Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 7, 1993 TAG: 9306090290
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELIZABETH HOCK NEWSFUN EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
All of the winners, however, in NewsFun's annual writing contest got Ashley and Justin home safely.
More than 400 young authors entered the contest in which we supplied the beginning to a story. NewsFun readers were asked to finish the story in 200 words or less. Entries were judged by several staff members of the Roanoke Times & World-News.
This year there was a tie in the third-fifth grade division. The judges were so impressed with the quality of the entries, they awarded first place to fifth-graders Angela Williams of Oakland Elementary in Roanoke and Nisha Nagarkatti of Gilbert Linkous Elementary in Blacksburg.
The winner in the kindergarten-second grade division is Katie Schweitzer, a second-grader at South Salem Elementary School in Salem.
Meredith Carty, a seventh-grader at Northside Junior High School in Roanoke County, is the winner in the sixth-eighth grade division.
Honorable mention in the kindergarten-second grade division goes to Kensington Hatcher, second grade, Troutville Elementary; Coles Jennings, second grade, Fishburn Park Elementary in Roanoke; John Christian Kingsley, kindergarten, Wasena Elementary in Roanoke; Timothy Hawks, second grade, Dublin Elementary; Danielle Greco, second grade, Shedd Early Learning Center in Roanoke; and Brandi Sharp, first grade, Roanoke Catholic.
Receiving honorable mention in the third-fifth grade division are Blake Holcomb, third grade, Back Creek Elementary; William Riegert, third grade, Gilbert Linkous Elementary in Blacksburg; Tabitha Flanagan, fourth grade, Fallon Park Elementary in Roanoke; Scott Bowman, fifth grade, Rocky Mount Elementary; Mark Clabaugh, fourth grade, Floyd Elementary; Alborz Fatheddin, Green Valley Elementary in Roanoke County; Bobby Bursey, fifth grade, Community School in Roanoke; and Joseph Lee Mauch, fourth grade, Garden City Elementary.
Honorable mention in the sixth-eighth grade division goes to Lindsay Lewis, sixth grade, Andrew Lewis Middle School in Salem; Matthew Ogburn, sixth grade, Andrew Lewis Middle School; Mariel Powers, sixth grade, Andrew Lewis Middle School; Nicole Kent, seventh grade, Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Roanoke; David Lundy, seventh grade, Woodlawn Intermediate School; and Paul Yewman, seventh grade, Woodlawn Intermediate.
Contest winners will receive a Roanoke Times & World-News comic umbrella. Their teachers will get a thermal mug.
Here, as promised, are the winning endings to our story:
Justin and Ashley looked around the room helplessly. They tried to open both doors, but they were locked. How did they get themselves in this mess, they wondered. And, how would they get out of it?
An hour ago Justin and Ashley were in the garden playing tag. Then they fell through a strange hole they hadn't seen. Then it closed. The inside of the hole looked like a house.
"Are there any windows we could break?" Justin asked. "No," said Ashley.
Suddenly, Ashley tripped over something.
It was a key.
They opened the door and there was a mysterious land. "Maybe the other door leads to home." It wouldn't budge. They looked for another key, but they couldn't find it so they went through the other door to begin the search.
They found a strange girl trapped inside a big bubble. The children tried to pop the bubble, but it wasn't any use. Then the girl started to cry. She cried so much that she flooded the bubble. Then the bubble went pop and the girl tumbled out.
"Do you know where the key is that can get us to our world."
"Yes, the black queen who captured me has the key."
Just then a loud, booming sound came from a wretched old woman. She threw the key at them and shouted, "Here, take it. I don't want any more human trouble."
They quickly ran into the house and opened the door. Then they found themselves back in their garden. Their parents adopted the girl and they lived happily ever after.
- Katie Schweitzer
Justin and Ashley looked around the room helplessly. They tried to open both doors, but they were locked. How did they get themselves in this mess, they wondered. And, how would they get out?
They had entered the vacant house on a dare. Everyone had said it was haunted and Justin and Ashley were the only ones brave enough to enter. The other kids had run off after the doors slammed. Why hadn't Justin and Ashley run when they had the chance? They were trapped in this house with no way out.
They looked around the room. All they could see was dusty old cloths draped over moldy-smelling toys and furniture. Ashley uncovered a chair next to an end table. On the tables were dolls and a book.
Ashley picked up the book and carefully opened it. The pages were faded and yellow. It was someone's diary - a young girl named Heather who must have lived there. In the pages she wrote of her loneliness and how she had no one to play with. She had been locked in this very same room for misbehaving.
Justin told Ashley to read on. As they were reading, Ashley stopped and listened attentively. It was crying and it sounded like a young girl. The sobs were coming from within the room. Ashley called out the girl's name in the diary.
"Heather, Heather. Is that you?"
The sobbing stoped. "Heather, are you okay?"
No one answered.
"Heather, please show us a way out and I promise we'll come back and play with you."
There was a giggly sound and suddenly a small panel just big enough for a child opened. Justin raced to see if anyone was actually in the room. Then she heard a small voice say, "Do come back and play."
"I promise," said Ashley as she headed for the opening.
- Angela Williams
Justin and Ashley looked around the room helplessly. They tried to open both doors, but they were locked. How did they get themselves in this mess, they wondered. And, how would they get out?
Justin and Ashley's father was a computer engineer. His office was crowded with new inventions. He had told Justin and Ashley not to go into it because he was working on a new invention.
Justin and Ashley's curiosity got to them so they rushed into the office. A big computer stood in front of them. Ashley's hand automatically touched a key. Before they could say a word, the doors of the room shut and the computer sucked them up.
They stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed in the computer screen. They banged on the screen trying to escape. Realizing they couldn't get out, they walked to a sign pointing to home.
It was getting darker and that sign was pointing through a spooky forest. They decided to go that way. The forest had owls hooting, trees quivering and rustling, and wolves howling.
Finally they had walked through the whole forest. The experience was thrilling and scary. Then they touched the sign that said home, and they were zapped out of the screen.
At the same time, the doors unlocked. They ran to their rooms. Later on that day, their dad asked,"Do you want to play my new computer game?" They both yelled, "no way."
- Nisha Nagarkatti
Justin and Ashley looked helplessly around the room. They tried to open both doors, but they were locked. How did they get themselves in this mess, they wondered. And, how would they get out of it?
Justin and Ashley were twins. They did a lot of things together. They were best friends. Their family was at their cousin's home in Atlanta, Ga. They were visiting for the weekend.
They had been walking around their cousin's huge home when they found themselves on the fifth level. The entire house was huge.
The twins decided to go exploring upstairs. They walked down a corridor that seemed to be never-ending. At the end was a huge door. They were very curious and opened the door. Inside it was very dark and mysterious.
Ashley and Justin yelled for help several times. There was no answer. The twins began to worry as they heard strange noises from inside the dark closet.
"How would they get out of this terrible trap," they wondered. "What would happen to them?"
Suddenly the floor under them began to drop. They kept moving and a terrible silence hushed over the two children. At once they stopped and the door opened. There was their family waiting for them.
They had accidentally stepped into the elevator. The twins laughed with joy as they discovered their mistake.
The next day they went home with a memory they would never forget. - Meredith Carty
by CNB