The Attackers Awake.

Madison

12/4/12

The Attackers Awake.

    Faster...I had to run faster if we wanted to get away. But I couldn’t do it, I could feel my legs start to weaken and slowly start turning to jell-o. My mind was racing a million miles per hour but I was only thinking one thing, get down the mountain. I started feeling my eyes sting from the tears that were leaking through. But I knew I couldn’t let the pain get the best of me so I put up with it, grabbed her hand and ran faster.

    Maybe I should rewind a bit and tell you who “us” is. My name is Madison Waters and I’m an 8th grader at Trinidad School. It was summer 2012 and me and my best friend ,Noa, were going to summer camp together. It is our favorite place and was where we met for the first time. Lost Coast camp is what I look forward to throughout the year. The idea of sleeping in the cabin and playing capture the flag on the beach brings a smile to my face every time. It was my fifth time as a Lost Coast camper and I could tell this year was going to be just as fun. We had returned from our cabin sleep over early because of a horrendous thunderstorm. Everybody was soaked from head to toe. You could tell how much energy it took out of Noa and I ,because when we got back to camp we didn’t change our clothes but just flopped down on our cots and were ready to go back to sleep. I felt a tap on my shoulder I rolled over to see Noa staring at me.
    “Maddi...I can’t sleep.” she said. She had dark bags under her gorgeous green  turquoise eyes. Her long brown hair was stuck to her face from the rain we had just came out of. I could see why she couldn’t fall asleep, thunder was rumbling every 30 seconds and the dark morning sky would sometimes light up because of the lightning. It was difficult but I was so exhausted I knew I had to rest.
    “ It’s ok Noa just try to sleep it’s still really early in the morning” She just sighed and rolled over on her side. Whatever I thought, I'm going to sleep.
   
    A couple of hours later after a nice long nap everybody woke up in my cabin. Our counselor Helena told us we would be going on a “yonder”. Now a “yonder” is basically like a hike but the directors insisted that it was different. They said it was suppose to be the “journey of a lifetime”.But everybody just started complaining on how we just wanted to stay in the cabin and relax.

“ Come on Helena, I’ve never been on a yonder, and I really don’t feel like going on one now.” Complained my friend Ericka.

    “ Sorry girls the directors insist on getting exercise because we didn’t get to do our camp activities today. So everybody up lets go!”

    We had walked to the top of JC hill and suddenly I didn’t regret coming. I had never in my life seen such a beautiful site. The view was amazing. The forest went on for miles but came to a stop at the Mattole river. The river bends through the valley as if it was a snake slithering its way through the grass.  The hills seemed to roll on forever. The dark green of the trees and the light blue morning sky contrasted amazingly together. We stayed on the hill for a while and took pictures with the view behind us. We were in the middle of taking a cabin photo when I felt a sharp pain in the back of my leg. I had absolutely no idea what had caused the pain. I rubbed the back of my leg and rolled up my sweatpants. I asked my friend Alyssa if she could see anything.
” Umm...ya there’s a big bump on the back of your thigh.” she replied.
Being the reasonable person I am, I started freaking out and jumping to conclusions.
    “ Oh My God. I’ve been bit. What if I’m going to die!? What if something poisonous bit me!? What if it was a spider?!”
    “Calm down Maddi. I just heard Helena say she was stung by a bee, that’s probably what happened to you too.” she reassured me.
    “ Oh. Right. Of course. I knew that, haha.” I laughed nervously feeling a bit embarrassed of my actions. The camp directors decided we should go because as it turned out a quite a few campers had been stung, including Noa. I went over to her and we started walking back down the hill. We were up front with Bender the counselor and the boys from the Alder cabin. Everything was going fine we were all just laughing and talking having a good time when suddenly Noa cried out in pain. She’d been stung again and was getting agitated.

” Come on Noa don’t worry we’ll be back to camp soon, everything will be alright.” I patted her on the back just to give her reassurance.

    We got a total of five feet when I got stung in the upper thigh. We started running to catch up with the others when we heard screaming and everyone started sprinting along the trail.
    “ AWWW HORNETS RUN!!!”
I could see the black and yellow beasts swarming around Noa and that was my cue to scream like a little girl and run. I looked behind me to find Noa standing there paralyzed.
    “ Noa! Run!!” She wasn’t doing anything so I ran back took her hand and started dragging her behind me. By then Noa was crying while I was pulling her, we had both been stung at least four times. My ears filled with the dissatisfying buzzing of the hornets. It was like a bad dream and I couldn’t escape the grasp of the terrible monster. It was as if I could feel them breathing down my neck. I ran as fast as I could the only thing is we couldn’t really run because we were coming down a hill! The trail was a good three feet in diameter. We couldn’t risk running any faster or we’d go off the edge and fall down the hillside. But that didn’t stop the boys. We saw them ditch the trail and start running down the side, some tripping and falling down. Noa looked at me and I nodded my head in approval.

“ Let’s do it” she said. We ran down the hillside and things were actually going okay. Noa probably thought that I was crazy though. I was laughing and crying at the same time. I knew it wasn’t really the appropriate time to laugh, but hey, I laugh in intense situations. I was thinking about the old cartoons when the stupid humans ruin the bees nest and the bees start chasing them. I never thought I would experience it first hand. Definitely not as amusing in person. Why didn’t we ditch the trail in the first place we're making much better time. But of course I thought too soon. My foot got caught on the root of a tree and I flew forward, I started rolling down the hillside. When I stopped I couldn’t stand up because I was laughing hysterically, I was way beyond the point of crying. I heard Noa running after me calling my name.
    “Oh my gosh Maddi are you ok!?”
    “Ya I’m fine let’s just go” The truth was I wasn’t fine. I was in serious pain now. My legs felt like I was sitting on a hot fire in the summer time. They were throbbing with pain. And to make matters worse I was now covered head to toe with dirt.
    “ I can’t run anymore.” Noa cried.
    “ Noa come on we’re almost to the bottom” Now that was true. I could see the meadow that was just below the hill. Twenty more feet and we’d be out of the forest. Ten...five...three feet. Finally! We had made it. Noa crumbled to the ground but I helped her back up. We made our way over to the boys. Noa was still crying and was yelling at Bender about how we never should have came. And that we should have stayed back at camp with Nico.
    “ Noa just calm down” I pulled her into a hug when the annoying prankster of the camp ,Gabe, came up to us. He was like a mosquito always trying to ruin a fun time.
    “Madison! There’s a bee on your jacket!” I started screaming running around flailing my arms. That’s when I started crying and by that point I was what some people called traumatized.
    “ Get it off! Get it off!” I yelled. I looked over at Gabe and saw him laughing. I walked right up to him and punched him in the arm.
    “ OW! I guess I deserve that though” he said while rubbing his sore shoulder.
    I was still crying, trying to get the images of the monstrous hornets out of my head. I was taking deep breaths when Alyssa walked over to me. She was rubbing my back and saying encouraging things. I started feeling better if I blocked out the pain from the seven hornet stings up and down my legs. We convinced Bender to take us back to camp  then and not wait for the others. When we got back I was too scared to look at my legs. I brushed the backside of them and could feel the welts all over. I winced in pain. Noa and I went outside to wait for the others. We were still trying to wrap our heads around what had just happened. I mean we were attacked by hornets!
    “ Jeez...I knew we shouldn’t have gone on that hike” Noa complained
    “ No Noa. It wasn’t a hike it was a “yonder, the journey of a lifetime.”
`    “ Ya well I’m never going on one of those again.”
    But deep down past the trauma and pain we both knew that it was actually pretty fun and exhilarating.  We had never experienced something so exciting before. At least I knew one good thing came out of that little “yonder”. It would make one heck of a story.

The End!

My media life is like...

Do It For Love

    “You have to understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his personal legend. If he abandons that pursuit it’s because it wasn’t true love...the love that speaks the Language of The World” I very much agree with this quote from The Alchemist(pg )

    I believe with what it’s saying. Love should never keep you from pursuing your dreams or personal legends in life. Like for instance, since I love my parents and my parents love me I should be able to pursue my personal legends and dreams. Because if it’s something I really want to achieve then they’ll no and they’ll let me go and achieve it.  I’m sure it would be really hard for my parents since I’ve been with them my whole life, and I’m just there “little girl”. But they love me and want what’s best for me. As the saying goes, “ If you really love someone set them free.”

    Having said that I’m not quite sure I’d be able to do the same. Of course I would want to let someone I love fulfill his/her personal legend, but just the thought of them leaving me is terrifying. It’s hard to imagine not being able to talk to them or just hang out with them. Especially since their personal legend could take months even years to fulfill! l But I wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite and believe that someone that loves me could let me fulfill my dreams and personal legends but I couldn’t do the same. Like the quote says if it’s true love I’ll let them go. I don’t believe there is limitations to this statement because if it’s true love than  its true love. If there was limitations to this statement then it wouldn't be true, or the love just wasn’t true.That’s why I agree with this quote from the Alchemist

A Whole Different Story

 “Making a decision was only the beginning of things.” I agree and disagree with this quote in a couple of different ways.

Making a decision to me isn’t always only the beginning of what you’re deciding to do. Like for instance, if I was debating whether to paint my room blue, or purple and I ended up painting it blue then that’s basically all I need to do. I mean sure I’ll still need to paint it but that was my only real decision I had to make, it was my first and finally choice. That’s what I would have thought before I read the Alchemist. But reading it has made me see that everything has a bigger purpose. Using the same example, if I chose to paint my room blue than it could only be the beginning. Then I would have to find a new bedspread to match the new color, and I would have to pick out new furniture and so forth. So I could use that example to agree that making a decision is and isn’t always the beginning of things.

Kids our age don’t always think about the decisions we make. Maybe some people think that they don’t need to finish their homework or pay attention in class, since we’re only in middle school and it won’t make a difference in the long run. But truth be told it could make a difference. If I decided not to pay attention in class one day or to not turn in an assignment it could make a difference because I would be behind in school work and I wouldn’t know how to do the assignment. Another example that I think can only be argued one way is deciding on something big, like what I want to be when I grow up. Deciding on something like that really is just the beginning. After, I chose what I want to be I still have to make it happen. Like by going to college and getting a degree, then once I graduate college I will have to find a job. Once I find a job I’ll still have to work hard to be good at it. So the whole thing might take a while, but looking back on the decision I made in the beginning I’m sure I’ll be happy because it was something I really wanted and worked hard to get.

    So for me it all depends on what the decision it is you are making. Little things like what shoes you are going to wear for the day isn’t always the start of something big. But deciding something permanent like an occupation could be a whole different story.

Drops Of Life

    My drops of oil personally are my friends and family. They mean absolutely everything to me. If I didn’t have my family to help me through all the ups and downs in life, who knows where I’d be now?

     What exactly are drops of oil. To me drops of oil mean the things in life that are important to you. The things that you never want to forget in life. That’s why I think mine are my friends and family.”The secrets of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon.”(pg 34) the wise man had said in the Alchemist. And that quote is very true. When I grow up I want to be able to travel around the world. I just think there’s so much to see, and that if I stay in one spot for my whole life I’ll be missing out. The world is an amazing place! Along with wanting to travel I don’t want to forget my drops of oil. I will not forget my family. They are the ones I have lived with for my whole life, and will live with before I’ll be able to travel around the world.
   

I have many ways to make sure I won’t spill,forget my drops of oil. One of them is I’m sure I’ll always want to come back to my childhood home. It was where I was born and raised. I’ll still have my family friends and grandparents to come visit. Another reason I won’t spill my drops is I have younger siblings. My baby sister means the world to me. I’m going to want to see her throughout her growing stages. I’ll always have to come back to see her in middle school and high-school. Plus I’m still her big sister, she’ll probably want some sisterly advice. And lastly, my mom. My mom helps me through everything. She’s always there for me, whenever I need her. So I’ll always be there for her!

    I’m really glad the Alchemist brought up that point about never losing your drops of oil. Because now that I have thought about it. I’ll never forget mine.

The End!

TRASH

Trash

What is trash?

Do we really know

old food, pieces of poo?

To other people it might not seem

just as people’s leftover boxes of old ice cream

It’s way way more...

It’s money and pesos

not rubbish and slime

Trash is how they stay alive

They dig through it day and night

Until three boys find something not usual to sight

It’s a bag...just a bag is what it seemed

Until the police came questioning

and making up schemes

Money is what they offered

They knew it wasn't true

So they ran with the bag

Into the blue

They slowly started putting the mystery together

with no education they were still very clever

With the dead at their sides

They dug up a grave

To find not a body

But money instead

They solved the mystery

But they still had to go

So Pia, Raphael, Gardo and Rat

Went to Sampalo

And that is that!

Trash Response Questions Two

1.)I think Olivia's perspective on money  is dead on. Money is what makes the world go round, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Money is the thing that separates everyone. Like the people in Behala. The people without money have to dig in the trash dump sites for a living. The analogy Olivia said was amazing. especially the part that said, " Nobody knows the value of water until they've lived in a dry dry place..." Behala would be a dry place because they don't have a lot of money. I think the experience of Behala has changed her in a very beneficial way. She has seen what it is like to live in a bad environment. She knows what it is like to struggle to stay alive. I think she will take all the things she has seen and put it to good use.

2.) Well...there are two articles that are really against Zapanta and that is the Daily Star and the University Voice. In the Daily Star it questions why there would be ten million dollars in his house. It states that everyone needs to-go money but ten million dollars is a little much. The Daily Star then says that maybe someone is either not paying his taxes or stealing other peoples. The University Voice says basically the same thing, it questions why he would keep millions of dollars in his house. Then the students say that the county could still move forward but with a new vice president, someone new and young. But the other article tried to defend him. The Star Extra talks about how Zapanta got stolen from and how it wasn’t his fault. It said that it was probably from someone that worked for him.

3. I think Andy Mulligan would end the book like that because it really tied everything together. It was the day of the dead so Orlandriz and Angelico could help them. And there was so many people there, they could just blend in with the crowd. There were two sides of the cemetery so it still separates rich and poor, even to the death.