The Strange man. When I was little my dad Jason found drugs, he got arrested, and has been in and out of jail ever since. When I was little he disappeared, and nobody knows where he is at. This story relates to that. Walking home from school, after a long day. The sounds of my feet scuffling on the sidewalk, is the only sound that is being made. The birds aren't even chirping. The silence is sending off a creepy vibe. I pick up my pace a little, trying to not get scared. I get a block away from my house. A man rounds the corner. He is scraggly homeless looking. He spots me . LeeAnn!! LeeAnn!! He yells!! I cant believe this guy knows my name. he starts towards me. I take off!! Wit!! He yells, its me your dad!! I run as fast as I can, tell I get home. By the time I get home my shirt is soaked and I have tears running down my face. Is this man really my dad? His words keep echoing in my head. I decide not to tell mom, she will just get upset.. Its nothing to worry about right?? WRONG!! http://ragrobyn.files.wordpress.com /2011/07/young-girl-running-awayalong-path-itf058020.jpg The strange man. The next day, still thinking about that strange man, I walked to school. I hope i won’t see him again. I keep glancing back , nervous that he will be around the corner like yesterday. When I got home yesterday, my mom could tell something was up. She kept asking me if I was okay ,and what happened, and I told her that I was just tired. http://amultiverse.com/fleen /uploads/2012/01/envelope 2-300x199.jpg The strange man My response to her nagging questions was, “I am fine just tired”. She offered to drive me to school this morning but I told her it was fine I needed to walk. As I see my bus stop a block away, my best friend is standing there. I yell her name and ran toward her. She handed me a letter, and told me that a strange man told her to give it to me. I take the letter and shove it in my backpack. I don’t want to read it! It would just scare me again. The Strange man. When we got to school, I went straight to class. All was fine until recess. We went outside, and I was standing with my friends. Across the street was a man, he had his back turned, so I couldn’t see his face, but I knew who it was. He turned suddenly, spotted me with my friends and waved. My friend turns to me and asked who that man is. She says, “that’s the same man that handed me that letter for you. My face goes white, and I feel light headed. All of a sudden, everything goes black!! …… LeeAnn! LeeAnn, open your eyes. It’s my mom. I grab her and give her a great big hug. She tells the nurse that I need to go home. Driving home, the man crosses the street, right in front of our car. Mom slams on the break. She yells, “watch where you ‘re going!!” The man turns and faces the car. He and mom stare at each other for about two minutes, and eh takes of running down the street. Mom gasps! I said, “mom what's wrong. “That man looks just like your dad”……. Silence . http://worldstreets.files.wordpress.co m/2011/12/car-rage.jpg The Strange man “What!! “ I yelled, that guy looks like my father?! ” Yes , mom said, he looks like your dad! “ All of a sudden I realize that I have to tell her.” Mom , I said .. Do you remember the other day how you kept asking me if I was okay and stuff? “ “Yes.” she said. “Well when I was walking home from school that guy came around the corner, and he knew my name. He said that he was my dad. I ran home and it has been bothering me ever since. “ Then he handed my friend a letter for me at the bus stop, and then he was across the street at recess today, that is why I fainted.” http://www.upstategirls.org/images/triptychs/full/triptych6_1.jpg “It is scaring me. What do I do?” “ Why didn’t you tell me, he could have kidnapped you or something.” “I was scared to tell you, and I didn’t think it was that extreme, but he is everywhere.” “ Well she said from now on I will take you to the bus stop, so that if I see him, around you anymore I can tell him to leave you alone, and threaten him with a restraining order.” “Thanks for understanding mom.” “ Its all good I just wish you would have told me.” The next day mom took me to the bus stop, and sure enough the strange man was there. My mom got out of the car, and started talking to him. Pretty soon they were crying, and then my mom hugged him!! When she got to the car, and I asked her what happened, she told me that I didn’t need to know and that he was going to leave me alone. She told me that I needed to give her the letter, and I must not read it. What the letter said, and what went on at the bus stop, I still don’t know, and I never will. But, I have a pretty good idea. The unfortunate event As we pile our tent and bags in the back of our tiny car, I realize this is going to be a lame trip. My parents are making me go camping. A whole weekend with my annoying little sister, no cell service, and of course the boring woods. Who wants to spend their last summer weekend, bored half to death. Not me. “Okay!! Let’s go!” say my dad. I pile in the back seat, with my little sister, and put my headphones in. Long drive ahead, sigh….About an hour later we arrive. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm ons/0/02/Crepuscular_rays_in_the_woods_ of_Kasterlee,_Belgium.jpg http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/c/c0/Thurs-Fricampsite-tents.jpg/266px-Thurs-Fri-campsite-tents.jpg The unfortunate event There is no one in sight, and the nearest store is about thirty miles away! Joy!! I get out of the car, and smell the air. Actually, the woods smell a little nice, but I am not about to enjoy this at all. We unload our stuff, and my mom and dad are setting up the tent. I lean against a tree, and attempt to access Fac book. No response. “This is so stupid.” I say “Cheer up!” says dad. My family finishes setting up the tent, and dad says that he and mom are going to go to the store for some groceries. My little sister wants to go. I tell my parents I am going to stay. Okay dad says, but stay near the tent and if anything happens just hide. I assure them that I will be fine, and watch them speed off down the deserted dirt road. The unfortunate event Now I am totally bored. I decide that I should explore a little. I wont go to far. I head west into the thick parts of the woods, there is a little trail that I am following, but there are no trail markers. I get deeper into the wood, until the path veers off into three separate directions, not realizing how far I have gone, I decide to go left. The path gets narrower, until it dead ends into a bug cluster of huge rocks, I turn back, when I get to the three pathways I decide that I should have just kept going straight, so I go straight. Deeper and deeper into the woods. It start to sprinkle a little bit, but I don’t care I am enjoying this. I keep going, pretty soon, I get tired. I lay down on the dirt path, and stare up at the sky. It starts to rain harder. I can feel the water droplets running down my face, this is the best trip I have had. The sun is starting to set, maybe I should head back. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ thumb/3/3f/Narragansett_Trail's_southeast_trail_head_on_Wintechog_Road.jpg/200px -Narragansett_Trail's_southeast_trail_head_on_Wintechog_Road.jpg http://tcktcktck.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Indonesian-Forests-CCCenter-for-International-Forestry-Research-20061.jpg The unforgettable event I get up to head back and it is pouring! I hear a huge clap of thunder. My watch on my wrist is telling me that I have been gone for. TWO HOURS!! Oh shoot, mom and dad should be back. Lightning start striking the trees. I am literally dodging falling trees. One big tree falls behind me catching my sweatshirt in a limb. I turn around frantically and untangle my sweatshirt. A tree falls right in front of me. Trapped. I climb over the tree, and start running. A big lightning strike gets the tree right in front of me. Almost as if mother nature is playing a game with me. I am terrified. I get to the trail where it splits into three , and in the confusion go left instead of straight. BAM!! I fall on my face. I turn over to get up, and a tree falls right on my leg. SNAP! I hear my bone break…. http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&noj= 1&tbm=isch&tbnid=94NFqjeBQ6zHBM:&imgre furl=http://lakefx.deviantart.com/art/MultipleLightning-strikes109316165&docid=gU8DA63Pr8BTM&imgurl=http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs40/i/20 09/012/2/5/Multiple_Lightning_strikes_by_Lak eFX.jpg&w=900&h=503&ei=0ZowUubBJqjaigL NvYDoAw&zoom=1&biw=1024&bih=745&iact =rc&dur=311&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=238& start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:22,s:0,i:152&tx =65&ty=46 The unforgettable event. Searing pain shoot up my leg. I let out a scream. How am I supposed to get out with a tree on my leg. I move my leg a little , pain searing up my leg. The pain is to the point where I can’t take it. I give my leg a big yank. Blackout. The pain is so bad I pass out. When I wake up it is pitch black outside. I can’t see a thing. What am I going to do. I start yelling the thunder has stopped and it is only raining a little. I have to get out of here!! I yell and yell, until my throat is raw, and I can’t make a sound. I realize that nobody heard me so I have to get out myself. I need light. I can see the blood on the ground but not much else. My leg is killing me. http://i134.photobucket.com/alb ums/q87/ThaChilean23/Leg1.jp g The unforgettable event. I lay down and think of how I am going to get out of this mess. Why can’t mom and dad come looking for me? I feel betrayed. As I lay there thinking, a though pops in my head. My cell has a flashlight app!! It might still work despite being wet. I manage to get my phone out of my back pocket. Praise God!! It works, even though I don't have service, I might be able to dig my leg out from under the tree, but I need t hurry. The mud can’t harden. I turn the light on, and can, make out the tree, and my bloody leg. Just enough light to see a little. I break a branch off the tree and between the stick, and my hand, I am able to start wedging my leg out. I dig, and dig, and dig for hours. The sun is starting to rise. This is good. I will be able to see! I almost got my leg out. I dig for a couple more hours, and I pull my leg out. Once again searing pain. I black out again. The unforgettable event. I wake up. I better figure out a way to get back. I find a reasonable sized stick that I can use as a walking stick. I use the stick to hoist myself up, hopefully this will work. I manage to gain my balance. This is going to take a while. I hob le along, my leg is swollen, bloody, and I can see my bone sticking straight out of my leg. I slow progress, and about four hours later, I arrive at the campsite, my family is packing up the stuff, they are all crying, and they all have dark circles under their eyes. I have no more energy, I fall. My parents turn their heads, and gasp. They run over to me. “You’re alive!!, screamed mom. She embraced me I a big hug. I start to cry. She sees my leg. “ We have to get to the hospital.” My family surrounds me and carries me to the car. Mom gets in the backseat, and holds me the whole way to the doctors. I get my leg fixed up, and we head home. This trip has been the worst. I am so glad to be back with my family. I will never go camping again. http://mattova.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/leg-cast.jpg The Stalker It is about 11pm, and my phone rings. I am not allowed to answer the phone past nine, because my mom and dad go to bed. I ignore it. It goes to the answering machine, and I hear a deep grunting sound on the message . The phone disconnects, and al l is silent. The phone rings again, I pick it up. “hey LeeAnn, nice house.” I drop the phone. How does this man know what my house is and how nice it is? This guys knows a lot about us! I run upstairs, and wake my mom. I tell her that a weird guy called , and he knew my name and what our house looked like. She told me to go to bed, that it was nothing to worry about and it was probably a prank call. The Stalker About a week later, my parents get a call from the same guy. He told them that he thought I was pretty. my dad freaks out. He went to the police station and told them what was going on, and they said that they would have to put a recording device on our phone, for the next time that he called. Later that afternoon, an police officer comes and puts the device on our phone. He explains what to do when the guy calls again, and leaves. The next afternoon the guy calls, and my dad records the conversation. The cops manage to trace his location, about a two hour drive from my house. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/BZMq8Ml6_jk/TjIqdsyFLmI/AAAAAAAAAAM/FyhYAFYL0U0/s160 0/Police+Uniform.jpg The Stalker They drive to his place, and arrest him. Turns out he ha kidnapped a couple little girls, about my age, and was hiding out in a motel 6 somewhere that he thought he wouldn’t be found. Little did he know that you had to use burner phones. Anyways, the little girls were reunited with their families, and the guy was sentenced to the rest of his life in prison. Later we found out in the paper that he lost custody of his own little girl, and hung himself in prison. I am just glad we were able to catch him, and get those girls back safe. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pEmJNp_gKPE/TKQisjEUHOI/AAAAAAAAABI/gY7x -7Ft-o0/s1600/suspect-being-arrested.jpg My Best Friend My best friends name is brook. She is absolutely amazing. I met her towards the end of eighth grade. I went to a new school, and it was my first day. I was really nervous, and I went into the room. Everyone stopped talking and I sat down in a seat, and in front of me was this red haired girl. Really short, but pretty, with a big smile on her face. She came and sat down by me, and introduced herself. We talked for the whole class. In the middle of our conversation, we discovered that she lived right across the street from me. We started hanging out, and soon became great friends. Now we are practically inseparable. My friend Even though I moved we still hang out all the time. We go to church together, we tell each other everything. One time she came and spent the night, and we stayed up all night long, ting all crazy and stuff. Me and her were drinking water out of a margarita glass, ad even though it was just water she started acting like she was drunk. We were laughing so hard, and she was all falling everywhere and stuff. I t w hilarious. Now when I think about brook, this thought pops in my head and I laugh like crazy. Lost in the store When I was three, mom and I went to the grocery store. I asked her if I could have some gummy bears, and she told me know. While she wasn't looking, I sat down on the floor. I started shoving the gummy worms in my face. I shoved a many I my mouth as I could, and when I got full I looked up. My mom wasn't there!! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi a/commons/6/66/Gummy_bears.jpg Lost in the store. I freaked out. I started running and screaming, and I was running around the store yelling mom!! Mom!! I ran everywhere. I was really scared. Eventually I ran into worker, and he asked me if I was lot. I told him ye and he took me to customer service. He paged my mom, and she came and got me. I never lot sight of my mom in the store again. http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002 581581/05559881_gummy20bears_a nswer_1_xlarge.jpeg Hot Air Balloon I couldn’t wait!! My family and I were going to take a ride in a hot air balloon. I had always wanted to do it, an my family jut so happened t5o win a family trip in one. This is going to be really fun. My family and I get ready and head out. When we get to the air balloon place, We have to put coats on and stuff. The guide introduces himself, and shows us the air balloon. He assures us that we are going to be safe, and we load onto the basket. http://hotairballoonridescolorado.co m/Mariah%20%20Over%20Boulder_edited-1.jpg The hot air balloon When we get into the air, the sky is so clear, we drift up ad up and up. The houses below us look like ant. This is the greatest feeling. I feel like I am flying. I pull out my camera ad start to take pictures. My family I speechless. The guide, asks us if we like what we see. We al o and he laughs. I t get old after awhile he says. I don’t understand how seeing this everyday for a living, gets old… I love the feel of the crisp air. The clouds look like cotton balls. This is amazing. http://www.dateu.us/dates/Hot-AirBalloon.jpg The hot air balloon. I wish we could stay up here all day, but the trip goes by fast. Before I know it we are heading back down to the ground. I am amazed at the wonders of the world. I now have e respect for nature. I hope we can do this again. When e get to the ground. We get group picture net to the hot air balloon. This has truly been the most amazing trip ever! I will remember this forever! http://www.kathimitchell.com/hot-airballoon.jpg The End!!