If You Close Your Eyes by Ana Segura (7th Grader)

I'm on this earth for a reason,
Maybe I'll grow up to be a leader
changing people's lives

But how would you know
you don't bother to give us a chance
to live fully

I know that you've sinned
and I know that you've cried

You can change your life
If you close your eyes
and confess all your sins inside
and let us live our lives

Let us live up
to what we're to become.

The Creature by Michelle Guerra (7th Grader)

There was a magician whose name was Giby. He always dreamed about making his magic more amazing. His nephew was named Freddie Benson. Freddy is a boy who was always afraid of everything. Freddie was always scared of everything scary. Especially on Halloween when his uncle Giby did some scary magic tricks.

One late Halloween night, Giby was studying some witch crafting at the community library. He wanted to summon a witch, but he had done something wrong. Instead of making a witch he made a monster. He had three tiny red eyes, no mouth, and had a long sharp sword for a hand. He looked like he wonted to kill someone. Freddie walked in the room to find his Uncle Giby. He wasn’t aware that his uncle was studying witchcraft. The monster took one look at Freddie and Freddie screamed like a little girl. The monster ran towards him as if he was food. All of a sudden the monster grabbed him and they both disappeared.

Giby was so frightened. “I think… I… I… summoned that creature from… another dimension,” thought Giby. He couldn’t just stand there and do nothing; he had to bring Freddie back. He did exactly everything he did before to summon that creature. It came back with Freddie; he was unharmed and looked exactly the same. Giby realized that he was the monster’s master, so he sent the creature back to its dimension.

Monster in My Room by Oris Cruz (6th Grader)

Late one Halloween night, after trick or treating, Jerry saw a movie named ‘Monster in the Forest’. When it was time for Jerry to sleep, he couldn’t because of the scary movie he had watched. Jerry couldn't stop his knees from shaking. Whoosh went the wind against the window next to Jerry's head. He quickly grabbed his sheet and covered himself from head to toe. Jerry peeped with one eye and saw the shadow of a tree on his bedroom wall and screamed.

Suddenly, Jerry heard a knock, knock at his bedroom door. Jerry screamed. Then door opened slowly and he saw a tail whip back and forth. He quickly covered himself, again. Then he felt little feet walking up his legs. Jerry was trembling. Finally, he mustered up the courage to look. When he peeped, he saw that it was just Ginger. Jerry hugged Ginger and covered him too. Jerry was talking to Ginger but Ginger just meowed.

Jerry heard the door opening again. This time it was Jerry's mom. His mom asked him why he was screaming. Jerry told his mom the reason. Then Jerry's mom told Jerry that there were no such things as ghosts. Jerry thanked his mom and wasn’t afraid any longer. Jerry went to sleep happily without fear.

The Dream by Lourdes Hales (7th Grader)

A long time ago there was a little boy named Nathan who was a big scaredy-cat! One night his parents had to stay at work very late. When his nanny told him it was time for bed, he went to his bed and got under his covers. Suddenly, he heard a crash outside his window. When he looked out, he saw a shadow-like figure floating in mid air. He backed up onto his bed with tears in his eyes and a frightened look on his face.

Then, unable to hold in how he felt, Nathan let out a loud scream. His nanny ran up the stairway as fast as she could. “What is the matter,” she asked. “I think I saw a shadow move,” he replied with a scared voice. “It’s probably just a figment of your imagination,” she said, trying to calm him down. “Just try to go back to bed now,” “Okay,” he replied in a soft, yet scared voice.

A few minutes later, he tried to go to sleep but he couldn’t because he wanted to wait for his parents to come home. After waiting for 4 hours his parents finally came, but when he ran downstairs to hug them, he noticed it was the boogie man and his wife. Nathan did not know what to do except scream and run. He pushed through them and ran off into the deep dark woods. After running for approximately an hour, he stopped and looked around, but all he saw was darkness.

Nathan did not know what to do. So he sat down on a cold damp rock to think and cry. “All I want is my family, my warm bed and a hot cup of cocoa.” Finally Nathan decided to see if he could find his way out of the dark, scary woods. When he rose to his feet, he felt something drag him down. When he looked back he noticed it was just a root sticking out of the ground from a nearby tree. He got up and was only able to take a couple steps before he heard the words he had been waiting to hear. It was the sound of his parents calling out his name. “Nathan, Nathan,” they yelled. Nathan ran to his mom and dad who had open arms, ready to hug their son.

After that happy family reunion moment, they decided to start walking home and on the way, Nathan told his parents everything that had happened to him that night. Suddenly Nathan felt a splash of freezing cold water on his face. “What was that for?” Nathan asked. Then, before he could say anything else, he woke up and realized it was all a dream. Thank goodness Nathan thought to himself. During breakfast he told his parent’s everything that happened in his dream that night.

Scared Boy by Gabrielle Matus (5th Grader)

In the small town of Santa Elena in the Cayo District of Belize, ten year old Tom and his mom lived in an old wooden house. The boy loved to harass his mom because he was frightened to sleep alone. Tom was afraid monsters would get him. One night while Tom was lying in his bed, he heard a sudden shriek and he cried, “Mom, are you okay?” But there was no answer and everything was silent. He went down the stairs and he saw a monster attacking his mom. Tom asked his mom, “What can I do? His mom told him to stay back or else the monster would attack him as well. Tom could just stand by and watch his mom get hurt, so he got a broom and started to beat the monster.

The monster turned around and tried to kill Tom but he ran into his room and locked the door. Then Tom heard his mom screaming again. He cried, “Mom, are you okay?” Tom left the safety of his room and ran back down the stairs to where his mom was on the floor, bleeding. Tom knew the monster was still somewhere in the house. So he called the neighborhood woodsman who, in no time, came over with an axe. After a short hunt for the monster, he killed it. Then they took Tom’s mom to the hospital.

The doctor said she would survive but would have some brain damage. Eight weeks later, Tom’s mom returned home. She has some disabilities like writing and eating by herself but if she can survive a monster, she could survive anything.

Scary Dream by Steven Liang (7th Grader)

There was a little boy named John who was always scared of the dark. So he never came out of his house at night. When he was inside his house, John made sure to turn on all the lights. He, also, turned up his favorite music very loud. But his mom didn’t like the way he was acting. Then one day John’s mom had enough and she yelled, “John get out!” John’s mom turned off all the lights in the house and left John to run around and scream in the dark. Then John’s mom pushed him out of the front door of the house.

John was walking through the dark and cold night, looking for a safe place to rest. He started to get scared. Suddenly he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt. Poor little John started screaming and ran back toward his house. At the same time, John’s father was walking home from work when he saw his son screaming and running through the dark.

John’s father caught up to him and took him back to the house. During dinner time, John’s father asked him to explain the reason he was screaming and running in the street. John said, “I was scared because of dark and I felt someone grab the back of my shirt.”

When he finished eating dinner, he started to watch TV, but all the channels were showing scary movies. John turned off the TV and ran to his room where he felt chills run down his back. He was so scared that his whole face turned white like a paper.

As soon as John went to bed, he began to sleep. In his dream, he was very scared because a monster wanted to eat him.

"Ahh!" John woke up screaming until he noticed his room was dark. Suddenly, he realized that there was nothing to be afraid of, so he stopped screaming. John sat in his bed until morning. When he went to school that day he thought that the night before was just a scary dream.

The Ghost by Aidan Brooks (7th Grader)

One day a boy named Steven decided to play with his best friend Justin. He went to look for Justin at his house, but he was not there. So he asked Justin’s mom, and she replied, “Justin is dead!” “What,” Steven cried. Then he went home and told his mom the sad news. Night was setting in and Justin went to bed. At around twelve o’ clock, Steven heard a tapping sound. Steven wondered what it was. He went downstairs to see what it was but saw nothing but his shadow.

So the next day Steven went to school, he told everyone about the sound he heard, but no one listened to him. When school ended, Steven went home by himself, this time without his best friend. When he was going home, he heard a voice that said. “I am going to haunt you!” Steven was very scared, so he ran the rest of the way home. When he reached, he tried to get his mind off of the voice by doing all his home work. When it was time for Steven to sleep, he got into bed and closed his eyes. Though Steven was scared that the sound would come back, he still fell asleep.

While Steven dreamed, he heard the voice again. He woke up and yelled, “Mom!” But his mom was fast asleep. So Steven was on his own. Then the ghost said, “I will haunt you.” Steven, in that moment, realized that the ghost was Justin, wearing a ghost suit. Steven figured out that he was being pranked by Justin and his mom.

The next day Steven and Justin went walking to school, talking along the way about everything that had happened.