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The following stories can be found in What it Takes — Stories of Bravery, our fourth collaboration with Hamilton International Middle School. The book also includes stories from 826 Seattle writing workshop students, volunteers and staff. Purchase your copy here.

Lyric’s Journey

By Llanteo

It was a hot and humid day, like usual. And Lyric was doing his daily chores. One of the first chores he had to do was feed his horses. After that he had to go to the fields to pick rice for the rest of the day. “Hey Lyric” shouted Chang Yang, Lyric’s brother.

“What?” replied Lyric.

“Can I help you pick rice today?”

“Sure,” said Lyric. The fields were just a few mountains away. Ten minutes later they arrived at the mountains, but what met their eyes was a field of fire. It looked as if a bomb had been dropped. They looked at each other as they felt the ground shake. They looked to their left and saw a herd of horses coming towards them. It looked like there were people riding on top of them, people with armor and swords. They were samurai.

Lyric and Chang Yang looked around for something to hide in. They found some bushes. They rushed into the bushes as fast as they could, as if their lives were on the line. They waited a few seconds until the samurai went by. After they were gone, the two came out, and Lyric could still see the herd. It seemed as if they were heading toward the town.

“Hurry, we have to get back home to warn everyone!” said Lyric. They ran and ran and as they got closer, they started to hear screams and cries for help.

They eventually got to a point near the village lake where they could see the town getting attacked by the samurai. Lyric wanted to help, but didn’t want to die. So they waited in the hills nearby.

They watched the Samurai take away one friend after another. They saw a woman with long, thick, brown hair, wearing a long black cloth around her body—it was their mom. They felt depressed and angry! So they watched the Samurai and where they were going. They tried following by hiding in crates on the samurai’s wagons. In about three hours, they arrived in samurai headquarters.

They went inside and found armored costumes. They were a little big for the boys, but they found a way to fit themselves in so they could use the suits. With this disguise, they were not seen. They eventually found their mother in a cage not too far from the entrance. “Mom, it’s me, Lyric, I’m going to try to get you out of here,” whispered Lyric. Their mom did not say anything. “I think she’s out because there is a dart in her neck,” said Chang Yang. Lyric checked his armored suit for anything to open the cage with. There was a key hanging from his side.

He took it off, hoping that it would open the cage. “Yes!” whispered Lyric. As the door slowly opened, their mom started to awake. As Lyric helped his mom up, Chang Yang stood guard. He finally got a good grip on her arm, and they started to run toward the entrance.

“They are trying to escape!” yelled a guard.

“Close the entrance!” shouted another guard. Lyric started to pick up his pace. With one last jump, Lyric would be out. “Aaahhhh!” It sounded like Chang Yang. With a quick glance back, he saw that Chang Yang was on the ground with an arrow in his back, “Chang Yang!” screamed Lyric’s mom. “We have to go!” demanded Lyric.

That night, when Lyric and his mom got back to their village, they decide to start the whole village all over again.

 

Brandonia

by Brandon

 

My name is Brandon IV. I live on Brandonia, a small planet found by the famous astronaut Brandon I. My life is like any other normal person’s life on Earth, I assume. (I have never actually been to Earth, but I assume that it’s like Brandonia.)

Brandonia is a very nice place with one exception—it is covered with three-foot long spiders. I hate spiders; I am very afraid of them and if I could, I would have each and every one exterminated. That is very unfortunate for me because, at the moment, I am being chased by a large mob of about one hundred three-foot long spiders—but let me tell you the story from the beginning.

I was walking home from my school, Brandonia Middle School, and I could smell pie.

To you, pie might seem like a pretty good dessert, but to me pie is the world, and I’m talking about Brandonia, not Earth. If pie disappeared off the face of Brandonia, I would probably not be able to go on. That’s how much I like pie.

I turned off the sidewalk towards that delicious smell of pie. I knew who made the pie: it was my best friend Bob’s mother. She always made the best pies. I sniffed. This one was strawberry rhubarb pie. How could I tell? Well, first of all, there are only two kinds of pie that she makes, strawberry rhubarb and apple. Second, you could easily tell by the delicate, fruity, and distinctive strawberry rhubarb smell.

I slowly walked up to Bob’s house and knocked on the door. I could hear Bob’s mom telling him to answer the door, and soon after, Bob’s quick footsteps as he neared the door. A small “click” followed as Bob unlocked the door.

As I saw Bob’s face appear, the door opened and the smell of pie strengthened.

“Hi,” Bob said, while still opening the door.

“Hi Bob,” I said, quickly following with, “Can I have some pie?”

“Sure. Come on in.”

I quickly sat down at the table and started eating the pie. It was as delicious as it smelled. Even Bob (not exactly a pie lover) started eating the delicious pie. About a half hour later, before I left, Bob’s mother gave me six pies to give to my family. Soon after, I said good-bye and left. On my way home I got hungry so I opened one of the pie boxes.

It was getting dark, so I put the pie back in its box after eating about half of it. I hate the dark because that’s when the three-foot long spiders come out. I decided to take a shortcut through the woods to my house, so that I’d return home before it got fully dark. I ran through the woods pretty fast, not quite at my top speed, but still pretty fast. I jumped over a log here, dodged a tree there, went through a bush and after a while, I could see the streetlights flooding a nearby street with light. The street was only about one hundred feet away, but unbeknownst to me, there was a hidden rock in my path. This particular rock I didn’t see until it was too late. I went flying through the air and into a bush. I quickly got up and spat out leaves. I looked down, trying to find my shoes that had somehow fallen off when I tripped over the rock. It was at this moment, as I was looking down to find my shoes, that I came face to face with eight little red eyes. If that didn’t scare me enough, then the other one hundred or so groupings of red eyes did.

This brings me to my present predicament—being chased by one hundred three-foot long spiders. I knew that I could probably find refuge if I climbed up a tree. So, the next tree I saw, I was up in a couple of seconds. Spiders are good climbers but these spiders, being bigger, were too heavy. By the time one had gotten a few feet off the ground, I had gotten to the top.

I thought that something bad was going to happen, but luckily I was armed with pies. It was probably one of the hardest things I have done in my life but I knew I would have to drop a pie or two if I wanted to get away from the spiders, so, I dropped one on the lead spider, knocking it down. As it fell, it took several other spiders with it. This greatly discouraged the spiders and they all ran off. With an even greater respect for the wonders of pie, I headed home to eat the rest of my beloved pies.

 

 

Keep It Down

by Fatuma

 

I had not slept the whole day. I had been studying for my junior high math test in Tokyo, Japan, where I was an exchange student. I couldn’t sleep because of the noisy next-door neighbors. The drums were going bam, bam. A man’s low voice was singing. He was singing, “I want you.” I just wanted to yell through the wall, “If you don’t stop it, I’m going to call the police!” I know I could never do that. They were the famous Chinese band, Feilunhai, who lived in Tokyo. They were even on TV!

I got up and washed dishes and did laundry. It was 12:30 a.m. I only had six–and-a-half hours left to sleep. I touched the handle of the door and turned it. The hallway was dark and I couldn’t see anything. I could hear the Feilunhai band louder when I opened the door. I could see the red carpet under my feet.

I stopped. My mind was telling me not to go in, and on the other hand, my body was moving. I stepped backwards and let the handle go. At the end, I finally went to sleep.

I think I did a good job on the test. The numbers were kind of confusing to me but I think I did well because I showed what I had learned. When I was little, I was good at math, but as I grew up it became harder. I came home and wanted to collapse on the couch. But before I could get to the couch I heard the drums again, bam, bam, bam! I still had my purse in my arms, but I threw my backpack back on.

I could hear the drums through the wall! Why hadn’t I chosen to live on the fourth floor? Why, why, I kept asking myself. But still I had no answer. I was living in the second floor. I wanted to slap myself for letting my older brother leave me here alone to go off with his friends. If he was home, he would have done something.

I wanted to act like my brother and be tough. So I pulled the handle of the door open and slammed the door behind me. I grabbed my phone from my purse and dialed my mom. When she answered, her voice sounded worried. I asked, “What’s wrong?”

She said, “I’m worried about you living alone in an apartment.”

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about my safety,” I replied, unconvincingly.

“But I do have another kind of problem that I think I can’t handle. So can you tell me what to do?”

My mother didn’t seem interested in hearing about my problem. “You’re fine! Solve your own problems and make good choices and act like an adult.” She said.

“Do you not want to be an exchange student?”

“What? What!” I yelled. I told her I had to go.

I didn’t know what to do. I thought about what my older brother would have done if he was there. He definitely would have yelled at them, but I wasn’t going to do that because I am not that kind of person.

Maybe he would … call the police.

That is a great idea, I thought. If I’m going to call the police, I have to be serious. I dialed the phone number and a young man answered. “What’s wrong and where are you?”

I said, “I just have a problem at Soloud Apartment and the address is 78 36th Street, Apartments South, number 26.”

“What is the problem?” asked the police officer.

I replied, “Oh! My next-door neighbors are very noisy during the night, always singing and playing their music. I haven’t been able to sleep.”

“Why don’t you just go in there and tell them to play somewhere else?” he asked.

“No, no! They are a famous Chinese band!” I yelled.

“Oh…” said the police officer.

“What?” I asked.

“I understand what you’re going through. You are afraid to talk to them because they’re famous?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. That was exactly what I was thinking. He was the best person to talk to; he understood what I meant.

He said, “Okay, then. I will come over and go with you. Then you will be able to sleep.”

“Thanks very much,” I said happily. Then I hung up. I was very happy.

When he arrived, he and I walked to the door of the famous band. I knocked on the door. The noisy singing went silent. Then, one of the boys opened the door. They looked shocked. The boy at the door said, “What did we do?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said.

The police officer continued, “We are just here to tell you guys that you need to play somewhere else, please.”

The band apologized. I felt like I had to say something nice, so I said, “Oh, I am so sorry, but I haven’t been able to sleep lately because of all the noise.”

The boy who opened the door said, “Oh, it’s okay, we won’t play any more today, and we’ll go somewhere else tomorrow.”

Another offered, “If you want, you can come have parties here with us on the weekends.”

I smiled, “Sure why not.”

 

 

Lilies

by Lina

 

I woke to the sound of my loud alarm ringing in my ear. I got up and got ready for school. I hopped on the school bus and headed to school.

My name is Amanda, I’m twelve years old, and I’m a ghost. I live in a ghost world with ghost houses, ghost schools, and ghost people. Ghost people are a little see-through. I can’t feel anything but I have always wanted to feel wind. And I can see everything, even humans on Earth.

When I got to school I felt tired of being invisible. I wanted humans to see me and be my friend. I was thinking about how I once saw a lonely girl in the human world who became really good friends with another girl and had a deep friendship. I wanted to be a human.

When I got out of school that day I went to the king of ghosts, who could grant anyone’s wishes. When I arrived, I saw that the doors were twenty feet tall and bright brown. I walked up and two men dressed in red pulled the doors open for me. The king of ghosts looked at me and stared. The walls around us looked like they were filled with gold. He wore a long white royal robe.

“Hello, and what brings you here today?” he said in a deep but friendly voice.

I felt very nervous and I tried not to bite my bottom lip like I usually do when I get nervous.

“I am here because I have a wish; I want you to turn me into a human,” I said proudly but shakily.

“Alright then, you will need this.” He gave me a bag of little coins. “But if you ever want to come back, you must remember to close your eyes and spin three times and say ‘lilies.’ Got that?”

“Yes!” I said with a big smile. The king got a pile of what looked like sparkly sand and blew it on me.

I closed my eyes, felt wind go through my hair, and then I felt myself hit the hard cold cement. I got up and looked around. I saw that I was surrounded by both dull and colorful buildings. I went into the first building that caught my eye, an old colorful building that was pink, purple, and blue with a big red sign that said “The Pink Hotel.” I went in and got a room for five days.

The next day, I when to a human school for the first time. I was walking down a hall looking up at all the posters when I suddenly bumped into a girl. We both fell back and then that’s how our friendship started. Her name was Holly. She was nice, and three more days of fun passed. We played on the swings and talked, and even met her parents. By the fourth day I was ready to trust her with my secret, that I was not a human.

I went to the back of the playground where she was. “Hey, Holly,” I said nervously.

“Oh, hey, Amanda.”

“Um … I think there’s something I need to tell you,” I bit my bottom lip.

“Is everything okay?” She asked worriedly.

“Yeah, everything’s great,” I replied, but inside nothing was. Finally I built up my courage and told her the whole story of what I really was and how I came to be human. By the end of the story she looked confused. I felt cold tears dripping down my cheeks. I had begun to feel homesick by talking about my former life. Ring, ring, the bell rang. School was over so I grabbed my backpack. Holly was outside on the stairs. I went up to her, “Hey, I decided to go back to my world tomorrow. I’ll be here for school but after that I don’t know if we can see each other again. But I’ll always be right by your side. Thanks for everything Holly; I had a really good time,” I said. I could see that she was trying to hold back her tears. I hugged Holly. When I got back to the hotel I packed all my stuff and the next day we spent every last moment together. Ring, ring, the last bell rang, and it was time for me to go. I hugged her again and we said our goodbyes. I closed my eyes, spun three times and said “lilies.”

I woke up to the sound of my loud alarm ringing in my ear. Ever since, I always watch over my dear friend, Holly.