January 2019

“It’s so dark tonight,” said Elizabeth to her mother. Elizabeth is an only child. She’s 12 years old. Her dad died from a heart attack when she was only four years old. They were on the way to the hospital because her dad was having severe chest pains. Two years before he died, the doctors told him he needed a pacemaker, but he refused. But, to this day, they still didn’t know why he hadn’t wanted a pacemaker. When her dad died, they had to move from their massive house in Thorndale to a little broken-down house in New Jersey. Their new house was on a tilted, cracked cliff. They lost all their money when the father died. He was a scientist; he created things like computers, phones, and more. He got paid about a million dollars a month. He created something new almost every day. Also, when Elizabeth’s dad died, her mom didn’t remember their bank account number, and that was the only way to get into your bank account in 1866. Elizabeth and her mom, Sally, barely had any money. Since the night her dad died, eight years ago, Elizabeth didn’t talk to her mom at all. They were both so depressed. It just made Sally even more depressed when her own daughter didn’t talk to her. Elizabeth had just started talking to her mom a few days ago. The first words Elizabeth said to her mom were “Why do the good people have to die?” Now, Elizabeth was mad about how she treated her mom those past years. To make up for all of those years, she now cares about her, is respectful, and is a big help. That night, in 1874, Elizabeth went outside to get the snow and ice from the gigantic river they live near. When she brings it home, they put it on the counter until it turns into water. They’re poor, so they need some water to drink. She had her one foot in the rim of the river, which was freezing water. Then, out of nowhere, she slipped on the rock that her foot was on. She fell into the water. She could barely see the water around her, but she did see that it was dark—a deadly bloody red. The tide was pulling her under. She couldn’t swim. Elizabeth felt herself getting weaker and weaker. Then, she couldn’t move; she was sinking. Elizabeth’s mom was sitting on a wooden chair, drinking river water and looking at a picture next to the chair. The picture was of Elizabeth and her nine years before. After about 30 minutes, Elizabeth’s mom started to get worried. She put on her faded coat and gloves and stepped her foot outside the door. There were big streaks of lightning and loud roars of thunder. It was sunny out, but sleeting. When she was about to go down the stairs, she saw Elizabeth in the river, and the rest of her body was going under. There was blood surrounding her. Elizabeth’s mom started screaming. Then the house started shaking rapidly, and there was blood surrounding the river now. Elizabeth’s mom ran over to the river and jumped in. She twisted her ankle, but as bad as it hurt her, her daughter was still more important to her. She dragged Elizabeth out. After she dragged Elizabeth out, she realized that her head had a horrible, bloody gash in it. Elizabeth’s mom was determined to get her inside. Elizabeth just got inside and was on the kitchen floor when Sally heard the thunder and got struck by lightning. Then, she fell and passed out. It started to hail, snow, rain, thunder, sleet, lightning, and was windy all at once. Do you know what happens when they all come at once? A hurricane! All of the sudden the house started to rumble, the house started to shake when BOOM! The house went off the edge of the cliff, and BAM went into pieces. Elizabeth went off the edge first, then right after Elizabeth, went her mother. The weather stopped, everything stopped. After about 30 seconds, it was pretty and sunny. A horse-and-buggy was driving by the house when he saw the last bit of the house go off the edge. The guy, whose name was Matthew, ran out of his horse-and-buggy over to the edge, looked down, and right away saw two bodies lying on the ground. Right away, he got in the horse-and-buggy and went off to get help. But right after the horses started to run, something flew through the cloth on the buggy. What was it? It was a huge piece of sleet. Luckily it didn’t hit him, but it was so large and sharp, it went through his seat. He started driving faster and faster. The weather got worse and worse. Now there was sleet, snow, rain, hail, every different kind of weather. Right after he got off their property, it was sunny out. Matthew looked behind him at the property and heard thunder and saw lightning. That’s when it came. The tornado! He smacked the reins on the horses as hard as he could, and they ran the fastest he has ever seen them run. He needed to get someone, and it needed to be quick. He drove to the police station and talked to Officer Tom. Matthew said, “There’s a giant storm about 16 miles west, and two bodies lying on the ground.” The police officer asked, “Where are their bodies?” “Their house fell off a ginormous cliff, and so did they,” Matthew replied. Immediately, Tom asked Matthew if he could borrow his horse-and-buggy because the other policemen were using the other ones. There were other horses, but they don’t go so fast anymore. Matthew allowed Tom to borrow his horse-and-buggy. As Matthew was riding, Tom was asking him questions about the house, the bodies, and the weather. When they finally arrived he looked off the edge of the cliff, and there were the two