WRiting Contest #1

Intermediate Category Winning SUbmissions

How Far Can a Mango Go?
By Yumeng Zhong
First Place, Intermediate Category 

Think about it. How far can a mango go? Halfway across the world? Sure. Well, at least I did. I still remember the day I was cruelly picked from my beautiful tree. The day I was squeezed half to death on that musky smelling airplane. The day I arrived here. All I know is that there are a lot of mes. Not literally me, but doppelgangers of me.

I remember living in a lush forest. I was the only mango on my tree. I used to bask in the sun, my skin glowing gold against the deep green leaves. I would dance in the gentle wind and I would listen to the birds chirping . But one day disaster struck. That fateful day a pair of rough hands plucked me from my tree, and I knew I would not be able to come back.

The transport to the first place that I was dropped off to was disorienting: packed in a cardboard crate with others like me, this metallic beast taking us far from home. We were pressed against each other until we couldn’t be anymore. And finally, when all that ended, I was yanked from my cardboard prison to the most exciting but terrifying place I probably will ever be. In a bright display of a bustling market, I was amongst so many other fruits—all so bright and different. Colors caused chaos in my head: bananas with their bright yellow suits, oranges bursting at the seams with juice, and those little spiky things I had never seen before.

Yet all of them shared one thing in common: they were waiting to be picked up by someone. It was a strange kind of hope that was mixed with dread. What would become of me? Was I to be thrown in a cart and whisked away, or was I to sit here untouched until I began to soften? I didn't want to go bad.  And then, there she was: small, wide-eyed, and curious. She reached out, picking me up ever so carefully, unlike the rough hands before. Was I finally going to be taken somewhere? My heart raced at the thought of a new adventure.

As she picked me up, I caught a glimpse of the teeming market beyond her. The numerous vendors, the clash of colors, and the smell of spices reached my nostrils. I couldn't wait to see more and feel the warmth of the sun again—no matter where I was. But I was being placed in her mother's basket. I had a question, and it was filling up my consciousness. It just wouldn't escape me: what lay in store for me at the end of this journey? 

The next thing I knew, I was making my way down a crowded street, the world blurred around us. I was cradled carefully, and for the first time since leaving my tree, I felt a spark of hope. Maybe I would bring joy and sweetness into someone's day. And maybe, just maybe, I'd learn what it really means to be part of this place.

How far can a mango go?

The Plague
By Sophia Zhang
Second Place, Intermediate Category

Running was an okay task. Running with a sack full of jewels worth 100 million was not. Muika ran through the slums of New York City, breathing in the invigorating smell of air that smelled like freedom despite the slightly rancid scent of unbathed humans. She turned left and right, nearly trodding over foot huddled masses on the ground. She turned into alleyways, climbed into sewers and at last reached home. Home was an overstatement. It was nothing but a gray shabby tent with a tent door. When she was certain no one was watching her, she slipped inside. She soon fell into an uneasy slumber. Her dreams were plagued with nightmares of people with white eyes, chasing people with pitchforks aflame and screams from the victims as they perished in the everlasting fire. Their screams fell upon deaf ears.

Muika woke up, her heart was pounding. She immediately reached into her shirt to clutch the necklace that her late friend had given her. The moment she ran her hands over the smooth glassy surface of the pendant, her heart calmed down instantly. Breathe, she told herself. Breathe. Keep calm and steal on.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. The sack full of jewels that she had stolen months before now cost 500 million dollars. She managed to sell it to a father with a spoiled daughter. She made so much money that she moved into a penthouse in New York. No one knew how she made so much money. The police knew her as The Shadow, since no one ever saw her. After her thefts, she moved like a shadow. Never appearing on camera. The police could never catch her. They tried to keep tabs on her, but there were nearly no traces of her. Nearly.

One day, the police came and knocked on her door. Muika opened the door, worried that they knew who she was. 

“May we please enter your house? The Shadow.” It turned out that they knew who she was, but they never came to arrest her.

“I’m sorry, I think that you have the wrong door.” Muika tried to close the door but the police kept the door open.

“We need your help.” They forced the door open.

“What do you need my help for?”

“There have been these mysterious plagues infecting the slums of New York. This plague has been created by the anti CIA. We need you to go under cover to infiltrate their hide out.”

“What’s in it for me?”

“Don’t you want to save the slums of  New York?”

“If that means working with you, then NO.” Muika closed the door, at least she tried to.

“Please, you’re our only hope. Those who got infected by the plague have turned mad and has caused mass destruction and carnage. When they cough on someone, they get infected too.”

This softened Muika’s heart just a little bit. She didn’t want people to die because of her.

“Alright. But there’s one catch. You will provide adequate education, food and housing for all of the people in the slums.”

“We agree,” the police said desperately, “just help us.”

They began to plan how to infiltrate the anti-CIA headquarters. Until one day, the entire police force fell under the plauge’s control. Muika was finishing the last step with the cheifs of the police force, when their eyes turned white and they began to roll in their sockets. They started coughing, as Muika ran as fast as she could, out the door and into the still night air. She ran until she couldn’t breathe. Soon leaving behind the sounds of coughing.

Muika began formulating a plan by herself. With the chiefs of the police force under the plague's control, the rest of the police force was infected. One by one, they were brought to the chiefs and infected. The police force turned into a mindless drone and attacked people without warning. The city was suddenly pure chaos and terror. People didn’t know who to trust. The government had gone corrupt. Way more corrupt than it had been before. People were allowed to carry weapons around, and having a gun became a new fashion.

On the day of the infiltration, Muika awoke to the sounds of someone hacking and coughing by her ear and turned to see a ghastly sight. 

An infected person was coughing in her ear, but Muika still felt the same. As the person coughed harder, she still wasn’t infected. She found this so curious. Why, she thought to herself, can’t I be infected? He’s coughing in my ear, positively hacking but I’m not infected. Yet. 

“Have you got her?” A harsh voice, deep voice growled. “She’s very valuable.”

Muika immediately feigned infection and acted like how all the other people in her room were acting. Drooling. White eyes occasionally opening or staying closed. Lips foamy and looking like zombies.

“Let’s go.” Muika was pushed roughly to her feet and she began to walk. As they walked, Muika was waiting with bated breath to hear something other then the sounds of footsteps. New York was always bustling with activity, but today, it was deathly silent. Walking for hours was very boring. Muika was lost in her own thoughts for quite a while, so she didn’t notice what route they were taking. When they suddenly stopped walking, Muika bumped into someone, forcing her eyes open. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see an enormous man to see the pupils in her eyes. Instead, she saw a teenager looking into her pupils. She had sky blue eyes, bluer then Muika remembered. Yet they looked more tired. Eyebags lined her otherwise pretty face.

“Astrid?” Muika stared into her “late” friend’s eyes.

“Muika, I’m so glad I found you!” She hugged Muika so hard, all the breath was knocked out of her. When Muika didn’t hug her back, she said “Oops, sorry I forgot to turn of the voice changer.” On the last 2 words, her voice changed back into it’s normal state.

“You’re all relieved,” she told the infected people.  At once they turned and walked away. 

“What?” Muika asked, mystified.

“I created this plague to find you!” 

“What? Why would you make the murders?” Muika was confounded.

“Thoses were test subjects that didn’t work. Their personalities were to unstable. They’d change personalities faster then light.”

“Why did they just go away?” Muika blinked slowly, then answered her own question. “You used the plague to control their minds.”

“Yep. I wasn’t doing anything illigeal though, the government reached out to me and asked me to help them capture you to get your loot. After that I could see you again.”

“Why’d you pretend to be dead?” Muika’s head was spinning around in circles.

“Well, I actually did die, but I got revived by this cool expriment the government had. So I’m sorta like Frankenstein!”

Life on Mars: Evil NASA 
By Vincent Kapoor 
Third Place, Intermediate Category 

It’s day 1 of my new life on Mars, and I can't believe the marvelous journey we've gone on.  My name is Charlie, and I'm one of the lucky individuals chosen by NASA to be part of the  mission to colonize Mars. The threatening situation on Earth, with the devastating eLects of  global warming, prompted this bold initiative to establish human life on the red planet. 

The surface of Mars is surprisingly habitable, thanks to the destruction of the ice caps,  which has resulted in the formation of a breathable atmosphere. 

Our cabins are nothing short of extraordinary. Each cabin is built from sturdy steel and has  a big kitchen, a cozy living room with a television and games, and four bedrooms. My family  and I settled into our own bedrooms, each full of personal items from home. 

Outside, I gaze at the landscape. Our town on Mars is full of modern buildings. I look at the  hovering space cars that transport us around the town that amaze me. Also, we have  access to a rec room, a central meeting building, and an indoor playground that defies  gravity, featuring play equipment mounted on the walls and ceiling. 

Suddenly, our peaceful time is interrupted by a terrible event. The rocket carrying the  remaining supplies from Earth is struck by another ship that shot a missile, hurtling  towards our colony. People panic as they seek shelter in their cabins. I, and my best friend  Jake run and dive for cover under my bed, along with my sister, brother, and parents. 

Impact, the destruction is clear, the roof of our cabin and several other structures lay in  ruins. To our relief, the air remained breathable. However, our sense of security is no more  when attackers on the surface began firing at our colony. In all the chaos, I hurry towards  the nearby tunnels, which house essential survival equipment, weapons, and space suits.  We seek shelter in the underground tunnels. 

We discoverer additional amenities such as security cameras, a dining hall, and a gear  room. Life in the tunnels is nothing you can compare to the comfort of our town above. The  cramp quarters. 

I wasn’t about to see my whole life spent in the tunnels, so I decided to go out with Jake,  "Are you sure this is the best thing to do at the moment?” I hear Jake say. ‘Do you just want  to live in these stupid tunnels your whole life? Because if you do, you can go back.”. “I didn’t  mean it like that. I thought maybe we should get the help of an adult”. “All they would do is  make us stay back. I think we just go out and scout out the area, plus I am bringing some food, a grapple, bandages, and an energy rifle in case anything goes wrong. Come on, let's  go”. 

We sprint out of the tunnels. When we got out we saw people wearing suits with bags from  NASA, and commanding them was the CEO of NASA. They were sweeping the area  searching for people, and it looked like they weren’t trying to save anyone. Then I hear him  say no one was around and it was time to start the project. I wonder what the project was,  he probably made the ship crash so no one would ever come to Mars, but then I remember  that I had the phone number of the SpaceX company, so I dial them and I start talking, “If  you want to be a hero and go to Mars now is the time,” I also fill them in on what I know. 

Due to the faster boosters on the rockets in 2155, we could go to Mars in a matter of  seconds. And soon enough a SpaceX rocket lands near the town. Troops rush out to take  over the perimeter. NASA and SpaceX starts shooting energy rifles at each other. Suddenly  the adults that were held up in the tunnels came out with their energy rifles, I see my  parents and rush over to them. “Where had you been for the last hour” they say, “er, I went  out to see what was going on” and I fill them in on what had happened in the last hour. As  soon as they heard what happened they all start shooting at NASA. 

NASA was overwhelmed and gave up. All of their troops including the CEO were loaded  onto another SpaceX rocket and taken back to Earth for court. While SpaceX built up the  town again we all dove around in space Tesla’s. 

It turns out that NASA was planning to take over Mars and then destroy Earth, thank god  they didn’t. 

The End

Bob the Magnificent
By Nina Duan
Honorable Mention, Intermediate Category

It was the year 3034 and the planet was in trouble.  Humanity was dying because there was not enough water.  The scientist worked around the clock to find a solution that could solve the water problem but none was in sight.

Just then, in the urgent headquarters,the scientist detected something really bad. They zoomed in with their Iphone 227’s and saw the dangerous aliens coming to take over the world. They began to panic but then the mega brain scientist figured out a plan.  They would use their environmental cleaning robot, Bob, to try to keep the aliens away. 

When the ufos appeared in the sky the war started but the scientists were ready. They sent Bob the robot to defeat the aliens and they seemed to be winning!!!!!!!! 

But then, to everyone’s surprise the aliens grabbed a dangerous weapon and hypnotized Bob who turned his weapons to the humans. 

The humans were very surprised by this act. They tried to run but then Bob used lasers to kill the escaping humans. The humans screamed and ran while the robot chased them. 

Those who Bob did not kill were captured and brought to the aliens. 

On the alien news, it reported that the humans would be dropped into the ocean the next day. The humans were very sad that their life would end this way so then the very next day the humans did the last thing they had up their sleeve. They praised and gave their soul energy to Bob. Every single one. 

Bob fused the energy and slowly, slowly, slowly, slowwwwwly recover his senses as he figured out what happened.

As his true self, he figured it out and decided to put on a disguise to make it look like he got hypnotized. He went to the meeting place where aliens told him to meet up knowing the humans only had one hour to live. And in that one hour, the robot quickly executed the last plan. 

He took out aliens until he reached the head alien. But the head alien saw everything through the global telescope. He tells Bob it was too late and Bob is devastated that he can't complete the mission. Then the head alien snapped his fingers and he said that with a change of plans the humans won't be dropped in the ocean but will suffer in front of the robot. 

As the head alien pointed towards the humans with his gun the robot jumped protectively  in front of the humans to protect. 

As they all witness the heroic act,  the head alien almost faints because he never thought this would ever happen. 

Quickly the humans began to get their power back as they broke through the ropes and took out the head alien. 

But it was not the time to celebrate because they looked at the robot’s ashes. Their friend. They begin to build a statue of the robot in their honor. They gave flowers to the statue. And they began to cry. They cried so much that their tears formed streams. They cried for so long that the streams became rivers.  They cried until they could cry no more and their tears brought enough water back to the earth that the drought ended and civilization was able to survive. 

Good Mentality, Good Results
By Stephen Gu
Honorable Mention, Intermediate Category

This was my first time in an international and invitational golf event. It was my second round at the Indian Wells Celebrity Course in Palm Desert. The sun scorched my skin and the grass of the course, (which is usual weather for Palm Desert), and we were starting on the 12th hole.

After eleven holes, I realized one of the players played significantly better than the others. He had just made three birdies in a row after a slow bogey start, and I was lucky enough to keep his score. His warm-up routine and putting were way more detailed than the rest of us.

He focused on the moment every single shot and was the most quiet out of all of us. I remembered seeing him at the driving range both days. He arrived before me, and I was the fourth person to arrive both days. Not only that, but he lived over thirty minutes away from the tournament site, while I stayed in a hotel one minute away from the course.

He had already attempted to hit two out of three greens on the par 5s. He played aggressively, took risks, but the thing that caught my attention was his mentality. Back in Canada, most people were focused, but they were also distracted half of the time, too busy talking with one another. But this person was completely focused. Apart from etiquette talk or his discussion with his caddie, he only spoke twice. And he never initiated any conversation.

He also would never boast, even though he already hit three shots over 100 yards to under five feet, and as I was thinking about that, this mysterious player hit his second shot on the par 5 fourth, right next to the hole. I had already walked up to the green for an eagle chip, but I was shocked to see him hit a 3-wood to four feet–an incredible feat for such a young player. When he got to the green, I asked him how he played so well.

He gave me a simple response, “It was lucky that it avoided the bunker.”

I was confused. No matter how bad of a shot I hit, if it ended up to four feet for eagle, I would be jubilant. Yet his expectations were obviously much higher than mine. It was then that I decided to ask him who he was and what he shot the day before.

“How did you play yesterday?” I asked.

“I’m not playing good today… yesterday was better. I shot seven under,” he said.

“Oh,” I said. I had shot eight over the day before! “What’s your name?”

“Alan Yoda.”

And then I realized why his expectations were higher than mine: Alan was leading the tournament, and he had a very large chance to win. But I knew that he wasn’t focused because he could win—he was focused because he had extremely good habits, something no one else I knew had. Some other people from Vancouver that I had met many times were focused, but they would always get distracted one way or another, whether it was before the tournament, while walking, after making three birdies in a row, or anything else.

However, Alan, as I saw, found this regular, and he prioritized getting into a good environment, having a good mentality, in order to get good results. Alan lips out his four-footer and taps in for birdie, which is still extremely impressive. 

Even though this was a few months ago, Alan has inspired my mantra of this year: “Good Mentality, Good Results.”

A Robot for Mason
By Kairoi Chan
Honorable Mention, Intermediate Category

Mason pretended everything was normal, even though the robot seemed to glare at him whenever he thought about the Robot’s nightly transmissions. He noticed his robot was becoming more careless of how loud it's conversation was. He caught: humans… not worthy…selfish… ruin… Earth… get rid… invade… command… tomorrow… fool… pretend… malfunction… Mason thought the robots were invading Earth tomorrow, fooling the humans by pretending to malfunction and then attacking them. Mason got his emotional ADVANCED Artificial Intelligence (AAI) robot on his tenth birthday, but the robot seemed to start to act weird and want to destroy humanity.

Mason realized he couldn’t just ask the president to shut off the electricity. He found out his robot was the problem because only his one had emotions, the other ones just had intelligence but not emotions. His robot made the decisions, he had to destroy the robot. 

BUT HOW??!!

Mason had to find something that could destroy his robot, like maybe an electric shock? But it was impossible to somehow command a bolt to come from the sky. So Mason decided to get classified weapon information. He knew how to hack the president’s account because he was unbelievably smart. Mason would not like to hold a superweapon because he could accidentally hurt himself, so he had to get a weapon that could move on its own like his robot. So he checked the president’s account for what weapons the government was working on, and the first thing that popped up was the living spray. According to the president’s account, the living spray was temporary but would do what you wanted it to do. Then he checked its location: a glass case in the president's room.

First, Mason had to decide what to use his living spray on, because as smart as he was, the president’s agents would be searching for him to retrieve the living spray and he couldn’t evade them all. He searched his house for a weapon, but there was only an old unused brick, a kitchen knife, and a toy wrecking ball that was hard and spiky, but wouldn’t hurt the robot. Then he found some Pokémon cards and found a Charizard EX that dealt 330 damage! Mason realized his plan was complete.

Mason had to grab the only living spray from the president's clutches, but luckily, he had an IQ of 279 and calculated the trajectory of a brick at 150 km per hour. He made sure everything would happen extremely fast, so the president’s agents couldn’t stop his mission. He launched the brick at the living spray case and perfectly maneuvered his deceptively strong toy wrecking ball to knock it right into his hands. Then, he sprayed the Charizard EX from his birthday. The Charizard became giant and destroyed the robot, dealing the 330 damage. Its aim was perfect, it didn’t burn anything else and after ten seconds, it turned back into a card. It turns out, the living spray was only temporary.

Mason showed the president the security cameras, and the president made a big change, technology was degraded to protect Earth and Mason learned to love the simple, tech free life. Mason was delighted the Earth wasn’t destroyed and humanity didn’t die, but he had another gut feeling.  This time, however, it felt like everything would be alright.