other stared at me, and that was when I noticed that mother was nowhere to be seen.
“Mom!” I yelled. Nothing. The oatmeal was knocked over and spilled everywhere on the floor and my sister started to cry, I wanted to scream. I looked at the soldier that stood in front of me. He kept staring at me with his big sunglasses. I wanted to scare him, fight him or ask him where my mother was. After his partner said something in a language I did not understand, the two left and slammed the door. I never saw my mother again.

I put my hands down when the bombing stop. Most likely, my friends didn’t make it. They couldn’t run as fast as I could. I left the empty house and noticed that it was almost dark outside.
Home was nothing like it used to be after mother disappeared. Father became depressed and drank as often as he could, while my sister sat around playing with dolls she made out of toilet paper and any other materials she could find.
“You’re late,” said my father. I didn’t say anything. He then fell back asleep and I went over to my sister to find a black and blue mark on her cheek.
“Come with me, I’ll wash it,” I told her as I took her by the hand.
I felt a surge of pain in my left rib. I woke up to the sight of my father’s face. I could tell he was drinking by the smell of the booze in his breath.
“Go to school,” he said. He then repeated it louder. He wanted us both to attend a secret school, a school where they trained children to become rebels and fighters.
Father picked my sister up by her hair until she woke up and told her the same thing he had told me. I wanted to yell at him to put down my sister, but I knew we would both get hurt if I yelled or talked back to him. My sister didn’t want either of us to get hurt, but I wanted to protect her.
My sister and I walked out into the desert until we found the secret camp where children of all ages had already gathered. I hated the secret school because my mother was always against fighting and violence. The secret school was developed to make children become rebel soldier and join the Kinship, an underground organization that hates the government. It wasn’t until I was older that I found out our own government had taken my mother away. But I wasn’t going to take revenge. My mother had always told us to forgive our enemies, and I was never going to let her principles die.
“Haven’t seen you in a while,” one of the teachers told me.
“I’ve been busy sir,” I replied.
“Do you remember the motto of the Kinship?”
“Fear no one, be feared. Don’t get destroyed, be the destroyer. Don’t fight to live, live to fight.”
“Good boy. How about you! What’s your name?” he asked another boy and I continued to practice shooting with my gun.
“Sir, what’s that?” I heard one of my classmate say. We all looked at the desert sand and saw an army on horseback. It was the government. They started to charge to the camp.
“How did those bastards find us?” asked one of the teachers. All my classmates started to grab guns, bazookas, and knives to get ready for battle. The teachers kept yelling commands that we all had to follow. I grabbed a gun but stayed far away from the front line.
“Time to prove yourself worthy, kids,” said a teacher. Before I knew it, a battle broke out.
The battle kept going and going. I forgot how long it had been. Ten minutes? Thirty? An hour? I lost track, but the government was now in town and we learned their plan. They didn’t aim for the secret school; they aimed for the town.
I still didn’t use my gun; I kept running and hiding. I started to go crazy, wondering if a soldier of the government would find me and if he would kill me. I wanted to scream, but I was too afraid to scream. My heart was pounding so loudly that I was certain the soldiers would hear it and find me; my heightened senses were all that kept me alive. I passed people dying in streets and even tripped over dead bodies. I didn’t stop; I kept running, trying to find a hiding place in the town. Then I turned a corner and found myself in a dead end. I turned around to run and ran into a soldier. By the boots, I could tell it was a government soldier.
Our eyes met. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses like the other soldiers, and I could see his young face and brown eyes. By the look of his face, he seemed to be in his early twenties. He looked shocked and he didn’t point his gun at me. My gun had already fallen out of my hands and I was waiting for the bullet to go into my head. I didn’t stop staring at the man.
“Stay here, you’ll be safe,” he said, pointing to a garbage can. I was so skinny and small, but I was still amazed that I could fit in such a tight space. I heard other soldiers outside talking to each other in a language I did not understand. I went back to thinking about my mother and I kept as quiet as I could, hoping that someday this cruel life would end, that peace would be made in the world, and that I would live long enough to see it happen.

The Man with the Red Eyes

Once upon a time, as all fairytales start out, there was a young boy who saw the good in the world. He always did what he was told both at school and at home and was the light in everyone’s hearts.
While walking home from school one day, John found a hidden path and discovered a man sitting on a rock. The man was reading a book with a red cover and did not pay any attention to John. John just stared at the man and noticed that the man had bright red eyes.
“Sir?” asked John, but the man paid no attention to the boy. When John was beginning to leave, the man said, “How are your grades?” Although John was a bright child, he had a lot of difficulties in the academic areas and as he was talking, the man only nodded. When John began to leave, the man said nothing more.
The next day John took his friend, Mark to see the man. Mark was a chubby boy with big round glasses. When the two spotted the man, Mark went straight up to the man, pushed back his glasses, and started a conversation about history with the man.
“How are your grades?” asked the man.
“Average. B’s and A’s.” replied Mark. The man patted Mark on the head and when Mark turned around to leave, he fell, dead.
John stood over his friend’s body and looked up at the man who only continued to read his book. John was very curious about this “magic” and wanted to see it again. So the next day he found his friend Matthew. Matthew was a skinny kid, tall for his age, and had very bright blonde hair. When the two saw the man, Matthew had a conversation with him about mathematics, which was Matthew’s favorite subject.
“How are your grades?” asked the man.
“All A’s,” replied Matthew and the man patted him on the head. As Matthew turned around to leave, he fell, dead.
John was now more interested than ever and wanted to see the magic be done one more time. This time, he got his friend Mary. When the two found the man, Mary took great interest in the book and started a conversation about literature.
“How are your grades?” asked the man. Unlike the two children before her, Mary was just as terrible in school as John was. While talking to the man, Mary took notice of his eyes. When Mary turned around to leave, she rushed to John and pushed him to the ground and ran home. The man than put his hand on top of John’s head.
“Wait! Please!” yelled John but then he went quiet.
When the three boys went missing for a long time, Mary took the authorities to the place where the man was, but once they got there, the man was gone, the rock that he sat upon was gone, and all three boys were never seen again, as was the man with the red eyes.

Unconscious

“Here’s the plan, men. Alex and Jesi, you two will go in and clear the entrance for us. The rest of us will follow you from behind, then we’ll take down the enemy and bring them back to the base,” said the officer in charge of the operation. All eight men nodded that they understood.
Alex and Jesi silently and quickly ran towards the mansion where it was believed the terrorist was. Jesi was holding an explosive device that would open the secured entrance and allow the squad in.
As Jesi placed the bomb down and Alex was hooking it up, Jesi tapped Alex on the solder and pointed to an open window.
“I’ll go in to help you guys on the inside,” he said.
“That’s not part of the plan, we have to be cautious,” Alex replied, but Jesi didn’t listen and entered the building.
“What’s that noise?” thought Alex as a huge explosion came from inside the mansion.

The alarm clock went off and Alex tapped it to shut it off. He turned in his bed to see the clock showing six in the morning. Alex sat up and stretched before he got out of his bed to get ready for the day. After eating a healthy tofu breakfast, Alex opened a cabinet that housed a huge assortment of pills.
Alex stared at the pills, finding the one that would help him focus during the day. The pill was necessary after all that happened five years earlier during the war. Alex took the pill with water, grabbed his brief case and went off to work.

“Alex, you okay?” asked Christine, a co-worker.
“I’m just tired, I stayed up late working,” replied Alex.
“You sure? You’ve been acting strange lately,”
“No, I’m fine. I just need to get more sleep,” Christine left and went to her cubicle to get back to her own work. When she left, Alex sat holding his iphone under his desk, wondering if he should call his therapist.
“I hate that dream,” thought Alex. He knew the dream he had the night before was not just a dream, but a terrible memory. A memory where he lost a friend. He got up from his desk and decided to take the day off.

When Alex returned home, he could not help but throw himself on his bed and take a long nap after not getting enough sleep the night before. Alex immediately started dreaming. He was on 44th Street eating a hotdog that he got from a hotdog stand. He saw an elderly woman about to cross the street just when the signal turned to the “Do Not Cross” red hand.
“Hey lady!” yelled Alex as he ran towards her. But it was too late and the old woman was hit by a car. Alex ran towards her as a crowd started to form.
“Are you alright?” asked Alex, but he already knew the woman was dead.
Alex woke up with a start at first not realizing it was the next day. He did his old daily routines and took his pills. He knew he had to work for the whole day to make up for the previous day’s absence.

“Alex, are you hungry?” asked Casey, another one of Alex’s co-workers.
“Yeah, I need to get out of this cubicle,” Alex said with a smile. “I’m in the mood for a hotdog. Let’s go. My treat.”
While eating his hotdog and talking to Casey, Alex noticed that he was standing on 44th street, where his dream had taken place.
“Just a coincidence,” he thought and shrugged it off. That was when he saw the elderly lady. The same lady from his dream. Without thinking, Alex ran.
“Alex?” asked Casey and Alex grabbed the lady as the signal turned to the red hand.
“Excuse me?” said the lady and Alex watched the car pass without hitting the woman.
“You were about to fall,” Alex lied to the elderly woman. The woman pushed him away and waited with the crowd till the signal indicated it was okay to cross. Alex returned to his co-worker who asked what was going on. Alex ignored him and walked back to work.

At work, Alex stared at Christine from his cubicle and, while watching her, he had a vision. He was at a fancy restaurant and saw Christine. She had a nice dark blue dress on and he could smell her perfume. He could tell Christine was having a good time but he could not tell with whom she was sitting with. He could only see the back of her companion’s head. Then Alex returned to reality. He watched as another co-worker approach Christine.
“What are you doing tonight?” she asked.
“My boyfriend is taking me out to this wonderful five star restaurant!” she said. Alex was in shock. Not because Christine had a boyfriend, but because he saw it! But he did not know how.
Alex jolted up from his seat, grabbed his briefcase, and ran home. He started to sweat and act paranoid. Once he got home, he sat down and put his head in his hand.
“What’s going on! Why is this happening! Why can I see these things? Why?” he kept asking. He then turned on the TV for comfort only to hear disturbing news.
“This just in, the mayor has committed suicide. After cutting the ribbon at the new shelter for the homeless, Mayor Cooper was found dead in the bathroom with his throat cut, and a pair of scissors in his hands.” Alex turned off the TV, he did not want to hear such disturbing and bad news. Alex again was holding his cell phone wondering if he should call his therapist and wondering if he would believe him. But again Alex refused the impulse. Alex started to pace, fearing he would fall asleep and have another vision.
“What!” all of a sudden Alex could not move his body. He was fully conscious but his body was moving on it’s own. His body started walking towards the door. There was a knock on the door. Alex did not want to open it, but his body was not obeying him.
“Stop!” said Alex but his body would not listen to him and before he knew it, he opened the door to a strange man. The man was wearing baggy jeans, a black T-shirt with a skull, old sneakers, and a long black coat that was obviously too big on him. He also wore a gray hat, so it was hard to see his face.
“What do you want?” asked Alex. The stranger did not reply.
“Why are you here?”
“We are the same, but also different,” the man said. Alex still could not see his face.
“I don’t understand,”
“It’s your fault,” the man said. He looked up at Alex and Alex could see his face clearly. He wore an eye patch over his left eye, but Alex could never forget that face. The face of an old friend, whose face is not filled with joy or enthusiasm, but with anger and hate.
“Jesi? But you’re dead,”