Amber Hiles's Blog, page 4
September 23, 2024
Moving Water
but as clusters.
For hours, these clusters
became heavy, wet mounds of spring snow
The load too much to bear.
Roofs collapsed; businesses closed
Supply shelves emptied to
push, pull, and move sopping piles
Then the rain came.
and it didn’t stop coming.
Hours of rain
that created little streams
that traveled like scampering
voles under the snow.
Hidden, racing rivers
from high to low places. In days,
the snow had melted away.
The yard was a lake-
the earth couldn’t breathe
Roads washed away.
Homes suddenly islanded.
sand bags and road closure signs
Calves drowning in the pasture
Black water back up.
Pumps on inside and outside.
Nightly, a battle, to war-
to move hundreds of gallons of water.
But drains were soon full of ice and snow
Break, smash, push, release
a clogged culvert gives way
Up to our thighs in frigid water
Trying to get it to go
Somewhere else.
Written by Mrs. Amber Hiles- MCL ELA
September 6, 2024
The Warp-Drive Murder
Prologue
I never thought I would be here. Today marks a new age for human space travel. The Odyssey sits on the launch pad, the large white spacecraft reflecting the early afternoon sun.
5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Ignition
The engines ignite. The rockets fly off the launch pad, taking us to the galaxy’s edge.
Aboard USS Odyssey. 214 Earth days since launch, 34.7 light years from Earth.
I sit at my station, with a ham sandwich on the dashboard. Captain Harold Smith sits at the wheel, coffee in his hand.
“Hey, Dr. Friedrich?” he asks.
“Yeah?” I respond, grabbing my sandwich.
“Where’d you get one of those?” he asks.
“With the bread and lunch meat in the cafeteria,” I replied, taking a bite.
“Ah.” He lifts the coffee to his lips. Suddenly, the lights turn red, and an alarm blares.
“Warp Bubble stabilizers offline. Warp Drive integrity is critical,” a robotic female voice declares from the speakers.
The ship shudders and the captain drops his drink on the nice white tiles of the navigation room. A picture hanging on the wall falls.
“What is happening?” Smith asks, looking around the bland room.
“Captain!” I yell over the noise of the alarms. “Keep the ship steady! I’ll try to reroute the power!” I boot up the computer and select the electrical map. My fingers fly across the keyboard. Just as I’m about to press the button to reroute the power, an explosion rocks the ship, throwing us both against the wall. I struggle to regain my footing and see that the hull has been breached. Emergency klaxons blare and the ship’s automated systems begin sealing off the affected areas.
“Dr. Friedrich, get to the engine room ASAP!” Captain Smith shouts over the chaos. I nod. I rush and weave through the smoke-filled corridors with flashing emergency lights cutting through the smog. I reach the engine room to find it in disarray, with sparks flying from damaged control panels.
“I need to stabilize the warp drive before it tears us apart,” I say, looking at the smoking warp drive reactor. I fling open the sparking electrical control box. I start flipping the switches, closing off power to unnecessary services.
Finally, the lights fade to normal, and the alarms die. The wires stop sparking and the smoke clears. The warp drive reactor turns from a bright red to a soft, glowing blue.
“We need answers. Now,” I sigh, leaning against the blackened walls.
Aboard USS Odyssey, 214 Earth days since launch, 34.7 lightyears from Earth
The crew sits in the cafeteria, and Captain Smith stands on the table.
“Dr. Hanson! Status on the explosion?” Smith asks, adjusting the Space Force hat that lay askew on his head.
“Well, the site did not have any samples of rock.” She shuffles her papers, pushing her blue-framed glasses up on her nose. “Nor was there anything on the radar large enough to cause the severity of the explosion.”
“Interesting… Dr. O’Connell, status on the reactor?” Smith asks, indicating a shaking young man.
“T…the warp drive re…reactor has been temp…temporarily stabilized, but the ship is r…rendered immobile.” He stammers, running his hands through his messy black hair.
“Well, we must try to repair the warp drive reactor and the warp bubble stabilizers quickly. There might just be a traitor in our midst.” Captain Smith narrows his eyes, looking around at the nervous crew.
Aboard USS Odyssey, 214 Earth days since launch, 34.7 light years away from Earth
The crew is on high alert. After the tampering, everyone is suspicious. However, everyone is working on repairing the warp drive systems. Well, excluding Dr. Harris. She tends to the plants.
I’m sitting in my office, looking at the peeling aqua-green paint. My cup of tea is still steaming. The lamp that sits on my spruce desk illuminates a manila folder. A label on the front identifies the issue as a clogged trash chute.
“Another problem?” I groan, slamming my hand on the desk.
A cry echoes throughout the halls before I can open the report. I wheel around and bolt from the leather office chair.
When I arrive at the captain’s quarters, where the shout came from, Dr. O’Connell is already there, slowly opening the door.
“C…Captain S…Smith?” he asks, stepping inside. I follow him in. Captain Smith lays against the bed, his arms by his side. A metal bar lay discarded by the reclining chair and the vent cover lay propped in the corner of the room. I waste no time pressing the intercom button on the control panel by the door.
“All crew members, please report to the captain’s quarters immediately. There is an emergency.”
Aboard USS Odyssey, 215 Earth Days since launch, 34.7 light years away from Earth
The warp drive reactor is almost repaired. The warp bubble stabilizers have been repowered and the reactor needs an emergency support system to stay stable. After the murder of the captain, Dr. Emelia Hanson, the captain’s secretary, took over as temporary captain.
“Finally,” I sigh. “I can get back to the trash chute…Yay.” Before I can sit down, the lights go out. The alarm still blares, and the warning declares the emergency support system to the reactor has been incapacitated. “Oh, come on!” I shout.
I grab my emergency flashlight from my shelf and race down to the reactor room. When I arrive, I see Dr. Juiluis Worthington, the electrical engineer, standing at the electrical control board in the room, flipping switches.
“Dr. Worthington,” I say, shining my flashlight over him. “You try to reactivate the stabilizers, I’ll try the lights.
“Alright, Dr. Friedrich.” He says, relieved.
***
After he rewires the large boxes connected to the reactor, I flip the main power switch off and back into the on position. The lights flicker and then turn back on.
“Huh, that’s…interesting,” he says, taking off his large rubber gloves and closing the lid of one of the stabilizers.
“I learned it in Rebooting Electrical Devices 101 at college.” I smile, patting the control box.
“Nice job, but only this half of the ship has lights. The other side has to be reset from the main electrical room.
“Alright, let’s go then. You do the resetting, I’ll watch your back.”
***
The lights flicker and dim. Then, an electrical hum begins, and the lights repower.
“Nice going, Doctor!” I say, turning off my flashlight.
“No problem, Fritz,” he responds, closing the door to the control panel.
“Julius! Fritz!” Someone pants from the door. We turn around. It’s Dr. Harris.
“What is it, Tabitha? Dr. Worthington asks, concerned.
“Captain Hansons found Dr. Reidenbach in the cafeteria. His protein bar was poisoned.”
Aboard USS Odyssey, 216 Earth days since launch, 34.7 light years away from Earth
I was taking out the trash when the lights turned off.
“Oh, come on!” I lay the bag on the ground and fumble with my flashlight. Finally, I flip the switch and the light shines up into the face of Patrick O’Connell.
“Hello, Fritz.” He said with a devilish smile.
“Oh, hello Doctor.” I stand up.
“Shame that they were murdered, no?” He asks, gazing out the window.
“Uh, well-”
“No matter. You can ask them.”
At that time I see the taser on his belt. “You. You did this.” I back up against the wall.
“Of course. Who would suspect the q..quiet stu…stuttering ch…chemist?” He asked, putting on a fake display of nervousness. He turns back to the window.
“How could you?” I ask, quietly grabbing the trash bag. Keep him talking Fritz, keep him talking.
“The captain, you see, he passed me over for that head scientist role. He said I wasn’t ‘experienced’ enough. He chose YOU over me!” He was yelling now. “Anyway, the captain was getting too close to the truth, so I had my friend take him out.”
“You,” I gulped, “have an accomplice?”
“Yes, they’re someone with something to gain if the captain kicks the bucket, someone who-”
“It’s Dr. Hanson, isn’t it?” I ask, unimpressed.
“Uh…yeah,” he replies, sheepishly. “Enough talk. Time for you to die.”
He advances toward me, taking out his taser.
“Hey, Doc?” I ask.
“What is it?” He growls.
“Before you kill me, can I say something?”
“Whatever. Make it quick.”
“Clean up your act, it’s BIN too long.”
“Really, a pun-” BANG! I smash the bag of cans across his face before he can finish. He staggers about before falling into the large trash chute.
“Huh,” I say, putting the bag into the dispenser. “That was comically large of a chute to put on a spacecraft.” I close the door and press the button to flush the trash. The garbage, and Dr. O’Connell, float out into the void.
In the Cafeteria of the USS Odyssey, 216 Earth Days since launch, 34.7 light years away from Earth
“I called this meeting for one simple reason. Dr. Hanson is the other murderer!” I yell, pointing at our temporary captain.
“What?” The whole crew shouts in unison. I recount to them the whole ordeal. As I rant, Dr. Hanson looks increasingly nervous. When I finish, everyone turns to Dr. Hanson. She gulps, stands up, and runs away.
“After her!” Dr. Harris shouts. We chase her through the winding corridors and the different rooms until we reach the escape pod bay.
“It’s over, Captain,” I pant. “Just surrender to us now, there is no point in running anymore.”
Instead of responding, she unplugs one of the escape pods and jumps in. She presses a few buttons and the pod begins to float.
“Everyone! Get out!” yells Dr. Worthington. We surge towards the airlock and all reach safety by the large glass window overlooking the bay. The hatch opens and the pod falls into space and flies off into the void.
“Well, looks like she got away.” sighs Dr. Harris.
“About that,” says Dr. Worthington. “With all of the sabotage, some of the pods are damaged.” After he says that, an explosion booms on the horizon.
“Well,” I say “looks like both of the culprits are out.”
“Dr. Friedrich set a course back to Earth. The warp drive is ready.” Dr. Worthington and Dr. Harris salute.
“What?” I ask, bewildered.
“You are now the new captain.” He responds.
“Alright,” I say, walking towards the door, “Let’s head home.”
May 8, 2024
Tick Tock Sounds the Clock
The sun peeking up from under.
The London Bridge, with the moon
Retreating away until night.
The sun rises in the east,
Bringing with it the warmth of the day.
Boots clicking on the cobblestone,
Preparing to begin work soon.
The bells of the Big Ben chime,
Signaling afternoon tea to start.
The sun is high in the sky,
The pale white clouds sparkling.
The Thames still busy as ever,
As many prepare for dinner.
The smell of fish and chips in the wind,
The sun tilting towards the west.
A chill begins to set in the air,
Hooves clip clop on the brick.
Young children softly snoring,
Stars emerging from the night.
The big and small hands of the clock,
Almost reaching the twelve.
Navy blue dominates the sky,
The moon almost reaching the center.
The moon has touched the stars and
The center point of the sky.
Not a noise is being made,
With all asleep, waiting for morrow.
Norah K. is a 7th grade writer in the Mitchell Middle School.
December 5, 2023
Purple Seasons
on a frigid winter's night.
Glittering water droplets
in the air of last light.
Snip and snap the branches.
Flick the bugs from the petals
before pushing them in a glass vase
filling the house with spring.
Grape gum, a wad of summer yum
that forms a bubble
that I have to peel
from my glasses and cheeks
The Great Mother tree
releases her leaves before the frost
an array of saturated colors
to become decay and dust.
Mrs. Hiles is the MCL ELA teacher at MMS. This poem was written as a prompt for color card poetry, in which you receive a paint card and write a poem inspired by that color. Mrs. Hiles received a purple paint card with the colors sugarplum, grape ice, heather plum, and mighty Aphrodite.
Cover photo credit: Canva.
November 27, 2023
WWII: A European Chapter
“Boom!” The cannon strikes the tank, rendering it useless. From the year 1939 to 1945, over 45 million people died, 15 million in battle, and another 40 million civilians. The world lost so many factories, history, culture, art, and lives. That was World War Two and this is how it happened.
After World War 1, The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire) were defeated, and the Treaty of Versailles imposed heavy reparations and restrictions on Germany. Germany’s old allies, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were dissolved. This spiraled Germany into an economic crisis. In 1933, a former German soldier by the name of Adolf Hitler rose to power, and he began to rearm Germany.
Hitler hated the Jewish race. Hitler blamed them for Germany’s defeat during World War 1. He began sending the Gestapo out to round up millions of Jewish people and send the Jews out to concentration camps, where many were starved, shot, and tortured. Many Jewish families went into hiding.
In 1936, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland. The Allies, not wanting another costly war, decided with the appeasement policy. Under this the Allies would allow Germany to continue its expansion, just saying “No more, okay?” except every time, they wouldn’t intervene. In 1938, he authorized the Anschluss Of Austria, on Union With Austria. In the same year, he occupied the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, absorbed Czechoslovakia, and established a puppet government. In 1938, he wanted the Polish region of Danzig. The Allies had to put their foot down, saying if Germany invaded, they would declare war on Germany.
Germany sent an offer to the USSR, saying there would be no war between their nations if the USSR helped invade Poland. On September 1, 1939, Germany officially declared war on Poland.
The Polish fought desperately, but on September 28, 1939, the Siege of Warsaw ended, and Warsaw fell, with the looming Soviet invasion, Poland sued for peace. Germany and the USSR split Poland. For 8 months, the Allies and the Germans did nothing.
The Germans invaded the Benelux to go around the Magont (pronounced Mazh-i-no) Line, a line of heavy defenses. The Germans successfully moved through France. The Dunkirk incident was when Germans encircled thousands of British troops in the French city of Dunkirk. It was a hasty retreat over water, having thousands of casualties. The Germans captured Paris, and the French surrendered, the Germans took all the northern coastal land, leaving Vichy France in South France. Some African colonies rebelled against the Germans, forming Free France.
Sweden had been trading steel with the Nazis via Norway. The Allies asked Norway and Sweden to stop.
The nations, not wanting to anger the Germans, refused. The Allies put water mines along the Norwegian coast. The Germans were very mad. Hitler saw Norway’s very strategic position to invade the UK. The Third Reich (Germany) declared war on Denmark to get to the southern coast of Norway. The Wehrmacht overwhelmed the small Danish army in just six hours. A joint Italian/German naval invasion of Norway captured all of Norway in just over 2 months.
Now Italy. There is something you need to know about Italy. Italy was ruled by Benito Mussolini. He had invaded Ethiopia and wanted Italy to be an Empire. Their military was awful. Their commanding officers were not the brightest.
Italy had invaded Albania, invaded British holdings in Africa, and had tried to invade Greece. The Greeks, along with British troops, repelled the Italians. Germany had sent ultimatums to Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, saying to join them or be crushed. Bulgaria opted to join, and Yugoslavia opted to be invaded.
The Axis crushed the Greeks, and they moved into Egypt. Germany, seeing their air raids over the UK weren’t working, declared war on the USSR. The Germans moved deep into Russia, but then it was cold, stupid cold, the Soviets pushed back the Germans, and with the surrender of Italy to Allied forces, Germany had to occupy northern Italy. D-Day pushed into Germany. Hitler didn’t want to be caught by the Red Army. On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler killed himself. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.
In just 6 years, over 45 million people lost their lives. A religion that lost over 6 million followers. Hitler destroyed everything in his path. He destroyed art, culture, and ways of life. He suppressed anything that spoke out against him. Many people stood up for what was right. In many occupied countries, resistance movements rose. Hopefully, this much destruction and racism will never happen again.
Alex G. is a 6th grade writer.
May 25, 2023
Nothing to Something
Why did I say that?
Why did I do that?
I don’t know what to do.
I can't come back from this.
I’m the worst friend ever.
I need to be a better person.
I’m Nothing.
Nothing.
I tell myself If I'm better, they will forgive me eventually.
But thinking that if I’m better- will it make me a better person?
I'm saying sorry, watching what I say, and the actions that make me draw negative attention to myself.
I just have to change, even if I don’t want to.
I have potential.
If I change, I’m something… right?
I’m sitting down, not saying anything.
A friend of mine comes and asks how I am.
I tell her I’m fine.
but I'm not.
She tells me she thinks it’s stupid
how he got mad at me
when he did it too.
He did it too?
Are you kidding me?
I was going to apologize,
but now what do I do?
Do I just go to them and say sorry?
How could they make me look like the bad guy?
Am I nothing?
No.
I am something.
A ball of rage.
The day ends, and I go home.
I sit in bed, doing nothing.
I’m just sitting in my thoughts.
I feel like a bus hit me.
How can someone get mad at you when they did the same thing or even worse?
I was in my thoughts for a while and realized I should just forgive myself and my friends.
They must have had a reason.
There had to be.
I’m trying, alright.
I am really trying.
It’s a Saturday.
I got a call from my friend.
I answer.
It’s a decent 5 minutes of awkward silence.
Nothing.
Then one of my friends breaks the silence and says that "I’m sorry."
They told me sorry.
It gave me a feeling of renewal.
Or growth.
Something.
But now I have to forget all the drama and stress I went through.
Or the courage and bravery it will take to have a new start instead of giving up on my only friends
It may help me to avoid something in the future!
Now’s a new start.
I’m Something!
I shouldn’t forget that,
Ever again!Theo B. is a 7th grade writer in Mitchell Middle School.Photo credit: Canva
My Big Moment
“3, 4, and 17!” shouted Mr. Kelly. My number was called.
Oh crap, I thought; here I go and ruin it for my team. This was the tie-breaking point.
I’m the worst person at sports. I hate sports, always have. This was just another game that I would lose. This was the game where if your number is called you had to run and get a ball from a big bin, run to make a basket, put it back in the bin, then run and stand back on the line, shoulder to shoulder to win the point.
There was only a meager chance that I would score the point. As I raced up to get a ball from the bin, I heard Kari yelling, “Go, Abby!” Whenever my friends start cheering me on, I get super pumped up. I snatched a basketball and jogged up to the basket to shoot. I shot the ball and missed, which only made my team yell louder. I was worried because everyone on my team was making their baskets. Everyone else on the other team made it in the basket and was standing in their spots, except for one person. It was him against me.
Since he was the athletic type, everyone expected him to win, and so did I. He swished it in the basket and started to run back to put the ball back in the bin. I finally made it in the basket after 3 tries. I thought the game was over since he had already thrown it back into the big bin, and was strutting back to his team. I was walking in disappointment since I knew there was no chance for me, but then his ball came back out of the bin by hitting another ball and bouncing off. Wait! It bounced out!
“Go!” cried the other team. My team screamed in excitement, and I sprinted to place my basketball back in the bin, while he raced back to get his. I’ve never seen more hands out for high fives than that moment. Everyone was screaming their lungs out, and that made me run faster. I made it to the line barely before he did. “Score!” Mr. Kelly declared while he pointed his finger at our team. My whole team roared in excitement, even though the prize was only a Jolly Rancher.
Afterward, my team was cheering and even congratulated me. One person came over to me when we were leaving class and said, “Hey, good job, you won us the game.” And another classmate said to their friend, “Someone should have been videoing that last score, that was amazing.”
For me, it wasn’t about winning the game. It was about finally being seen and feeling like I’d done something I could be proud of.
For me, it wasn’t about winning the game. It was about finally being seen and feeling like I’d done something I could be proud of. It was my big moment. I’ve never felt like this in school before. It was the most fun I’ve had in gym class for a long time. Of course, there were a few sore losers on the other team. They made up excuses about how we stood off the line and how they should have won the game. They were just jealous because their teammate got beat.
By. Me.
By: Abby G.
May 18, 2023
The Champion
In the darkest of times,
My flare dims and dims,
And I’m finally stuck in the shadows.
The silence has ended me,
Stuck in a void,
Running and running,
With no light to guide me.
Behind me,
I hear the flick of a lighter,
And the room illuminating.
They lit my candle.
For once, I can breathe,
With my candle glowing,
I let my light burn and burn,
And it will never stop.
This fire will never go out.
Even if the winds blow my ember,
I have my friends,
Who will always take the lighter.
I’ve realized,
I will never be the champion,
But the people I love most,
Will be.Vinny F. is a 7th grade writer at Mitchell Middle School.Photo Credit: Canva
Panic Room
May 11, 2023
I Will Live
And so many days have gone by
Days when I wonder why I am here at all
The times I wanted to end it all
I thought nobody would care
I didn’t even think they would cry
But now,
Now I see how broken we are without you
How we wonder what could happen
Only able to hope you will be ok
And I realize how much they need me
In a time so difficult,
They need me,
So I won’t leave them
I can’t leave them
I will live
Because I can’t leave them when they need meLexie P. is a 7th grade poet and a strong advocate and active voice for mental health for her peers.
