Logan Dimond
Ms. Lehmann
English 1-3
14 February 2020
Careful What You Wish For
“I wish I could skip next week,” 15-year-old Spenser Ozard mumbled to himself as he climbed into bed remembering the upcoming math test. He soon drifted off into a pleasant sleep.
The light coming through the window annoyingly crawled into Spenser’s eyes. He slowly sat up and blinked.
“Why didn’t mom wake me up for school?” he wondered.
He walked over and opened the curtain slightly.
“WHAT!” He yelled in unbelief.
Two stories below him cars made their way through the busy street. But none of them seemed to be touching the ground.
“What is happening to me?” Spenser questioned as he grabbed the doorknob.
Now outside of his room he looked around, everything was neat and tidy.
“Where is everyone? MOM! DAD!” He waited but no reply came. Spenser looked around taking in the surrounding room.
“What is that?” He asked aloud, only to himself. Walking over, Spenser realized what it was.
“A newspaper? Hmm...”
He grabbed the corner and began scanning through the various articles.
“Printed in 2120?” he stated in disbelief. His mind wandered to the previous night.
“What have I done?”
Spenser went stomped his way down the hall toward his bedroom. He slammed his door in a frustrated and worried rage. He took a moment to cool off his anger. He thought deeply of the situation at hand and how to overcome it.
“I guess I need to be careful what I wish for. Looks like Grandpa was right.” Spenser thought for a few more moments.
“So, I wished for a change, and then I went to bed. It might be worth a try to do it again.”
Spenser laid down on his bed. One hour passed. Two hours passed. Sleep never took Spenser captive into its cozy depths.
“I am never going to get to sleep!” he yelled, frustrated once again. He took a glance around his room once again. He noticed the newspaper on the floor. He was now getting bored and curious about what it contained. Stretching forward, he took hold of the paper. Examining the articles, Spenser read through the sections.
“Who is Lee Debaeke?” Spenser asked, noticing the repeating name.
“It doesn’t even make sense. These articles aren’t even related. Why is this Lee guy in all of them?”
Onward he read, looking for an answer for his question. The more he read, the more words he found in common.
“There is twelve ‘Lees,’ eleven ‘subways,’ which were mostly restaurant adds, five ‘sweatshirts,’ and three ‘hastes.’ I wonder what all of these words means. I guess I can use my old friend, Google.”
He made his way over to his laptop. He opened the screen and read the words, “Go! Now!”
“Huh, what?” Spenser said as he tried to get rid of the screen.
“It won’t let me...”
At that very moment, something inside Spenser’s head clicked. A sudden realization that could only mean one of two things, life or death.
Now frantically running, Spenser made his way down the stairs and out of his apartment complex. His head jerked left, then right.
“Ahh! Which way is it!?” he shouted, trying to remember.
More instinct than anything, he took off to his right. Sprinting, he came around a building and cruised down the stairs, now entering the subway train station. Glancing around he looked for name tags, jackets, anything!
Finally, his eye caught a glimpse of a name Lee on the back of a sweatshirt. He then noticed a dark dressed figure behind him.
“Lee!” Spenser called out.
Spenser could hear the loud scream of a deadly train approaching. The dark figure pushed Lee forward, almost a certain death.
With all his strength, Spenser leaped forward and tried to interfere with the terrible event.
The subway train flew past. Standing on the sidewalk was Spenser, holding the hood of Lee’s sweatshirt. Lee had come inches from death’s cold hands.
“Thanks,” Lee said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Spenser.”
“How did you know to grab my jacket?” Lee responded.
“I just knew, I guess,” Spenser replied.
“Well thanks for that,” Lee answered. “I never should have reported those thieves to the police.”
“What?” Spenser ask, unsure of the relevance.
“I reported some criminals trying to rob a jewelry store. I was coming home from working late. When I saw flashlights inside the store. I called the police and headed home. Now I think their boss is after me.” Lee looked at Spenser for a moment.
“And if you don’t mind me asking, you aren’t from around here are you?”
“No, I’m not,” Spenser said. “I kind of came forward about a hundred years in time.”
“Time travel, huh?” Lee said in a curious voice.
“I really have no idea,” Spenser said.
“Can you go back?” Lee asked.
“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it will work,” Spenser stated.
“Do you think I could come back with you?” Lee asked. “I don’t feel safe here and I don’t really have anything that I can’t leave behind. I don’t have a family.”
“I can try,” said Spenser, still perplexed on the situation ahead.
Lee opened the door to Spenser’s bedroom. Spenser followed behind him. Spenser looked at the foot
of his bed and grabbed the newspaper.
“This newspaper told me where you were,” Spenser explained. He held it up and looked for the
name Lee.
“What? Where is all the...” Spenser looked closer and found only the repetition of two words.
Chair and Bed.
“Ok, here is what we need to do. You sit in that chair, and I will sit on my bed.” Spenser told Lee.
They both did so.
“I kinda figured something would happen.” Lee said.
Nothing seemed to happen. The lamp on nightstand wobbled a little, but quickly stopped.
“Ok then, I have no idea how to get back to my time,” Spenser yelled.
A voice from the hallway sounded, “Spenser, go to sleep! You have school in the morning!” Lee glanced at Spenser.
“Welcome to 2020,” Spenser said.
Student’s Choice Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific.
First Ms. Lehmann gave us a writing prompt. I used it, my imagination, my trusty pencil and paper and created a story.
2. Is this paper narrative, expository, or argumentative? How do you know?
This paper is a narrative. It is a story made up of individual events, made up ones of course, but it all of these events narrate a story.
3. Tell me one thing you learned from writing this paper.
I learned that writing prompts can easily become a good story when used in the right way.
4. What are you particularly proud of in this paper?
I am proud of the subtle clues to what is going to happen next in the story. I am also proud of the way that I ended it.
5. What does this paper show readers about you?
It shows readers that I like to write stories that are intense and entertaining.