Response #4

        Day one (Saturday). My family and I are leaving our home in Georgia to live al the way across country in Los Angeles, California. I can feel the rush of excitement running through my body as we approach the new house. Once all the boxes were out of the truck, we start to unpack them. Later on that night, after we were all settled in, I sat on my bed and dosed off. I dreamt myself waking up. I looked outside my window and saw an abandoned house next to mines. The paint on the house was peeled back, the backyard had dead leaves all over and a swing set sitting in the middle towards the back. The windows on the house were either broken or boarded, except one. I looked into the fixed window and noticed a figure staring back at me, I quickly awoke from my sleep. I didn't dare move my curtain to check the house next door, so I went back to sleep.

       Day two (Sunday). I can't stop thinking about the figure I saw in my nightmare last night. I avoided looking at and passing the house all day. I'd never actually seen it, come to think of it, not even when we arrived yesterday. I started to mentally and physically prepare for tomorrow, my first day at a new school. That night, I stared at the ceiling, waiting to fall asleep. I was still so curious about what I'd seen last night. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier until I was finally sleeping. I woke up in my dream, as I had done the night before, I didn't see the abandoned house that I assumed I'd see. This house looked freshly painted and all the windows looked brand new. The sidewalks were cobblestone and the house was an old plantation styled house. All the windows had silk curtains hung up and all the lights were on. You could see movements inside the house. I saw multiple people walking by, all different shapes and sizes. The house was so beautiful. (alarm goes off).

     Day three (Monday). This was the day, I have to come up close and personal with the house next door. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, put on lotion, did my hair, and put on my clothes. I put on my sock and shoes grabbed my bag and walked out the door. I took a big breath and looked to my left not knowing what to expect. It was the abandoned house from the nightmare., A group of kids from the block came by and asked if I wanted to walk with them. I walked in the back of the group, they were talking to me about the abandoned house. I looked up in one of the windows and there was that same figure from my nightmare. I sped up to the middle of the group. "What happened?" I asked. "I'll tell you later." But how much later, why not now? I wasn't very focused today during school. I was really eager to know what the deal was about this house. One of the kids from the group, Gracey, asked if I wanted to walk home with her. I went with her, I didn't want to walk the streets alone, anything could happen. "Do you still wanna know about the house Kastle?", Gracey asked. "Yes" I answered. "Well it's nothing long really, but anyways here we go, so this couple lived in that house, and this hurricane hit, there used to be a tree there until in fell on the wife as she was getting off the swing to go in the house killing her. The husband looked outside the window, as he was calling for his wife, and saw her body under the tree. He became depressed and would always sit on the roof to go reevaluate life until one day, he slipped, fell, and died right on the porch." "That kinda sounds fake, like foreal theres so much wrong with this story I don't know where to begin *laughs*," I told her. "That's what they told me happened so don't blame me *laugh*." "We should go in." "Want to?" "Yeah lets go." Why did I tell her I wanted to go? I'm regretting this already. Before we walked onto the porch, I looked through the side gate. The figure was staring at me swinging on the swing set. "I...don't wanna go, lets just leave." "Why?" "The real question is why you actin' like you didn't just see that thing on the swing set like.......what you cant see now?" "You're being so paranoid, relax" "No, you can go alone, I'm gonna go up to my room, you can scream if you need me." "Seriously?" "Yes, if you need me you can scream, I'll watch from the window by the porch if it makes you feel better." "No. Just Come" "No" "Yes" "No" "Yes." "Fine, but if I see or hear something that didn't come from me or you, I'm leaving whether you follow me or not, because I'm smart, you on the other hand have a death wish." "Okay, can we go now?" We opened the door "HELLO!" we yelled. No one answered. I turned my head and I swear the figure was staring dead at me. I ran. "No don't run," it told me. My friend was smart this time, she was right behind me. "Why did you run?" she asked. "There you go askin me stupid questions again, you know what, I have a better idea...get out, you don't have to go home, but you need to get up outta here. THE DOOR!" I told her pointing to the door. "I was just home, we just left," Gracey said.  She started turning into that thing I'd been seeing in the window, on the swing set, and inside the house. I couldn't take flight, because I was in my house, someone had to go, and it wasn't gonna be me, so I swung at her one time and she fell to the floor. The transformation stopped. My parents walked through the door. I had a lot to explain. While Gracey was unconscious on the floor, I told my parents everything starting with the nightmare. "Okay, well first of all, you know better than to go into random peoples homes ESPECIALLY abandoned houses and two I can't do anything this little figure, abandoned house problem, I mean, we can't move, we just moved in. Don't worry, we'll figure something out. I looked over at Gracey, but she wasn't there and I didn't trip, because I'd had enough problems for one day.

        Day four (Tuesday). BEEP BEEP BEEP! I woke up and looked out the window and saw a wrecking ball knocking down the abandoned house. I don't know what my parents did or who they called, but I felt a sense of relief. It was gone. All my problems were gone. I was watching them tear the house down when I noticed the 3 figures in the corner of the backyard watching the house get torn down. I figured I only needed to make 1 phone call. "Who you gonna call?!?!?!" "GHOSTBUSTERS!"

The end.

     

Alma

      There once was a girl who lived in the snowy town of London. This independent young girl roamed the streets when she came across a graffiti wall. She began to doodle her name. She turned around when a doll in a store window caught her eye. The child, Alma, was very shocked to see the doll resembled her. Alma got curious and creeped into the store which was full of dolls. She climbed onto the chair and reached out to touch the doll and the small blonde girl disappeared. The doll who looked similar to her smiled. About a month later, another little girl was walking down the same Street as Alma before her disappearance and history began to repeat itself.

Three short stories essay

             In the three short stories I've read; La Guera, Marin, and Payasa, only one of the three main characters are archetypes, Payasa. Payasa is consided an introvert. An introvert lives on the inside of his or her shell to prevent feeling any type of emotion and for anyone to see the real them. She huffs, snorts, and gets high all to distract her from who she is and the life she lives.

           Character La Guera breaks the archetype mold. She has more of a unique story, she starts as Pricilla, a young half white, half Mexican girl who had been surrounded by white people her entire life up until they all left taking her happiness with them. She set forth down a negative path. Pricilla began going by "La Guera" and that sort of became her alter ego. Towards the middle of the story, you realize that little girl you met at the introduction was slowly fading away. By the end you comprehend the girl you once knew as Pricilla was gone and from that point on she was going to continue down this dark path. She was La Guera.

           The last character I want to introduce is Marin, like La Guera, broke the archetype mold. Although Marin was always showered with attention by boys, maybe because she had "apple green" eyes or she wore short, tight skirts, and would always be sitting on the corner of the block smoking a cigarette, she was never actually expressed or gave insight on how she actually felt or what was running through her mind. All we knew about her was that she had younger people who you looked up to her and that she was waiting for the day she could be taken away from everything to a place far away.