XM@$ (Xmas)

About the piece:

I chose this piece because, overall, it is one of my favorite pieces of writing I have written this year... and also because of peer pressure. In this document, I proved to myself that I could write a "story" without getting a headache. I've learned that not ALL writing is boring when I was writing this piece. In my h-drive, all of my word documents are literally named almost the exact same thing (the only difference is the dates) and I accidentally opened this document up while I was searching for another. I decided, that, because I already had it open, I would revise it and choose it for my final exam. This piece was originally written as a Slice of Life, but I couldn't figure out what to write, and started writing whatever popped into my brain. So, while I was revising it, I took out the things that were too...random...and replaced them with other things that actually had a relationship with my main topic (which was already random). These changes helped my piece to actually be a story, and not random ideas thrown over Microsoft Word. ©1896 Microsoft

XM@$ (Xmas)

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. I hid in the pitch-black room, awaiting the intruder. The air smelled dusty, kind of like an old book that hasn’t been opened for twenty years. Click. A tiny trickle of dim, orange light made its way towards me from the stairs. Stomp. I was hiding in the attic. I don’t know what happened, but I was the only person in my family that was home. This guy broke through the window in our “family room”, with our TV and DVD player and all that valuable stuff. He had already looted the bottom floors, and that included the TV. He probably also took our DVD player, and maybe some movies too. Maybe he would open one of our closets and take some popcorn so he can enjoy a movie on a Friday night by himself, alone, at his house. Now, he was entering the attic. His head appeared as he slowly climbed the stairs to my hiding place. I didn’t want to get shot or anything if this guy had a gun, so I just shook from fear behind a thick and heavy painting of the Mona Lisa. I peeked out from behind the artwork, and saw a fat man with a red hat and clothing, carrying a huge bag over his shoulders. For some reason, he looked like Santa Claus, and coincidentally, it was December 25th. Wow. That’s nice. Santa Claus is here. Why is Santa robbing my house? Shouldn’t he be dropping random packaged presents around the house and throwing big wads of hundred-dollar-bills at me? As I pondered whether or not this was the real Santa Claus and whether or not Santa Claus exists, the huge Santa Claus guy looked in my direction. Not fast enough to avoid being seen, I pulled my head back behind the million/billion/trillion dollar painting. The Santa Claus guy was holding a pistol in his free hand. It’s dark out, and no one will probably see the huge hole in the window, I thought. Earlier, I was eating shiny pink ham. Suddenly, a huge crash and crinkling glass had startled me. I knew that a thief was entering my home, so I ran up the stairs to the attic. Dumb move. Now, as the Santa Claus guy stood, I hated myself for not picking up a phone. Out of curiosity, I peeked out again, thinking that, because it was dark, the Santa Claus guy wouldn’t see me. I was wrong. He had a weird grin on his face. With his free hand, he pulled a huge chainsaw out from his bag on his back. At the same time, the Santa Claus guy shot his pistol. Luckily, it missed. I quietly waited for him to leave, or to shoot again. That guy is really dumb. Why doesn’t he shoot at the painting and kill me? I thought. All of a sudden, screaming and shouting from the bottom floor of my house interrupted my panicked thoughts. The Santa Claus guy panicked along with my brain, and ran around in circles. Then, he ran through the attic wall and fell to the snowy ground far, far below. I crawled out of hiding, and peeked out of the huge hole that the Santa Claus guy made. A cool drift entered from where he exited. As I peered through the opening in the attic wall, I realized that, for some reason, the Santa Claus guy didn’t die, but was running away at a pretty fast speed for someone that fat. He dove into bushes, ducked behind trees, and escaped. Merry Christmas to all.

Hee hee sorry I look at the writing that I copied and pasted from Word and now trying to read it hurts my eyes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

My name is Ryan Mao. I go to school at Dewitt Middle School. I live in Ithaca, NY, US. I also live in a house. Anyway, I believe that I've improved my writing/reading/English skills this year. I could never have been able to write 10,000 words (NaNoWriMo) in 6th grade (too much work) or survive long enough to read a whole scene of Shakespeare. This improvement may be caused by being assigned to do these tasks. Although my improvement in my writing/reading/English skills in 7th grade may not be very significant, little things add up, and improving is always good. Improving little by little is still improving.