STORM

For Emily, Colt, and Derrick, my 3 best friends

Author’s note: This book, even though it is a work of fiction, is based on real locations (mostly!). Also, this book may include real people’s names. If it does, please consider it purely coincidental.

Chapter 1 – The beginning

Robert

It was an otherwise normal day at the christian school. A cloudy day, sure, but that was to be expected at that time of year (it was close to winter). The christian school of Ellensburg, Washington was not exactly like every other christian school. Instead of being in a regular school building, it was split into two campuses: A building for kindergarten to 8th grade students, and a rented church for the high school. Robert was similar to the other students: a somewhat normal, everyday kid. The only difference was that he had a very fast brain and, due to his adhd, sometimes it was difficult for him to stay focused in class. But other than that, he was a normal everyday kid. Until one day, that all changed one day.

Robert was in math class, finishing off his homework. Finally, he was almost done, and then he could have the rest of the period to himself. There was no noise in the class, as the teacher did not tolerate talking in class, but there was a slight air of tension as his classmates struggled to complete the assignment. Robert pulled out his chromebook and logged in. His teachers had said before that he could game on his chromebook as long as it didn’t get in the way of his schooling. Well, right now was definitely an appropriate time to pull out his chromebook and game, since there was nothing else to do. He opened a new tab and typed in “Fox”. Foxes were his favorite animal, after all. But before he clicked on the images option, something caught his eye: A url address titled “Dream Fox”. Thinking it was something that would allow him to make a picture of a fox using AI, he clicked on the url. As it loaded, Robert thought he saw a flicker of blue out of the corner of his eye. He looked over, but didn’t see anything, so he dismissed it as a figment of his imagination. He looked back, and saw that the tab he had just opened had closed. He was confused. Had he bumped the computer by accident? Had the teacher closed the tab? He checked his notifications. No “tab closed” GoGuardian notifications had popped up. He must have bumped the computer and closed the tab by accident.

He opened a new tab and typed in what he had before. But this time, the url was gone! Where’d it go? He wondered. Now he wasn’t in the mood for gaming, so he decided to look for something else. He opened a new tab, and used one hand to type, using the other to grab a notebook out of his backpack. When he brought the notebook out and looked up again, he saw, instead of a prompt, a jumble of letters, numbers, and symbols. Robert was confused. He deleted the strand and tried again. This time, there were some decipherable words, but any word he typed that had a letter on the left side of his keyboard just got all jumbled up. He deleted the strand, and looked at the keyboard. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong, but why was it jumbling up his words? He set his paw back down on the keyboard and…

Wait.

Paw?
Humans don’t have paws!

He looked at where his left hand should’ve been, but saw no hand. Instead, he saw a canine’s paw, covered in black fur. He gasped softly. It was an unbelievable sight. Robert looked up. Mostly everyone were still working on their assignments, but Amy had turned hers in and was looking all around the room. Quickly Robert shoved his “paw” in his pocket and raised his human hand up. “Yes, Robert?” the teacher finally asked after what seemed like an eternity.

“Um, may I go use the restroom?” Robert asked.

“Yes, go ahead.”

Robert let out a small sigh of relief, and exited the classroom. He walked down the hall toward the bathroom, his furry appendage still jammed in his pocket so that no one else could see what had happened. 

Finally, he got into the bathroom and shut himself in a stall. Then, he took his “paw” out of his pocket at last and stared at it for a good long while. Then, he started to panic. He couldn’t go around school with his hand in his pocket all day, or else the teachers would be suspicious. He also couldn’t go around with a paw for a hand, or else everyone would panic and call an ambulance or something. He looked down at the paw again. Something about it was familiar… And then it hit him.

Fox.

This was a fox’s paw!

Chapter 2 – Plans for Hearthstone

Emily

It was a cloudy day outside, and Emily did not like cloudy days.

She didn’t know whether it was because it was gloomy, or because it commonly meant rain, but she just knew that she hated cloudy days. She sighed. On top of it being a cloudy day, it was also a boring day. The assignments she had gotten so far from Mrs. Davison and Mr. Kuich had been paper assignments. Not that she had any trouble with that, of course. It was just that she had already completed them, and the following math assignment Mr. Kuich had given the class (Mr. Kuich was their homeroom teacher), and now she had nothing to do. She couldn’t play anything on her chromebook because Mr. Kuich didn’t approve of that, and she couldn’t text anybody because that was also something Mr. Kuich did not approve of. 

She wondered how Robert was doing. They had been friends for about a year, and were still friends, even when Robert shifted to the high school campus. They still kept in touch through the gmail chat boxes, but Emily couldn’t access those right now. Mr. Kuich was watching, and he was a stern teacher. She sighed. “Alright guys, time for elective.” Mr. Kuich said suddenly. Emily looked up sharply. Time had gone by fast. “Today we are going to be discussing Hearthstone.” Mr. Kuich added. Emily sucked in a breath. Hearthstone was where Robert’s creative writing class went to for interviews with the residents there. It was a home for the elderly.

“We have almost everything planned, we just need a date.” Mr. Kuich said. “Anyone have any ideas?” 

Some of the kids said Wednesday, others monday. “I think we should do either a tuesday or a thursday,” said Emily. “Because that’s when the high school’s creative writing class goes. They can show us what to do if we go along with them.” And I can see my friend again. She thought. “That is actually a great idea, Emily.” her classmate, Colt, commented. “After all, we don’t know what to do at Hearthstone, so the Creative Writing Class can teach us.” “I agree.” said Mr. Kuich. “Tuesday it is, next week.” Next week? She thought. She hadn’t expected that the visit would be so soon. 

She was going to see her friend again, next week!

Chapter 3 – Yoshi

Colt

No one said Yoshi was the king. That’s just how Colt saw it.

Yes, Colt was looking up Yoshi King pictures on his chromebook. Unknown to the rest of the class, he had permission to go on his chromebook as long as it didn’t get in the way of his schooling. Mrs. Hanson, the school’s art teacher, was the one who gave him that permission, and Mr. Kuich had begrudgingly agreed. Now, he was looking at Yoshi King pictures and wondering how Robert was doing. Was he making a video right now, or was he just playing random games on his computer again? He looked up. The class was still working on their math problems, all except for Emily, who was done with the assignment and was staring out the high window, apparently deep in thought. 

Colt didn’t know why the school had decided to put the 8th grade classroom in the building’s basement. Maybe it was because they didn’t have anywhere else to put it.