The shockingBy Tamara Ana Leiva

Chapter one “All of you children should note that Shakespeare sailed the Seven Seas. Every person should also know that Cleopatra figured out how to make a light bulb! And ten plus ten equals seven hundred and twenty two million, for your math lesson today.” Miss. Aydunnowhaycei reviewed the previous lessons that she gave in math class. She was mad. Everyone knew that. All feared to tell her that she was speaking nonsense, but it was the last day of tenth grade and no one wanted her to get upset on the last day.

“RING!”I sprung from my seat and swung my backpack on my shoulders. I headed towards the door, glancing back at the boring classroom, I said my last goodbye. Not such a wise idea. As soon as I looked back ,I hit my head against the cement wall. I ran to my bike, hopped on it, and rushed home. “ Hey, Hey wait up.” my twin called behind me. We always raced home. I went faster instead of stopping. She followed. As always, we ran out of breath half way there and panted home.

Violet got there first and pulled her bike into the garage. I came into our house to have a snack.

I found it odd that my parents were still taking their daily naps.

It wouldn’t be long until Terry and Rose would come ask me to see a movie in celebration of school ending.“DING, DONG!” I ran to the door and opened it to Terry and Rose.“ Hey, Peter, want to go to the movies to celebrate the end of the year? I’ll pay for the sweet popcorn, but if you want salty you’ll have to pay,” Terry asked me with out waiting for me to answer or open the door.

“ Hey Pete, where is Violet?” Rose always

called me "Pete” because she knew I hated it. To even it out I reminded her of how much trouble she got in, on April Fool’s Day, when she and Vi played a trick on me.“ Roses are mean, Violet’s my sister. They played a trick and gave me a blister,” I chanted after her. She just grinned and went into the living room. “ You going to be all right?” I asked, putting on my jacket to leave.“ Rose and I’ll just play chess, make jell-o and popcorn, and you know, eat it! We’ll be fine. Go have fun.” Violet assured us.

That night, I came home at eight thirty. Going to challenge my sister in a chess game, I noticed that my parents were not awake yet. “ Where are mom and dad?” I asked suspiciously.“Did you check their room?” she answered.

“ And the bathroom?” She added. I went to check and had the very disappointment you get when you can’t find your shoes and have to wear those pink, Puka ones with giant fluff balls on the front. I went back to Violet.“ Not there , Vi.” I reported. “Still don’t know. Probably out,” she answered while taking out the white pieces and putting them on her side in the correct order. She tossed me her cell phone.

I dialed the number and waited with the phone to my ear. A voice spoke, but it wasn’t the one I wanted to hear.“ Patricia Danson and Jeremy Danson are not present at this particular time. If you are able to, and want to, leave your name and address after you hear a beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep.”I sighed and tossed the cell back to Violet. “ They aren’t out either.” I explained, getting a little scared this time. She looked up.“ Gone.” she responded flatly.” Gone.”

Chapter two When it starts to get creepy

Violet dialed 911 and waited anxiously for the police to answer.“Hello? Yes, our parents are missing. Yeah. Yeah, we looked in the bathroom and bedroom. We called them and nothing was found. Anything you could do about it? The bank, the park, hold on let me write it down.” Violet searched around our kitchen for a writing utensil and a scrap piece of paper. When she finally found what she was looking for, all of her attention was focused on the police on the other side of the cell phone. “ Okay, go on. The restaurant. The central post office, and the …JAIL? Why the jail? Okay, I’ll just look there just in case. Okay, thanks cop.” She stopped and put away the cell phone.

Violet then headed toward the door and pulled her jacket on, beckoning for me to come.“ I’m not going somewhere I don’t know,” I hesitated. She pulled out the piece of paper she had written the places on. Violet sighed.

“ The restaurant, the post office, the park, the bank, and the jail,” she recited the list she held in her hand. I sighed and took one last bite of the leftover jelly and followed her to the door.“ Aren’t you going to take your jacket? It’s pretty chilly.” Vi rubbed her arms with her hands.“ Nope, I’m perfectly warm,” I grinned as I hopped on my blue bike.

“ It’s freezing! ” I shivered as I walked to the woman behind the counter in the last shop in town.“ Good night, Miss. Did you happen to see a tall man with a an odd tie around his neck and a woman with blond hair in a pony tail, who wears glasses?” I asked the confused women. She shook her head in an answer, “No.” I sighed.“ Okay, thanks anyway.” I walked out of the pet store and saw an old man in a car staring us as if he were stalking us and trying to eavesdrop on our conversation with the lady. It creeped me out. I looked back at Violet and back at the man, but as soon as I turned for a second glance, he was gone. I trembled as I mounted on my bike to ride home. Not because it was cold, but because this was turning into a Scooby Doo mystery or something.“ Hey Vi, did you see that creepy old man in that truck?” I asked when I jumped back in my skin.

“ Nope. Have you been drinking too much Dr. Pepper?” She suspiciously asked. I shrugged and pulled my bike into the garage and Vi pulled hers into the empty lot. We went into the house and locked the door behind us. Violet went to the cabinet and got out a jar. I peered at the title printed on the side. “ Pancakes,” it read. “ Um, Vanilla why the food?” I asked pointing at the jar. I liked to call Violet with words that started with a “V”. Today, as you can see, I thought of Vanilla.“ It’s our first day without any authorities around. Might as well enjoy it.” She grinned widely, knowing what I was thinking. After taking out a pan, she took out a spoon.

“ No Peter, we cannot trash the house with pancake batter, if you don’t want to help anymore, you can pack your things for the trip to our grandparents’.” She knew that I had forgotten completely about it. she liked it when she made me forget things. As a result, make me slap my head with frustration, which was what I did. I rushed to my calendar to check the date and winced at what was in front of me:

This is what I sawdays

Notes for the days of the week:

Mon. First day of the last week of school. DoneTues.

Second day of the last week of school. Done

Wed.

Third day of the last week of school. Done

Thur.

Forth day of the last week of school. Done

Fri. LAST DAY OF SHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Terry asks me to go to the movies

Sat. Go to grand pops house in Texas!Sun. Go horse back riding!Mon. Violet and I go fishingTue. Stay home and relaxWed.

Go swimming in the red sea. Just kidding.

Thur.

Violet goes to drum classes

Violet came next to me and put her hands on my shoulder and

patted me. I went to prepare my clothes and suitcase for tomorrow’s trip.

Time My alarm clock woke me. As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw Vacuum come in with a jug of water. She dumped the whole thing right in my face! I sprang up and ran into my dad’s old clothes. After doing so, I grabbed our water balloons I planned to fling at Rose but I pitied her clean clothes and saved them. I flung them straight at her face, poor Vanishing Cream, but that was the summer spirit! She splashed a bucket of water on me, and then I surrendered. We had a tremendous time, with still had remaining time to change, go to the airport, meet our grandparents, and head to Texas for half of our vacation.

As I was saying, when we got there we spotted our grandparents in a millisecond. I went to them hoping they wouldn’t notice that our parents weren’t with us. Smiling, we went to say hi.“ My, Violet ,Peter, I have never seen you so big! How are you kiddos?” Grandma hugged us. Grandpa came in a wheelchair to say hello.“ Hello, my dear grandchildren are no longer children.” He grinned widely .“ Where are your parents?” Grandma asked looking around to see if they were hiding behind her. She glanced suspiciously at us. Vampire and I exchanged the look that says: should we tell them or should we lie? I decided we should tell the truth. At least I did.“ Um, Uh, SICK! Of course, sick, all of them, well not all of them, because I don’t have more than two parents, heh, heh.” Volt was horrible at faking. I slapped my head. “ Honey, I hate it when you lie to me, now tell me where they are. It shouldn’t be too bad.” It was that bad. I was about to say that they went missing, but just then Terry and Rose came to greet us.

“ Hey guys, I, The Great, finally arrived to this dull and boring place, so lets brighten the day by going to our plane that will leave in two minutes, Okay? Okay, Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. Danson. Did you enjoy your flight? Good, now you will enjoy it again in two minutes, assuming that we will be on the plane. Now, let’s get a move on or we will wait another fourteen hours. So let’s go, Okay? Okay.” Terry quickly said in a calm voice. He defiantly drank too much Dr. Pepper. I smiled and gave him the look that said, You saved my answer. I turned to grandma and to grandpa.“ Let’s do what Terry said, Okay? Okay.” I followed Terry’s speech. My grandparents stared at me and were about so ask if his way of talking was contagious, when He pulled my arm and headed toward the plane. Everyone else had no choice but to follow Terry and I to the second class. Terry slumped next to me on a chair and took out his

iPad to look up Ripley's Believe it or Not, and Guinness World Records. His favorite interest was that very thing.

“ That guy ate a billion hamburgers in one minute!” Terry got ecstatic, in a crazy way, when it came to world records. I rested my tired head from all the bizarre occurrences that happened . Soon enough, I dozed off to dream land.

Time The airplane made a loud racket when it landed. I slowly got up and headed toward the door on the side of the plane. Terry, Rose, Violet, Grandma, and Grandpa were right behind me in the line of scurrying people trying to get out of the confined space. I was one of the first ones to get out of the plane. Slowly my eyes accustomed to the darkness of Texas. I followed my grandpa to the airport and towards their home. We went into my grandparents’ car and started home. “ So, son, what’s with the situation of your parents’ whereabouts ?”Grandpa asked looking at us through the mirror.

I glanced at Vulture and tried to tell her that she would have to do the explaining without literally telling her. No good.

“ Peter will be overjoyed to tell you grandpa, tell them Peter!” Veterinarian nudged me to make me tell the truth that had to be told because of Vest’s failure in faking this easy thing to fake.“ Have they gone hunting in Hawaii, Pete?” Rose teased me. I would have sang the rhyme if my grandparents wouldn’t have been waiting for my answer. I shuffled my feet disturbingly and looked downward at the car base. Finally, I spoke and told them where my parents were.

“ They are missing,” I barley whispered to myself. Although it was quiet, that didn’t change Terry’s listening skills. He heard me plenty well. He laughed his fake laugh like he always does when he wants to say, ‘you’re joking, right?’

“ You’re joking, right?” Terry wiped his laugh tears. I shook my head to answer.

“ No, I’m not.” I looked at him seriously. But before I could say what I wasn’t joking about, we had come to our grandparents’ house. I helped get the suitcases out of the truck and into the house. I followed Violin to the extra room and slumped on the top bunk to sleep all the way into the night. In my dream I was in Miss. Aydunnowhaycei’s class. She was calling me.“ Mr. Danson, do you know how the Power Puff Girls got to destroy SpongeBob?” she quizzed me. I lifted my head from the desk, it seemed to be that I was sleeping in her class and on my desk. “ I don’t know, they probably busted him to death,” I answered as I slumped my head back on the desk and woke up. When I glanced to check the time on my alarm clock, I found a mysterious note on the side table, It read, Look in the middle of no where. I shrugged and began to get ready for the day. It was early in the morning, maybe six, five in the morning. I thought of the note on the side table and began to wonder if it meant something. Maybe it meant to look down south for something.

Maybe the little scrap piece of paper(a.k.a. the note I found this morning,)was just something someone wrote and forgot to take with them. As I went to get dressed, however, I started to think it might mean more than that. Maybe it was there on purpose. Maybe we should look in the south of Texas for our parents. By the time I was fully dressed, I had a plan thought out and everything. As soon as I stepped out the bathroom, I woke Violet up, who woke up Rose, who woke up Terry, who punched me in the nose for waking up Violet, who woke up Rose, who woke up Terry, who punched me in the nose for waking up Violet , who woke up Rose…As I was saying, they jumped on me.“ Why did you wake us up?” Rose asked getting more calm.“ We have to go.” I explained. “ Where?” Violet asked .“ To look for Mom and Dad.”

Although I didn’t know much, I managed to drive the car as far out as possible. We rode in the car until we agreed to save the gas for our ride home. We, one by one, climbed out and looked for a place so that to stay so we could rest. We went down a hill of sand, and, as we strolled down, I noticed there were lights ahead. A town! I ran to the first door in reach. As I knocked I heard footsteps coming toward us. As I spun around the door opened. There was an old man in the house! He looked exactly like the one I had seen earlier and there was a young women behind us.(twenty or twenty-one, with a long, blond braid.) “ What do you want? Knocking on my door at this time of day. and who do I find behind it? Measly pests waiting to get punished. Huh, Kids?” And with that the man slammed the door. The woman put her hand on my shoulder.“ He is a really grouchy man and I recommend you don’ t get on his very bad side. I’m Natalia, folks call me Natty,” she introduced herself, holding out her hand for us to shake it. We did, she grinned at us.

“ So what cha doing out here newcomers?” she asked us.“ Well, we’re in some kind of jumble,” Rose explained. She glanced at me. I knew she was thinking what I was thinking. I nodded to tell her to do it.“ Can you help us with a place to stay and somewhere to sleep?” she crossed her fingers behind her back.“ What’s it in for me? Kidding! Ha, O.k., Yeah, sure. I’d love to help. My place is right over there.” she pointed to a small house with a porch covered in flowers. She lead us to the door and opened it. A wind of fresh lilies splashed our faces like water in the morning.“ How does chicken with mashed potatoes sound?” she walked into the kitchen and pointed to where the guest rooms were. There was one for the girls and one for the boys. The one for Terry and I was painted Light green and our bed covers where dark green. A white clean side table was placed next to the bunk beds and there lay vase holding a huge bush of leaves. On the white floor boards, a both, dark green and light green, fuzzy carpet. We had dinner, told our story, and why we where here, and, dozed off to sleep.In the morning we went to the dinning room and had eggs and bacon for breakfast. Natty smiled and passed out plates.

“ Hay, good morning. Did you sleep well? I hope so, I certainly did, and talking about horses, I have some horses that you can take when you go back to the north of Texas.” she informed while Putting some eggs on my plate. After eating we went to Natty's farm and picked out the horses. There was a black one, a white one, an orange one, and a gray one with a star on it’s back. I chose the black one.“ Thanks for your help, we will return your horses!” Rose called out just before trotting off with us. We were just to get on the rode to our grandparents house when I saw the creepy Mr. Mysterious. I shivered. Noon was falling upon us like a big black blanket was put on the bright sun. We had to eat, so we stopped. Suddenly, I heard my mom’s voice!

“ Peter?”“ Mom!” I turned around and saw…

The bully that sat behind me in the class! He growled at me. I turned back to see my teacher with an upset face.“ Mr. Danson, please don’t yell, MOM, in the middle of my class. It is very rude. Now as I was saying, when the Power Puff Girls were destroyed…” She carried on her lesson. Of coarse! I was dreaming, how was I dumb enough to think they were actually missing? I slowly stood up from my seat when the class ended and went to ride my bike home. Suddenly, Violet raced past me, I felt the summer spirit. I beat her this time. At home, I went in to see my mom.“ Oh, son, How was the last day of tenth grade? I’d like you to meet someone. Meet Mr. Peat, Peter, Mr. Peat meet my son, Peter. He’s my new assistant in at work.” Now who else could be at the table, chatting with my mom, but Mr. Mysterious.

The End

Production Tamara Ana Leiva Illustration Tamara Ana Leiva Story Tamara Ana Leiva Slides Tamara Ana Leiva Writing Tamara Ana Leiva Background Tamara Ana Leiva Dialogue Tamara Ana Leiva Publishing Tamara Ana Leiva Editing Anna Catherine Sipe last editing Christie Favero