The+Heart+of+the+Matter

The Heart if the Matter By: Maddy Carroll

On the third Friday, another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was. Staring at me. I wondered why it was staring at me? It wasn’t alive or anything like that. It was just there. Sometimes I thought it had started to make faces at me. I had confronted my teacher about it, but she said it was nothing. Simply my eyes were playing tricks on me. Well next week, I walk into the classroom and see the stick figure sitting on my desk. I screamed very loud but no one seemed to realize I needed help. I started to ask him why he was here and not on the board. He said that he was here to haunt me of what I had done. I was so confused and scared all at the same time. I told him just to leave me alone. He said no way on earth. I attempt to run out of the room, but that doesn’t work at all. A trap door dropped me into the schools foundation. I was trapped. Locked in. No way out.

Brenan gately On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was a big line across the center of the board. It meant a code that no one else knew. It was from a ninja saying they want to kill me and my family. I ran out the door of the classroom and home. I was scared as can be. When I got home there was a gang of ninjas. They attacked me and tied me too a chair. They yelled at me and said were my family. Every time I didn’t tell them they burnt me with a hot iron. I told them upstairs after 10 burns. They came back stairs after 30 minutes with their dead bodies and a chainsaw. They said ‘you’re next’. They killed me and know I’m in heaven telling these stories to friends

** On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was, ** right in front of me. For the assignment, the class was supposed to find the wavy line out of the picture and interpret what it represented. I thought that the abstract picture that was projected on the board look like the circle of life to me. It had multiple stick figures in a circle, standing around a wavy line on the ground. While the figures were around the line, they had different appearances and were doing different activities based on how far around the circle they were. The center of the circle was the wavy line, and it stood for death. By: Alex Geiger

The Heart Of The Matter

On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eye’s immediately searched for the wavy line. It was a very weird feeling I felt like the stick figure was staring right through me it knew all that I knew and for some random reason. I was scared out of my mind I had no clue why whenever I looked at it I felt like I had to look away it was a very intense fear. Now it was the middle of class I was staring at it it looked as if my eyes were drawn to it. And whatever I felt and thought in my mind was writing itself on the board “Look away” “Be scared” and the teacher was out of control and all the student’s were freaking out. I was intensely scared let’s leave it at that.,

By: Kush Pathak

On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wave line. There it was, wait, it was nothing. Nothing at all. I have been waiting here for 4 months now waiting for my Dad’s boat to come home. Every day I come out and wait for him but never not once did I see anything. Mama will always tell me that I need to stop waiting because there is no chance for him to be coming home, but I still don’t listen, I still wait from him to come back. Most of the time I would not go to school or leave early just to make sure I won’t miss anything. The day that I realized he wasn’t coming back was Christmas Eve. Spending a Christmas without my dad is awful. My friend lost her dad in the war and she never really was the same. But that day there was something on the wave line I don’t exactly know what it is. But I’m pretty sure I think I know what it is!

__**Courtney Bode**__ The Heart of the Matter By: Kara Brueggemeier

On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was, the line connecting the last stick figure with the newest one, but it was a loop. They resembled something and we are supposed to interpret it with the given clue. Today the clue is //I// //am lovable and cute. You once loved me when you were young. You probably had one when you were too young to remember. What am I?// As I pondered this I realized that it could be a ton of different things. It could be anything from a blow up bath tub to a baby clothes. After a while the teacher finally told us it was a stuffed animal. So the loopy line means stuffed animal. The Heart Of The Matter Keirstan Whittenbarger

On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was, just sitting there. I sat with absolutely no emotion on my face. The teacher soon yelled "Time's up!" I needed more time, I wasn't ready. Searching for the answer was the hardest think I've ever done. I felt as if I was the only one in the room. I then remembered what my teacher had once said. "Search where you'd least expect." There it was, I had found it. Five easy points for me! I had found what I had been searching for! The wavy line! The Heart of the Matter By: Thea Carroll On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wave line. There it was the stick figure. It moved in different motions every day, but it wasn’t erasable. I tried to tell the teacher that there was something wrong with this room, and specifically that stick figure, but she said it was just a drawing in sharpie. Obviously she did not notice that it moved every day. Well I was not just going to let this mystery go, I had a plan. My plan was to stay overnight and see when this thing would move, I also told my teacher to watch the board and see if she notices it moving. I could not believe it! The figure didn’t move and since the teacher noticed it didn’t move too she did not believe me. I decided to let this all go. If I cannot prove to the teacher that this thing is a bad omen then I have no reason to keep trying. So months after this stick figure was still doing its thing, the teacher still did not notice and I decided to go to the bathroom. Well, I came back and the door was locked and the window was covered by black paper and I knew it was the stick figure. I ran out to the window on the outside of the school and it was covered too but the window was unlocked. I squeezed through it and everyone was sleeping, that’s what it looked like because there was no blood or bruises on anything. I felt something; it was like that feeling that somebody is watching you that was the feeling I had. I turned around and there was a life size version of the stick figure. I screamed and called for the teacher but it was too late, there she was on the floor. Then I opened my eyes and everything was alright.

Heart of the matter: Kaegan turner On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was looking at me. It seems like it was staring into my soul. I couldn’t bare it, it was killing me! What should I do? This was quite a predicament. Then the eyes suddenly moved! I thought I might have just imagined it, but then they moved again! They were moving back and forth like they were making sure no one was looking. Then all of a sudden the stick figure just jumped right off the board and just walked away. I was like whoa, did that really just happen? Then I freaked out and told anyone I saw what happened. No one believed me, even to this very day no one does, not one person. I am still trying to convince people but they just say I need help or I am too crazy to live among them. But of well, I know what happened and that’s what matters. Meghan Lemberg Baby Brother On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was a word, I think? I squinted my eyes and could make out the words “It’s a boy!”I asked my teacher what the message was for, she responded your baby brother. I immediately started crying because four months ago my mother thought she had a miscarriage. We were all so excited for this baby, and to hear that the baby died… well it just broke everyone’s heart. Now my mom had a precious little baby boy, my baby brother. I started to imagine what it would be like to have a baby brother. Would he like me? I figured I should make plans for our future, when he is two I will babysit him. We would watch Teletubies. When he grows older, monster trucks would roam our house. At the age ten we could shoot hoops. Sixteen, my age, he would drive girls around and football would be his life. Those teenage years would be tough, but we would go through them together. I would never stop worrying about my baby brother. But I already dread the day when one of us gets married. Soon after that we will only see each other on holidays or birthdays. Before you know it, our mommy and daddy will be in heaven and we will be in this big old world on our own. We need each other. I whisper “happy birthday baby brother, I love you!”

**__ The Heart of the Matter __** ** On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for a wavy line. There it was, but I thought it looked more like a dog, well I guess that’s just my bad drawing. When I got home my mom asked if the afterschool classes were helping. I said yes because I love art, I want to become an artist… but I don’t think it was helping. In my dream that night, I saw the ghost of Vincent Van Gogh. He asked me if I wanted to be like him, I said yes, he warned me, but I really needed to be an artist. The next day at my art class I made a picture, I thought it was amazing. After that my teacher sent it in to a magazine, and I won 100 dollars. I used the money to buy art supplies and I started painting pictures. For the next 23 years I lived a happy life, then one day, while in France, I realized money didn’t make me happy, so I shot myself in the heart, and now I look for another body too live in. ** ** -Sam Garner **

**On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was the letter my boyfriend wrote me before he died. On February 14, 2007, Valentine’s Day, was the fateful day that Todd, my boyfriend of 4 years, was murdered. The letter he wrote me was from Denver, Colorado, it said that he missed me so much and that he was so excited to come back the next day. He had been in Colorado for his job for three months, so we had been writing each other every week. So the fact that he was gruesomely murdered the day before he was supposed to return home the next day just crushed my heart. When the police told me he died, they told me how he had been tortured for hours then chopped up into small pieces. This devastated me so much that I was silent for days. ** **His funeral was three days later in Charlotte, North Carolina at Walker Funeral Home. During the funeral all I could think about was all the good times we had together, I went back to the time he took me to a quaint little enclosed park with a romantic pond. We had a picnic there and reminisced about all the fun times we’ve had in our life. He even picked a bouquet of flowers for me while we were there and then, for the first time, he wrapped his arms around me and ever so gently kissed my lips. The more I thought about that the more I loved and missed him. We went through so much together… and now he’s gone. My soul is numb now, no love lost, no love found. The apartment that we bought together is quiet and cold, the bed that we slept in together has lost its warmth and liveliness. I hate that I rarely told him my abundant love and feelings for him. I just hope that when he looks down at me from heaven he can see my remorse and regret but be able to tell that I will forever love him. I pray to him every night, to see him, to feel him, to touch him, to hear him. ** **By, Jasmine Jay **

The Heart of the Matter By; Kylee Suffridge

On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was, I hate stick figures. I don’t understand why people draw them. I mean, people aren’t completely flat, they have details and appearances to them. My friend, Jahnasia, always liked to draw stick people. I never knew why, she was an amazing artist, but she never expressed it. I knew this because of some projects we did in art class last year. I wanted to ask her why she never expressed her art, but I didn’t want to be mean or sound weird. So one day, we were in detention, and it was just me, her and some random kid sitting in the back. The teacher left, she was having family troubles and had to rush over to her child’s school. It was 2:57 and detention ended at 3:15. Only 18 more minutes of suffering. Jahnasia quickly made her eyes over to the dry erase bored. There were markers of every color on the ledge, which was under the erase board. She ran to up to the class and drew another stick figure. That was it, I walked up and asked her, “Jahnasia your one of the best artists I have ever seen, but yet you draw stick figures. Why do you do that? Do you know how beautiful your art work is?” She looked at me in the funniest way, and looked down. It took awhile for her to reply back, but she finally did. She said “You know Kylee, nobody has ever told me or asked me that before. That means a lot. But the main reason why I don’t do art anymore, is because I’m scared. I feel like nobody will like the art I do, ever since I got a C+ on that art project.” I knew she got decent grades, but I didn’t know having a C+ was that bad. I told her I liked her work, and she said thanks. I hoped it made her feel better, she’s really good at art. I hope she keeps drawing throughout high school and her life.

The Heart of the Matter Jakub Toomey On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was staring at me, it jumped off the board it had 2 free tickets to six flags. He asked me if I wanted to and I said sure. We went on every single

rollercoaster and got cotton candy. I won so many prizes, but when I turned around my stick figure was gone. I looked around all of six flags and I couldn’t find him. After giving up I left the six flags and the moment I walked out of the six flags there he was waiting for me with a SpongeBob balloon. When we got back he said it was the best day of his life and jumped back on the board. <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: center;">The Heart of the Matter By: Nick Sangermano On the third Friday another stick figure was on the board. My eyes immediately searched for the wavy line. There it was, just sitting there. The worst stick figure ever drawn. As if it was right here in front of me it ignited in flames and jumped off the board. When it reached the ground it picked up the fire extinguisher and sprayed it everywhere. It was awesome.