Christmas Holiday Challenge (Dec. 19 - New Year?)

[Wlonnie]

Focus: Character development
Challenge: Your main character (it can be either yourself, or a made up one), decided to read a new book one day. They sit down on the couch and begin to read... But something unexpected happens. The characters in the book begin to come to life, and enter into our world.

We have been graced with this challenge by Melody and Adley.

Not sure when this challenge is set to end. Happy holidays and merry Christmas, guys!

[Melody]

“I hate you...” Kira Pennington slammed the door to her room with flourish. It made a loud bang, followed by a large crack in the plaster.

“Don't you dare talk to you mother that way, young lady!” her father said heatedly, banging his fist again the the door. It was locked. After a moment of silence, Kira hear him speak, barely above a whisper: “I swear, I don't know what's gotten into her.”

Kira couldn't remember a day she hadn't screamed at her parents, not for a long time. They blamed it on school, and her friends mostly. Since starting the ninth grade things had only gotten worse. Her best friend, Vicki Lawson, had recently gone goth, and tried her best to drag Kira with her. The week before, Kira's parents had caught her wearing black lipstick, and had grounded her until Monday. And to make matters worse, they wouldn't let her go on a date with the new boy at school, Andrew. Kira didn't know his last name, but she knew he was cute and that almost every girl at school had a crush on him; even some of the girls in the tenth grade. And he had asked her out, of all people.

I can't even call him, she thought dejectedly. Her mother had taken her cell away earlier, along with revoking all communication privileges with her friends. She had accepted the date with Andrew, and hadn't had the courage to tell him she couldn't go when she last saw him at school. Now he'll think I stood him up...

Kira didn't know how her parents could be any more frustrating. She wasn't allowed to date for another two years, or to wear makeup, or the clothes she wanted. The only skirts her mother bought for her went clear down to the ankles, and the shirts were even worse. Her cell phone, only allowed for emergency use, was prehistoric.

Sighing, she flopped down on her canopy bed. The soft satin curtains were a dark blue, like her eyes. Something on the bedside stand caught her eyes. A book, encased in a fine leather jacket. Kira picked it up gingerly, examining the golden lettering in front. The Hobbit. It had been ages since she read the story, though she knew she had several copies. But none with such a fine cover or binding.

Inside, the letters were as dark as midnight against the paper, purged as white as snow. Not wanting to go through the bother of reading about second breakfast and men who turn into bears, she open the book up to her favorite spot: The Battle of Five Armies.

Still more suddenly a darkness came on with dreadful swiftness! A black cloud hurried over the sky. Winter thunder on a wild wind rolled roaring up and rumbled in the Mountain, and lightning lit its peak. And beneath the thunder another blackness could be seen whirling forward; but it did not come with the wind, it came from the North, like a cast cloud of birds, so dense that no light could be seen between their wings.

A shiver went down Kira's spine. The light above her bed flickered a dimmed, and she was sure she could feel the air move and writhe.

So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle of Five Armies, and it was very terrible.

The hair one her arm's stood on end. She began closing the book, but the tug of curiosity whispered in her ear, telling her to continue. A breeze now tugged on the blue satin.

Upon one side were the Goblins and the wild Wolves, and upon the other were Elves and Men and Dwarves. This is how it fell out. Ever since the fall of the Great Goblin of the Misty Mountains the hatred of their race for the dwarves had been rekindled to fury. Messengers had passed to and fro between all their cities, colonies, and strongholds; for they resolved now to win the dominion of the North.

Kira screamed as the wind grew, howling through the room with no where to go. The light flickered for the last time and went out, leaving the room lit only with what the moon provided through the small window. On the floor, bearing the heavy armament of his people, stood a dwarf.

He spouted something angrily in dwarfish that Kira didn't understand, but didn't approach her. He held the large war ax at the ready, and took a tentative step back, towards the window.

“Wait!” she called out. Kira jumped onto her bed, trying to put more distance between her and the strange little man. “You'll break your neck if you jump out that window.”

The dwarf growled, but seemingly understood. “What type of dark magic do you possess, Witch?” His voice was deep and low. Dangerous. “You're worse than all the blasted Goblins.”

“I'm no witch!” Kira shouted back before she could think. She felt her anger rising again. “I just starting reading from that book, and suddenly you appeared.” She pointed at the book for affected. Since she had stopped reading, the wind had died down. The light was beginning to come back too, but the dwarf showed no signs of leaving.

“Well however you did it, I would like it if you could read me back.” Obviously gaining back some confidence at the fact that the “witch” was no more than a young girl, he crossed his arms and sat down defiantly on the floor.

“I can try,” Kira said, “but I don't know if it will work.” Before she could pick up the strange book, a rapid knocking came at the door.

“Kira Ellen Pennington, what on earth is going on in there?” her mother said loudly through the door.

“Nothing, mother,” she replied innocently. “I just dropped a book on the floor.”

“The lights in the whole house have been flickering,” her mother continued. “Come downstairs. It looks like there is a bad storm coming.”

Kira swallowed hard. The thought that she had read an entire army, or worse, five armies, out of a book scared her. “Oh, please be a dream...” she whispered. She grabbed the book and hurried out the door. Her mother had already returned downstairs. “Stay here,” she told the dwarf firmly.

“No, read me back first!” he demanded.

“There isn't enough time. I'll read you out when I get back,” she said. If I get back.

Both her parents were sitting on the sofa. In the distance, though not near far enough for her tastes, she could see a black wall of clouds coming, like something out of a bad movie. The wind hit first. The lights began to flicker again, and then went out. When the wall of clouds hit, all she could see was a inky wall of night around the house.

Her mother lit a candle and places it on the coffee table. The yellow flame cast soft shadows throughout the room, giving them an oddly calm appearance. Suddenly a blood chilling howl rent the night. The word “Goblin” raced through Kira's mind.

“We need to get out of here!” she said. She still gripped the book in her hand. “I read a terrible army from The Hobbit.”

Her parents broke out into laughter. It was the first time she had seen them laugh in... a long time. “Oh, honey,” her mother said. “I know you're scared, but it's only a storm. It will be okay.”

“No, it won't.” She knew the good guys eventually won in The Hobbit, but she also knew how many died. “I'll prove it to you.”

Before her parents could object, she ran back up to her room. The wind was so strong outside that the upper half of the house shook and moaned violently. She coxed the little dwarf forwards, and he willing accompanied her back downstairs.

“What were you doing in our daughter's bedroom?” her father yelled. He grabbed the little man the  collar so fast, he dropped the axe.

“He came from the book, Daddy,” Kira insisted. She offered up the volume as proof. “I read him out of it, and I read the storm out. And I think I read the battle out, too.”

Mr. Pennington still did not release his grip. “That's nonsense. Now tell me right this minute why this man was in your room, at night.”

Kira opened up the book and began to read, realizing it was the only way to prove things. She didn't want to read something else terrible out of the book, and selected a scene midway through the book: “Bilbo's eyes were nearly blinded by the light. He could hear the dwarves shouting up at him from far below, but he could not answer, only hold on and blink. The sun was shining brilliantly, and it was a long while before he could bear it. When he could, he saw all round him a sea of dark green, ruffled here and there by the breeze; and there were everywhere hundreds of butterflies. I expect they were a kind of 'purple emperor,' a butterfly that loves the tops of oak-woods, but these were not purple at all, they were a dark dark velvety black without any markings to be seen.”

No sooner had she finished speaking, when a handful of large black butterfly's flew from the pages of the book. One got too close to the candle light, and its wings burnt, leaving it to flop helplessly on the coffee table. The others fluttered out of the room.

Her father's mouth hung open, and he released his grip on the dwarf. The little man humphed and sat down on the sofa. Mrs. Pennington scooped up the dying butterfly and set it in the hearth, where it wouldn't be a bother after it died.

“I don't know what to say...” she said.

“At least you believe me,” Kira answered. “Please, we have to get out of here before the Goblins come.”

The front door suddenly splintered. A giant paw had stuck it with force, breaking a huge hole into the flimsy wood. A wolf like creature strode purposefully into the room. A Warg. It's head was massive, and Kira thought it it could swallow her whole if it pleased, and indeed, there was a hungry gleam in its eyes. Its yellowed teeth were larger than the knives in the kitchen.

Before anyone could react, the dwarf leaped forwards and rent a gaping hole in the creature's skull with his axe. “It's too late now,” he said. “War is already upon you.”

“I can try reading you back in,” Kira said with an edge of hope in her voice. She doubted it would work, but it was worth a shot. She picked up the book an started with the iconic lines in the first page. Nothing happened, and she stopped before the Shire could be magically transported into the living room.

“Wait a minute,” her mother said. "Reread the same part that first brought these things out of the story.”

Kira began leafing through the pages, but a band of Goblins rushed the house before she could find the spot. The dwarf ushered them upstairs, while he brandished the axe with vigour and experience.

A Goblin caught her mother's leg, and began dragging her back down the stairs, over the railing. Kira screamed in furry and hit the monster with the book, while her father tried pulling her back and kicking the Goblin in the head simultaneously. The creature made an awful howling sound and released its grip. There was a long, but shallow, bloody gash on Mrs. Pennington's leg, but she was otherwise unharmed.

Kira's door was the closest. The family made their way to it quickly and locked themselves in.

“Mommy, I thought you were going to die,” Kira said through tears, hugging her mother's shaking form.

“It's okay,” her mother whispered.

“Sweety, I think you should try that thing with the book now,” her father said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

Kira nodded. A butterfly had made it's way into her room, and was perched on the canopy bed. She began with that scene, taking special care not to mispronounce any words. The scene seemed to take forever to read, she thought. But when finally she had finished reading the exact words as before, she looked up, and the butterfly was gone.

“Did it work?” she asked.

Her parents both nodded in unison. “It just... disappeared,” her mother said shakily.

Enthused, she began to reread the part that had summoned the armies. Secretly, she hoped that if Gandalf and Bilbo and all the Elves were there, she would get to see them before they went. She afforded a quick glance out the window—it seemed to her that on the horizon, through the darkest part of the storm, the form of a great bird flew through the night.

The effect was slow. The storm slowly dissipated, and the moans and howls of the Goblins and Wargs lasted for quite a while. When they finally stopped, and the power had come back on, the family cautiously made their way back into their living room.

The dwarf had not yet disappeared. He lay on the carpet, which was rapidly turning a dark crimson shade. “Am I going back home?” he asked weakly. There was a faint smile on his lips.

“Yes, yes I think so,” Kira answered. “Just rest. You will be alright.”
“No, child. I'm dying.” He coughed violently before continuing. “I see now that you were no witch.  You have my humble apologies.”

“I don't deserve them,” Kira said, her head hung low. “I have been acting like a witch for a long while. I'm sorry for that now. And you—you put your life in danger to save me an my family. I can never repay that.”

The dwarf smiled. “This was a war that would have happened anyway. This was destined... I don't think there was any other way it could have ended, no matter the world.”

A year slipped down Kira's cheek. “You never told me your name?”

Slowly, like a drop of morning dew, the little man began fading away. “Thorin,” he said. “Thorin Oakenshield.”

[Natarsha]

Sooo I didn't get around to finishing because I've been super busy! Not my best work but enjoy!

“Hm, do I pick tea or coffee to go along with a good book” I mumble to myself hovering my hands over the two containers clearly labelled ‘Tea’ and ‘Coffee’. I make myself a pot of tea and put it in my favourite cup, I walk over to my book nook by the window. I look at my bookcase drawn to the blue spine of a book, “Ah the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s been awhile hasn't it?” I pick up the book getting comfy as I began to read.

I reach for my tea only to see it’s been covered in what looks like snow. I look around the room to find it has been covered in snow, I see a faint yellow light in the distance which makes me curious of what it could be. I soon find myself being drawn closer to the yellow light attached to a green lamp post

“Oh my, am I in Narnia?” I look to where my kitchen is normally and to my surprise still there. “If im not in Narnia... is Narnia in my house?” I step back slowly feeling confused and lost

“What’s Narnia?” I hear a soft voice come from behind me which causes me to turn rather harshly to only see the voice is from a small girl, Lucy. “Wait if you’re here where is Tumnus?” I asked rather astonished and concerned “Where’s who?” Lucy asked quite confused

I stumble back falling onto the hard floor, the snow had now disappeared. “What’s going on...?” I look down to my book where Lucy’s name has been erased I gasp and look up at her

“Oh no! If you’re here you don’t exist in the book. We have to get you back!” I exclaim with worry

[Wlonnie]

History 12
Written to the tune of 99 Red Balloons

You and I spun 'round the room
T'was a '70s ball and we were through
With gasoline and silverware
Though nicotine stuck to my hair

Then we were emerged in white
As bullets flew through the night
Bleedings lungs and cursing lips
How'd the world end up like this?

We took a boat up to the shore
And stole the land they bargained for
With trees gone red and grasses blue
I took a breath and cried with you

For stolen gold on Aztec land
And painted smiles, were oh so grand
God save the Queen and slay disease
As we cut down three miles of trees

You took my hand and closed the book
Then we exchanged quite a look
With starry eyes and picture glass
We made it back to History 12 class

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