HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: Halloween cabin

Lucy and Marie were staying at a cabin on the lake. They didn't know why but everyone called their cabin Skeleton cabin. One day Lucy and Marie were exploring their cabin . They found a piece of wood with words painted on it . The words said : "GO OUTSIDE FOR 30 MIN. THEN COME BACK". The girls obeyed and went outside. they walked around the lake for 30 min. exact. When they walked into the house ,Lucy gave a shriek of surprise. Marie looked up from untying her shoe .A skeleton was advancing towards them .Suddenly the skeleton began to giggle.Then it broke out in a fit of laughter. The skeleton pulled off it's mask. Underneath was the face of Leona one of their friends. Then more people emerged from the shadows. They were all Lucy and Marie's friends!The kids had a great Halloween party. They bobbed for apples and got costume prizes . That Halloween was a great memory!

The Key

                                              Chapter 1 --- The Legend

        "Karen, we're going to be late" called Marrisa. Karen hurried to the car. "I am so excited !", she exclaimed. Rachel grinned. "My uncle is glad to have us stay", she said. Karen, Marrisa and Rachel were going to visit Rachel's wealthy uncle in Inverness. "I've heard that your uncle has a box of valuable jewels hidden in his mansion", Marrisa said. "Can you tell us the story?", Karen begged. "A long time ago", began Rachel, "my uncle's great-great-great grandfather owned the house. His wife allowed a guest to stay at the house. The guest's name was Bob. He was a short man with a goatee and he had dark black hair. One day, Bob was seen burying a box somewhere.  When he was asked, he said the box was filled with beautiful and valuable jewels. The guest gave a key to his host and said it led to the jewels. No one knows where the box is hidden. All that is left is the key that now belongs to my uncle.".

       "Would he let us see it?", asked Karen, she loved mysteries. "Sure!!", said Rachel, "after all it isn't worth anything". They reached the Queen Mary Mansion. The Queen Mary Mansion was a white brick building with flowers hanging out of the windows and it was set on a valley of lush green grass. There was a statue of a bear cub sitting in front of the door. Rachel ran up the pale blue stairs to hug her uncle. Karen and Marrisa followed behind. "Let's go inside", said Rachel's uncle. When they were inside, Karen gasped. "Wow !" she whispered.

                                             Chapter 2 --- The Mansion

        The Queen Mary Mansion was indeed very beautiful. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Red velvet curtains edged with gold shimmered on the windows. "Would you girls like to find your room?", asked Rachel's uncle. "Yes sir!", said Karen. "Call me Ben", Rachel's uncle told her. The girls ran up the staircase and they were met with many many rooms. They went into a room with a big bed and had wall paper with a shade of pale green. They walked out and went into another room, that had huge book shelves, but no bed. This looked like the study room. Then they went into a room that had a blue bed with five pillows on it. The room had a computer, but it didn't have any wires connected to it.
         Then they went into a room with a sign that said "Girls Room". What they saw, took their breath away. The room had plush carpeting, a flat screen TV, bean bag chairs and three matching pink beds next to each other. The girls were speechless. "I see you found your room", said Ben, standing in the doorway. The girls grinned, they were ready for an awesome visit.

                                                Chapter 3 --- The Man

       Karen and her friends loved the mansion right from the start. They ate gourmet meals in the dining room with a long table and fancy chairs.  They had lots of fun until one day. It all started with a few loud sharp knocks on the door. "What was that?" asked Rachel. When Ben opened the door, a man about thirty stepped in. He was wearing a brown suit and carried a leather briefcase. "I don't like this", Marrisa muttered. Ben told the girls to go up to the room. The men went into another room and closed the door.
        In the girls room Karen was watching TV while Marrisa and Rachel read books. Finally Ben came into the room. "I'm sorry girls, that was Dr Wiggins. He want's to buy the key that I have. But I won't give it to him. He will do anything for the key." "Is that the key that leads to the jewels?", Marrisa asked. Ben nodded, "Looks like Rachel filled you in", he said with a smile. Karen was curious. "Can we see the key?", she asked. "Sure", Ben answered. He left the room and came back with a box. He opened it and took out the key. Karen stared it. She had never seen such an old key. It was rusted and had designs carved into it. "Ben", asked Marrisa, "is the box inside or outside the house?" Ben sighed, "No one knows" he said, "Legend says that Bob buried the box but someone else says it is hidden in the box".

                                                 Chapter 4 --- The suspects

       A lot of people came to talk to Ben about the key. One had a daughter named Amanda, who seemed very interested in the key. She seemed too interested. Karen wondered if Amanda was doing something about the key. Amanda had curly brown hair that fell in waves around her shoulder. She was a tall girl who wore a yellow dress with wild flowers on it. Every time that a visitor came, the girls had to go to their room. They always wondered what the people downstairs were talking about. Sometimes they tried to sneak out and listen, but Ben and the visitor would be in a room downstairs with the door closed tightly. But one day, Ben and the visitor talked so loudly that the girls could hear them in the room. "THE KEY IS GONE !!!", cried Ben.
      The girls ran downstairs to see what was happening. What they saw, made them stop!

                                                  Chapter 5 --- Gone ?

     A man in a red suit stood next to Ben. The man had soft brown hair and was very tall. He was much taller than uncle Ben. Ben was crying with his face in his hands. "Ben", Marrisa whispered, "Ben" she whispered more loudly. Karen saw the key's box on the grand piano. But the key was gone. "Oh no", cried Karen. "The key is gone", she said. Ben uncovered his face, "it was stolen", he said. The girls told Ben that they would find the key.
     They first made a list of suspects:

• Amanda 
• Man in red suit
• Dr Wiggins.

(Talk to each suspect)

Karen decided to question all the suspects. First they decided to talk to Amanda. "Why do you want to know so much about the key", Rachel blurted out. "It's a surprise", Amanda said. Karen looked at her suspiciously. Amanda shrugged. "Suit yourself" she muttered. The girls decided to keep Amanda on the list. Next they talked to the man in the red suit. The man in the red suit told them his name was Jeff and he was a friend of Ben's. He came every month to check on the key. The girls crossed Jeff off the suspect list. Now only Dr Wiggins was left to question. But when they went to his house, someone told them that he was too busy to talk. So the girls went to the back of the house and got in from another door. The house was huge. The girls tiptoed down the hall and looked in every room. Finally they saw a box that looked like it could hold the key. It was on a table in a big room. The girls snuck into the room and with trembling hands Karen opened the box.

                              Chapter 6 --- Found !

        Karen was so happy, she couldn't speak. "The key!", Rachel whispered. Marrisa was looking out in the hallway. "Guys, let's get out of here, someone's coming", she whispered frantically. Karen closed the box and slipped the key into her pocket. Then the girls snuck out of the room and raced all the way home. "Ben", Rachel shouted. "We have the key", Marrisa cried. Ben hurried out of his room and gasped with happiness when he saw the key. "Girls, where was it?", he asked. "Dr Wiggins took it", Karen gasped for air after the run. Ben slapped his head. "I should have known", he shouted. The girls went outside while Ben called the police.
        "Hey", Rachel cried when she tripped on a big rock in the middle of the backyard. Karen moved the heavy rock to the side of the back yard and groaned. She went back to where the rock was and when she was walking she heard something hollow. She brushed her hand on the grass where the rock was earlier and uncovered a trap door. Rachel pulled the door open. Inside there was a square metal box. "Get me the key", Karen commanded. Rachel ran back inside and got the key. Karen took it and ........ "It fits!!" she cried. She slowly opened the box and gasped at what she saw.

                                  Chapter 7 --- The Party

         There were diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. "Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben!!!", Rachel shrieked. Ben came hurrying toward them. When he saw the box he gasped. "Wow!", he shouted. He picked up the box and skipped inside. He called Jewel Treasury and they inspected the jewels. A few days later everyone except Ben was gathered in a room. The girl had been told Ben's birthday was coming up so they planned a surprise party for him. When Ben walked in, Rachel flicked on the lights and everyone shouted "Surprise!!!". Ben laughed and clapped his hands. Everyone began to sing "Happy Birthday", while Amanda brought out a present for Ben. Ben opened it and inside was a book about the key that Amanda wrote. "I wanted to know about the key, so that I could write about it. Now I am done writing it" she added. The girls did a triple high five and yelled "THE TRUE CREW DID IT AGAIN!!!!!"

                                        T H E       E N D

The Worst Sub Ever (Almost completely based on a true experience)

"Hey, what do you think the sub will be like? I hope she's nice". I looked at Rhonda, who kept talking about the sub. She looked back and nodded. "Last time our sub gave us no homework and Ms Rubin got mad", I said. "Let's hope she's not too nice", Rhonda answered.

When we got to school, a lot of kids in our class looked nervous. We sat there for a while and then the door opened. A short lady with short curly brown hair stepped into the room. "Good Morning children !!", she looked at everyone closely. "Let's start with checking your work", she said. I looked at Rhonda, she looked scared. I wondered why. When I looked at the sub, I got scared too. The sub was pulling a hard stick from her purse. I was afraid that she would hit us. She went around, and when we didn't give her an answer right away, she banged the stick on the desk.

We were terrified. The sub was mean and gave us so much homework that we dragged our backpacks home. The next day our teacher was back. We asked her why we had so much homework. She said we shouldn't have had any homework. We showed all our homework. We weren't supposed to get any homework ! So the next day we didn't have any homework.

----  T H E    E N D ----

The Haunted House !!

I had always been afraid of the old, abandoned house down the block! The gang of bullies claimed they had gone in and seen a ghost of a man. My mother says it's a bunch of baloney. I think it is real. Now I get so many nightmares! My worst one came true. Someone dared me to go in!

I ran home crying. Whenever we pass the house, a chill goes down my spine. Last year a few boys went in. Two disappeared, three ran out screaming, one was a mummy and one was a zombie. One claimed the ghost-man was his father. My brother's friend went in and never came out!

There is a grave of a lady by the house. A girl says the lady is the very nice old lady that moved from the house. One day I went in, the door creaked shut behind me. The lights turned on...

SURPRISE!!! everyone cried.. It was Halloween!!! They had built the house for a surprise party.

The Missing Moose Mystery

Karen Walker was playing baseball in her best backyard. Just then Rachel and Marissa walked up. Karen Walker, Marissa Tate and Rachel Bedford were detectives. Together they were the 'True Crew'. "Mary's dad is going away for a business trip", Rachel said. "Mary is staying with us", added Marissa. Karen groaned. "That'll be hard", she sighed "Mary's so bossy! She'll take over my room. Why can't she stay with her mom?", asked Karen. "Remember her mom died?", said Rachel. "She did?", asked Karen. "I thought you knew that", said Marissa. "I didn't", said Karen.

Ding dong!!!!! I'll get it, cried Karen.  "KKAAARRREEEENNNN!!!"  It was Mary. Yikes!! whispered Rachel. Mary had a belt with scissors, knives, glue, dirty crayons and sticky paper. Karen was surprised. Mary was never crafty. "Let's go now",said Mary in a different voice. "Time to clean up your room". Mary had a mini boom box attached to a bracelet, chewing gum and had an ipod. "How much music does she need?" Marissa and Rachel asked coming up beside her.

Mary had a blast at Karen's house. She broke a lamp, phone, flower vase and made Karen's room a mess with a lot of dirty stuff. When Mary wasn't looking, Karen made a face at her. Rachel and Marrisa tried to cheer her up by saying not to worry her dad would be back soon. But Karen wasn't counting on it.  

One day Karen's mom took them to the zoo. Mary liked the moose, Karen liked the snakes, Marrisa liked the Perican Falcons, Rachel liked the lizard and Karen's mom liked the bat. 

Karen’s mom bought them snacks, and Mary forced Karen to share her snacks. Karen told Marrisa, and Mary was tripped by her.  When Marrisa got in trouble, she told Mrs. Walker what Mary did to Karen. Mary got some scolding, and Mrs. Walker bought Karen some new snacks.

Rachel and Marrisa were staying over for a sleepover. They had made plans to clean up Karen’s room, and get it back in order. But their cleaning up would have to wait.

When they got home a TV announcement said a moose was missing from the zoo. Karen, Marrisa and Rachel tried to convince Mrs. Walker to take them back to the zoo. "No is the answer girls, sorry!"

That night the girls snuck out to investigate.  They had packed backpacks with flashlights, cell phones, and notepads with pens. Karen took a magnifying glass just in case.

They all dressed in dark clothes, and quietly went out the sliding glass door.   They were careful walking past Mary’s room. She was a light sleeper, and woke up at the tiniest noises.

They walked the two blocks to the zoo and went through the other end of the gate. They heard noises near the area where the moose were kept. They looked through the bars and saw the zoo keeper. But that wasn’t all. The moose was standing right next to him!

“I can’t wait till the authorities learn that I have found the moose again. Just kidding, I’m not telling anyone that I found you until I get enough money to get one of you”, the zoo keeper cackled. The girls were speechless. The moose had been in the zoo all along, but there was no way they were going to let the zoo keeper get away with this. They left the moose’s gate and walked over to the zebra’s gate. Karen took out her cell phone and started dialing the police. Meanwhile Marrisa took out her notebook and started writing down what she saw. Rachel took out her cell phone and started taking pictures of the zoo keeper with the moose.

The zoo keeper heard the click of Rachel’s phone. He whirled around to see who was in the zoo. He grabbed the stick that was by the gate and left the moose’s pen clutching the stick close to him. “Who’s there!!” he shouted. The girls rushed to hide behind some bales of hay. The zoo keeper walked towards them and the girls were trembling with fear. Karen had a plan. She huddled with Rachel and Marrisa and told them her plan.

Rachel sneaked behind some bales of hay and reached behind the zoo keeper unnoticed. She took a smaller stick and banged it against a pole. The zoo keeper whirled around to see, but Rachel had quickly ducked behind a box. While the zoo keeper was advancing towards Rachel’s hiding place, Marrisa had snuck towards the moose’s pen. She opened the door and slammed it again to make it look like someone had just gone into the pen. The zoo keeper turned again and started going towards the pen. It was dark enough for Marrisa to dive behind the hay before the zoo keeper could see her.

While Rachel and Marrisa were playing games with the zoo keeper, Karen had been busy. She had called the police on the cell phone and was now whispering to them where she was and was relaying what was going on. The police said they would be on their way and Karen started to help Marrisa and Rachel.

Soon police sirens could be heard from near the gate. The zoo keeper ran to the pen and fumbled with the lock. Two policewomen had marched up to the gate and started banging on it. The zoo keeper turned pale, but you couldn’t tell because it was dark.

“Open up, it’s the police!” shouted one of the police officers. The zoo keeper finished locking the moose’s pen and went to open the gate. He was met with two police officers. The taller policewoman had blonde hair and her name tag read ‘Julie’. The other police officer had brown hair tied up and a name tag that said ‘Marie’. “We are the officers investigating the missing moose case and we need to search the pen for clues. Can you let us in?” Marie asked. The zoo keeper turned white as if he had seen a ghost. “Is there something wrong?” Julie asked.

“I would love to take you, but do you have a search warrant?” the zookeeper asked. Marie turned red. “No, but we can get one if you need it” she answered, showing no sign of embarrassment. Julie took out a walkie-talkie and said something into it.

Soon they heard more police sirens outside. A young man came out. His name tag said Joe.  “Now we have a search warrant” Julie said with a satisfied smile. The man handed Julie a piece of paper. The zookeeper read it, and turned redder than a tomato. “Okay you can search the pen” he agreed. But as the girls watched he led them to the horse pen.

“Hey! That isn’t the moose pen!” Marrisa shouted, jumping up from her hiding place. The police officers turned around, and the zookeeper went pale again.

“Why are you in the zoo at this hour, young lady?” The zookeeper asked sharply. Karen jumped up, along with Rachel. “I am the one who called you” Karen said to the police officers. “Your name is Karen, right?” Julie asked. Karen nodded.  

“Sir, take us to the moose pen, or we take you to court” Joe ordered.  Reluctantly, the zookeeper led the police officers to the moose pen, with the girls trailing behind.

It was Julie, who discovered the moose. She had been looking at the ground, when she heard sounds coming from the caged in part of the moose’s pen. She looked inside, and saw the moose.   

           When she questioned the zookeeper, he looked so red, Rachel thought he was going to burst. 

            “I only hid him so I could get the money” the zookeeper protested. “You are still coming with us to court” Marie answered.

              The officers drove the girls home.

               When the police car drove up, Mrs. Walker was standing on the porch. “Where have you girls been?!” she cried. After she heard the whole story from Julie, she thanked the officers, and they left. The girls got SCOLDED for sneaking out of the house, but Mrs. Walker was the type of mom that always looks at the good side of things.

                Mary of course was upset that the true crew got famous, and she didn’t. But the girls were fine with that. After Mary left, the girls did some major cleaning of Karen’s whole house.

        But the girls knew this wasn’t their last mystery! 

    

The Kingdom of Fantasy

One day during summer vacation, I was trying to draw a breathtaking scenery of the 'Kingdom of Fantasy'. Me, Desiree and Kylie were putting on a play. I was drawing the background, Desiree was writing our lines and Kylie was making our props. I was drawing Crystal Castle, when Kylie pushed the rocket ship she made over. "I made it with strings, so it will look like it flies", she said.

"Let's try it out", said Desiree. So we got into the rocket and swung around in the air. Suddenly there was a loud SNAP! The strings broke and we went flying through the air. "AAHHH!!!!" we cried. We were terrified. THUD!!!! We had landed.

When we looked out the window, we were amazed. It looked so wonderful. We got out of the rocket and saw a magnificient Crystal Castle. I drew a picture of it in my head to draw back home. I was amazed to see the castle sparkle so much. I decided to put silver glitter glue on my picture. "Let's go inside" said Desiree. "Are you sure Des?" asked Kylie. "We should try", I said. "Who knows, we may have fun" said Desiree. "Well I guess we could try, but after that we are going straight back", said Kylie.

We walked to the castle and a guard let us in. It looked like standing in a dream. Everything was made out of crystal, even the floors! We started down a huge crystal hallway, it looked amazing. I thought we were going to meet crystal humans!! Even Kylie seemed to be having fun. Suddenly we stopped, we didn't talk, move or breathe. In front of us was a mouse. He walked and talked! He wore a green suit with a red tie. He wore round glasses on his snout. Wwwhou!!! we cried. The mouse walked away saying "My name is Geronimo Stilton". We kept walking until we found a crystal door. We opened it and went inside.

Cool!! we said. We were in a huge crystal room. Little fairies were carved into the huge crystal pillars. Jewels made colorful patterns on the golden silky banners that hung around the room. A huge crystal throne was glittering nearby. A not so huge crystal wardrobe was off to the side. It was open. Inside there were three gowns, one was silver, one was gold and the last one was both. We got out of the room wondering about the throne and who it was for. We found out soon enough. It belonged to the queen of fairies "Blossom". She was standing right in front of us!! The queen smiled at us. I was surprised, I had expected her to be angry. She walked away not leaving a single clue of anger.

We walked out of the castle to explore more. We traveled around and got more facts for our play. We also found more string and attached the rocket to a tree, then took off. We had a play and it was a great success!!

The day I solved a mystery!

When I was alone in the basement there was a terrible scream from upstairs. I ran and hid in the closet, because there were footsteps on the stairs and I knew mom and dad were gone out shopping. A chill ran down my spine. I saw blood on the couch. Was there a vampire in my house? I wondered.

I ran upstairs and hid in my bedroom until my parents came home. They were surprised to find me in my room. I told them that we have a vampire in the house. They didn't believe me so I showed them the blood. Mom looked worried, but dad said not to worry, nothing was there.

That night I couldn't sleep. I just listened to the rain outside my window. Tap! Tap! Tap! Suddenly I heard another sound CLOMP! CLOMP! CLOMP!!!  I knew that wasn't rain. I got out my flashlight and tiptoed downstairs. The beam of light shone around the room. I stopped when I found a set of muddy footprints leading to the basement! I ran to the stairs and climbed up two at a time. When I got to the top, I dashed into my room and slammed the door. I was shaking with fear. I had to tell mom and dad and fast!!

As quiet as a mouse I tiptoed to their room, woke them up. Then I took them downstairs and showed them the footprints. They told me that they would look in the morning and put me to bed. The next day I was awake  before my parents. I brushed my teeth and ran into their room. I started to jump on their bed. "Mom! Dad! Wake up lazy bones! Come on !!" Dad opened one eye. "Calm down son. I'll be down in a minute".

I ran downstairs but the footprints were gone! When dad came down, I told him what happened. I was upset. Then I had an idea! I pulled dad into the basement and there we found a robber hiding. Dad caught him and I called the police. I found out the blood was only paint.

Then we all had cake and goodies to celebrate.

T H E   E N D