Mosaic Team

Author: Claudia Mendez

     I should have known it was a bad idea, but that didn’t stop me. When people say “It was love at first sight,” I thought they were full of it. Now I know it’s true because I feel it. I feel it when I see her, when I hear her, when I smell her. I didn’t think god created people like her but I’m glad he did. 

      The first day I met her was in a grocery store. I was looking through the limes in the produce section and I smelt her perfume. She smelt like flowers and summer and happiness all at once. I looked up and saw a living angel, she was shining so brightly just looking at the strawberries and I felt my heart stop, I didn’t know they could do that. That was only 2 months ago but it feels like forever ago. 

     Since then my camera roll has been filled to the brim with photos of her. From anything of her smiling, laughing, crying or even just sitting still. I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her she’s beautiful every second. Surprisingly tonight’s going to be our first night together. I’ve been looking forward to this moment all day, even though I got to her place early. I wore my nicest clothes and I stood in front of my mirror for a shameful 45 minutes making sure my hair was sitting just right. 

      At the moment she should be leaving dinner with her friends. I’m not a huge fan of them if I can speak honestly. I think they take too much of her time, time that could be spent with me. It’s not a big problem though I can deal with that later. When she opens the door to her apartment I pause. She looks just as gorgeous as the day I met her. I make sure she’s locked the door because I don’t want anyone else coming in and scaring her. God knows I got in way too easily. She really should change those locks.

     For a second I feel this is a bad idea, but I really couldn’t help myself. I had to be with her. Too bad she doesn’t have a bigger bed, I’m starting to get sore under here. I just hope she doesn’t reach under and check or else she’ll call the cops and I’ll get put away. I can’t let that happen, not now or anytime soon. I need her and she needs me even though she doesn’t know that yet. 

Author: Mario Cornelio

On a cold, rainy day Leon was packing up to go on a trip 
with his friend to London. As he was getting his things ready, 
he got a call from his friend, Chris. 
 
“Hello,” Leon answered. 
“Hey man, are you done with packing your stuff?” 
“Yeah, but there is one final thing I need to do.” Leon said “What’s that?” 
“Well my mom hasn’t been answering me for the past two 
days, so I think I’ma head to her house and check if she’s 
alright,” Leon said with a worried tone. “Well, alright.”  “Hey, maybe you can pick me up at my mom’s place, we can 
carpool together?” Leon said with an excited tone.  “Yeah, sure I can do that.” 
    “Ok, then. I guess I’ll see you then, Bye.” 
    “Bye.” 
    As Leon hung up the call and got the last of his things in his car, he got in and started making his way to his mom’s 
house. “Come on pick up,” Leon kept calling his mom over and 
over but no sign of her picking up. He finally made his way to 
his mom’s house and opened the door with his spare key. 
“Mom…..MOM!” Leon shouted, but he got nothing in response. Not a 
sound was made. He kept walking and opened the backyard door and 
found his mom sitting there looking at the flowers “Hey, Mom. 
I’ve called and texted you, even shouted your name,” Leon said 
with an aggressive tone. “S-s-s-sorry, I was b-b-busy.” It was normal for Leon’s mom 
to talk like that as she had suffered a brain injury after the 
crash which also caused the death of his father. “Look, just please answer your phone. You made me worried 
sick,” Leon said. “I’m s-s-sorry, how about I-I-I m-m-m-make us d-dinner?”  
”Sure, I mean I did tell Chris to pick me up here, so yeah, I can stay for dinner.” 
    “G-good. I’ll s-s-s-start m-m-making dinner.” 
    Leon sat in the living room as his mom was making some 
delicious chicken and rice which was Leon’s favorite. 
    “D-dinner is r-r-ready!”     “Oooo some chicken and rice, don’t mind if I dooo!” Leon 
exclaimed with excitement. As Leon and his mom ate dinner 
together his mom asked, 
    “S-s-so w-w-where are y-you and C-Chris going?” 
    “Oh, managed to buy tickets to London to go see the band 
Pantera that is touring there.” 
    “O-oh s-s-s-sounds n-n-nice.” Leon’s mom gave a big smile 
which gave Leon the creeps. 
    “I have never seen mom or even anyone smile that wide,” 
Leon had said in his mind and now that he was thinking about it, 
his mom’s face didn’t seem natural with wide eyes, a big grin, 
and a mole that she was missing. 
    “Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom,” Leon said while 
rushing upstairs. As he reached the bathroom next to his 
parents’ room, a foul smell hit him, and that smell was coming 
from his parents’ room. He entered their room and saw a swarm of 
flies around his parents’ closet. He opened the door to find a 
blanket, and he slowly reached out and lifted it. What he saw 
was absolutely horrific. His mother was covered in blood, torso 
open with her organs missing while some of her ribs were shot 
out of her back, her face was distorted with her eyes replaced 
by small eyes, teeth missing, and her mouth was put in a forced 
grin. Leon stepped back and turned to the hallway to see his 
mom, no, he meant that thing standing on the top of the stairs 
smiling wide with big blood shot eyes. It started to stretch its 
neck and twist its head upside down as it turned its body black 
and its limbs longer. Leon quickly closed the door and dialed 
911. 
    “911 what is your emergency?” 
    “Y-yes. I need help, there is some weird thing or 
c-creature outside my door. PLEASE SEND SOMEONE!” 
    “Sir, I need you to calm down and tell me where your 
location is.” 
    “Yes it’s uhh it’s 5856 147th-“ Leon stopped as the lights 
had turned off leaving him in the dark with his phone being the 
only light source. He turned his phone on and heard breathing. 
He slowly looked up and with his phone light he made out what 
looked like his mother’s face. 
    Leon was filled with fear as the creature said, “I l-love 
you s-s-son.” 
    Forty-five minutes later the police arrived and soon after 
that the detectives. Detective Hoffman said, “Alright, get out 
of the way, move it.” 
    Officer Dean responded, “Hey you can’t be here.” 
    “Calm down. I am Detective Hoffman and this is Detective 
Kramer,” and they both pulled out their badges. The detectives 
walked in and went up to Leon’s parents’ room. “Ah, man,” 
Detective Hoffman exclaimed while covering his nose. Leon was 
lying on the floor, his arms ripped, torso open like his 
mother’s but not all of his organs were gone, face distorted 
with his eyes missing, teeth gone, and a big smile from ear to 
ear. “Did you find any identification?” asked Hoffman. 
    “Yes, here,”answered Dean, as the police officer handed 
detective Hoffman Leon’s and his mother’s ID. 
    “A Mrs. Abigail Kennedy … and a mister Leon Kennedy, hmmm 
sounds familiar,” Hoffman said while looking at Kramer. 
    “Oh, we also found this,” Dean handed the detectives a 
phone, and it was left on text messages. 
    Hoffman asked, “Hey, wait, when did you guys arrive here?” 
    ”About thirty minutes ago.” 
    “Me and Kramer arrived five minutes later.” 
    “So…” questioned Dean. 
    “It seems mister Leon here replied to a message from Chris 
about forty minutes ago, saying “yeah I’ll be right down just 
let me finish using the bathroom.” 
    “So this means this Chris guy could be our suspect.” 
    “And he killed Leon,” Detective Hoffman said while looking 
at Leon’s body. 
 
    “Maaaan, are you excited to see Pantera and walk around London? I just can’t wait to get there,” Chris asked Leon with excitement. “To be honest, you look different, Bruh. Happier with that big ol’ smile. You alright?”      “Me, oh I’m just fine, everything is just fine.” As Leon 
gave a big grin. 

Author: Kayla Recarte

In the year 2090, on the planet Jupiter, two kids named Simba and Rick lived in a smart home while their parents worked. They needed someone to take care of them, so their parents hired a nanny named Carline. Carline was very old with long, puffy brown hair, and she was quite strict about house rules but seemed polite.

As the days went by, the kids got to know Carline. Everything seemed fine at first, but then they noticed the nanny would never eat or smile and always told the kids to go to bed early. There were a couple of nights that Simba and Rick couldn’t go to sleep because they would hear static, like if someone had left the TV on a channel that didn’t exist.

One late night, Simba couldn’t go to sleep because underneath his door he kept seeing lights blinking, so he walked out of his room and saw it was coming from Carline’s room. He walked over and saw her door was cracked open, and he peeked inside and gasped. Carline was standing in front of her bed with her back open. Wires and blinking lights were glowing. “This is not real; is she a robot?” Simba whispered.

The next day, Simba told Rick, and he couldn’t believe his brother until he started backtracking about all the odd behavior she would do. They noticed she was acting really weird, was talking to the house’s AI in a secret code, and the lights kept flickering. They looked at each other and said, “Oh no, she can control the house!” They ran upstairs to call their parents, but the signal turned off. Suddenly the house was locked down, the doors sealed, and the windows turned black.

They heard from a distance, “You know too much,” Carline said coldly. Her voice didn’t even sound human anymore. “You will stay inside forever.” Simba and Rick were trapped, but they had a plan. Rick distracted Carline by triggering false alarms in the kitchen while Simba snuck into the house’s control room. Using the password he had seen his mom type once, he broke into the system. After searching through the files, he found a program labeled “CARLINE SHUTDOWN,” and Simba clicked on it. Carline stopped moving, her eyes flickered, then she powered down, and she fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Simba and Rick ran to the phone to tell their parents to come as soon as possible. Their parents rushed home, and they were shocked. “She was only supposed to help. I didn’t expect this!” their mother said.

“You let a robot pretend to be a human,” Simba said. She almost trapped us!

Their parents promised never to use a nanny that could possibly be a robot ever again. From then on, Simba and Rick were more careful around technology, especially when it looked to be the perfect nanny.

Author: Sofia Vazquez

I should have known it was a bad idea, but that didn’t stop me. One step at a time. Each step I was taking felt like more and more weights being lifted off my shoulders. It was dark and the wind was strong, it was cold but I wanted to feel the cold. I wanted to feel everything I used to complain about. My vision was blurry, I didn’t have my glasses and the tears in my eyes weren’t making anything better. But oh did I know exactly where I was heading. My stomach was bloated, I had my pants unbuttoned. I just had my last meal with my family. My mother cooked my favorite meal, my brother had a huge smile because I finally sat down and ate with him, and my dad was still telling me what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong, as usual. As I was walking down the blocks of my small town, I started remembering all the memories I had with my old friends, my family, and my boyfriend. God I was being so selfish. There were no cars on the streets, no people were outside, the town was quiet yet it didn’t feel like it. My mind was louder. It felt like a constant battle in my mind, something telling me that I should stay, live my life, and hopefully get better. The other part of my mind was telling me the complete opposite. It seemed to be stronger. I hated myself even more, my goodbyes didn’t feel like goodbyes. They all thought I was sleeping. What a horrible person I am. The more and more I kept walking I started seeing the bridge. I climb up on the ledge of the tall bridge just looking down. My thoughts were winning. I should have known it was a bad idea, but that didn’t stop me.

Author: Kindall Weathers

I heard the sirens along with gunshots and screams of the people outside. It was no longer safe here. We had to move. But where? Where could we possibly go? The whole continent was stricken with war. There was no safe haven for us. We were forced to move from one place to another. Forced to uproot our lives because of greedy rich men who can’t control their ego. We, the poor, have to endure such misery and suffering with no salvation in sight. We haven’t eaten in weeks. I don’t even remember what it’s like to have a warm meal. Forced to survive off shrubs and small rodents.

“Is this life? Is this what my life will amount to? Just an insignificant speck of dust forced to endure such hardship.” I said to myself.

“Enough of this pity party,” the old man said, “We have to move.”

So we did. It was just he and I now. There used to be more, but our numbers slowly trickled down. Some died from illness, some from the famine, and most were hit by the guns and exploding bombs. Some took their own lives. They couldn’t bear to live the life of an insignificant cog in the wheel. To them death was the only salvation. I wonder if they ever found such salvation. At least I hope they did.

Amongst the people who have left this world were my mother and baby sister. They were gunned down by the militia’s soldiers. My sister, who was only twelve at the time, snuck onto one of the military’s camps and stole some of their rations. They ultimately caught wind of it and tracked her down. They came to our hut and dragged my sister out to the middle of the camp. They were going to publicly execute her and use her as an example. “Never bite the hand that feeds you,” are the words they said. What rubbish they speak. We barely ate, they hoarded all the food and rations, and only gave us the crumbs. My already sick mother tried to plead with the men to spare her daughter, but they would not listen. They raised their weapons at my mother and sister. I

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tried to intervene, but the old man held me back. The men pulled the triggers and my mother and sister were gone. I couldn’t do anything but watch. The pain was so unbearable, I couldn’t even cry.

I felt so much anger that I vowed to get revenge on the people who had forsaken us to this life. I will destroy this terrible government and rebuild it in my image. No one will ever have to endure the burdens of war ever again. My people under my rule will only know peace and prosperity. I will achieve no matter what. No matter how much it costs. No matter how much blood I have to get on my hands. For this is not a dream; soon it will be a reality. My life will not be so insignificant. I will do something to free these people. For now I will hold back my rage and ambition. I will travel to a new land with the old man, running from the bombs and gunfire. I will make my plan every step of the way and wait for my time to strike.

“That is my decree. That is my oath.”

Author: Lizbeth Escalante

In my pocket, I had a candy wrapper, a ticket stub, and my uncle’s credit card. I did not know where I was going, but I was going. I’m finally leaving this town. This small, rural town has a population of 400 people. Everyone knows everyone and leaving isn’t an option. Every business is family owned and every family owns a business. When an owner dies it gets passed down to their child and so on. No exceptions. No one can leave. There is one school for all the children ages 5 to 12, once you turn 13 you are required to start working. There is no retirement, no days off, no vacation time. You must work until you drop dead. The oldest worker is my great grandmother, she is 95 years old and has worked since she was 13. I’ve always known this would be my future but now, as my 13th birthday approaches, it becomes more and more real. Two days ago, I decided that I would leave and start my own life. There has only been one other person to attempt this, my uncle. He was my favorite person and I looked up to him greatly. He told me this was not a life worth living and there is so much more than just working. He was caught and killed three days later. That was six years ago. I know it is dangerous but I have to try. I know there is a better life for me out there. One where I can get an education, have a job that I love to do, and not have a burden on my shoulders to take over the family business one day. So here I stand, at the gate of our town. In my pocket, I have a candy wrapper, a ticket stub, and my uncle’s credit card. I may not be starting with much, but I have a dream and that is all I need.