1. Ashlyn A.<br />Best Children Recipes<br />Curiosity struck me, like a lightning bolt shredding a tree into pieces. <br />“You know, I don’t think we should be here. Mother is gonna yell at us. Then, I’ll get blamed.” Philip’s bickering continued<br />I quickly shushed him and pointed at the forest. Something about the trees welcomed us into the forest. For the first time ever, Philip had opened his eyes and not his mouth.<br />Still holding onto my brother by the wrist, we walked around the towering leaves while branches and leaves brushed our heads and arms. The sky was a perfect blue and the sun shone brightly. There was not a cloud in the sky, but I noticed not a shadow on the ground.<br />“Hey, Kat, we could come out here instead of staying in that rusty old place!” Philip shouted loud enough to echo.<br />This new place could cure any boredom. I was too excited to correct him to call me Katila not “Kat.” We thought about the endless games we could play, when suddenly a loud moan startled us. We exchanged looks.<br />“What was that?” I asked, scared.<br />Philip shrugged his shoulders. I had to know, so I headed towards a strange breathing mass of red hair. Philip followed closely behind. As I got closer I could see the creature much easier. It had two pointy ears, and a small black nose. Its red fur was matted and tangled.<br />My immature older brother, being his usual self, picked up a stick and jabbed the animal right in the back. The red creature let out a loud, ear-piercing screech. Why would someone do that? Clenching my fist, I punched my brother as hard as I could, which at the time wasn’t very hard.<br />“What’s the matter with you?” I yelled, “Can’t you see it’s in pain!”<br />“Sorry,” Philip said.<br />I ran to the seemingly harmless creature, still glaring at Philip.<br />“Oh I’m terribly sorry for my brother’s actions! What happened to you, you poor thing!” I exclaimed.<br />“I have been very ill,” a faint, weak voice cried, “I haven’t eaten in days, and these nights get terribly cold.”<br />I gently laid a hand on the creature’s red fur, and I noticed it felt warm and not skinny like I had expected.<br />“Wait you aren’t cold or skinny,” I said, confused.<br />“Owwww!” the pointy eared creature cried.<br />“Uh! Stop that! What can we do to get you to stop whining so much?” Philip blurted out.<br />“Well, you could-oh never mind! I couldn’t ask that much of you!” said the animal pathetically.<br />“Awww, come on we could handle it!” my brother whined.<br />“Could you two get me any spices you could find and firewood?” the animal asked.<br />“Where do we find spices?” I asked, “And why do you need firewood?”<br />“To-uh keep warm and the spices for, um my uh health,” the creature stuttered.<br />“Whatever, let’s go, Kat!” Philip shouted.<br />“That’s not my name! It’s K-A-T-I-L-A!” I shouted back.<br />He ignored me and continued walking. Irritated, I shuffled my feet leaving a large gap in between us. The gap got bigger and bigger. I began feeling foolish for how upset I got so I ran to catch up with him. Being my usual clumsy self, I tripped on a root of a tree and my dress got caught on a branch. Philip was out of sight at this point.<br />Hesitating, I tugged and tugged on my gown, which at this point had become very tattered. I looked around, skimming the trees and bushes for help. At the corner of my eye, I spotted the “helpless” animal. Except this time, he looked fine. I watched him jump up on a tall branch of a tree. That mean ole liar!<br />I continued jerking on my dress when I noticed a girl, about my age. While preparing my cry for help, I noticed the creature started to moan again. And of course the innocent girl fell for his trick.<br />A few minutes passed and I gave up. I ended up ripping a hole on my dress to continue my search for Philip. I had to tell him about the devious creature. It was all making sense now. Those spices weren’t for his health; it was for his “feast.” And the firewood, well that was obvious. I had to find Philip.<br />My paced walking turned into a full on sprint. Honestly, I had no clue where to run but knowing Philip, he probably walked in a straight line. After awhile my legs had become tired, and I could no longer run. Eventually, I stumbled across a small wooden house. I walked over and knocked on the door. No response. Well if nobody was there, it wouldn’t hurt to go in.<br />I carefully turned the old doorknob and walked in the little house. Inside, it wasn’t very exciting. Just a bed, a small, cluttered table, and a large, old pot. I peeked over at the table and saw an open book. I flipped to the cover it read Best Children Recipes: How to Turn Those Spoiled Children into Zesty Brats.<br />This wasn’t good; even worse, I heard the deceitful creature coming. Quickly but quietly, I ran to the window and hurdled myself out of it. My heart began to race and once again I ran in search of my brother. Luckily, I heard a familiar voice shout my name.<br />“Katila! Where are you?” he shouted.<br />‘Philip!” I yelled, “Whoa, what is all of this?” <br />“Spices, I think, I just picked a bunch of random leaves. I don’t even know what firewood is so I hope these sticks work. Hey hold up, where have you been?”<br />“Long story, look we gotta go!”<br />“Uh, why? I didn’t pick all of these for nothing!”<br />“Real effort. No, I’m serious. It’s all a trick. He isn’t really sick! I saw him with my own two eyes jump up a tree!”<br />“Well, I hate to break it to you but there’s probably more than one animal out here!’<br />“But-“<br />“No, I’ll either meet you back where we found that animal or at home!”<br />This was awful. I couldn’t stop him, but I couldn’t let him get eaten. So, I did what every little sister would do, I followed him.<br />Eventually we found the vermin continuing his act. I couldn’t let this show go on for too long. I noticed the huge pot had gotten itself all the way out of his house. I played along.<br />Philip failed to notice the deceitful animal reading his “cookbook.” We somehow managed to start a fire and poured jars of water into the pot without saying a word to each other.<br />The pot had come to a boil. I had no clue how the creature would convince us to get inside of the pot. Whatever its plan was, I had to keep an eye on him.<br />“If you two could just sit right there and watch the pot. Now don’t you move!” the vermin commanded.<br />How gullible did he think we were?<br />“Okay!” Philip shouted.<br />Really Philip? I started to feel sweaty from sitting next to the fire. I had to think fast. So I took out the bow my mother had tied in my hair and chucked it into a patch of grass.<br />“Oh no! Philip, get my bow!” I blurted.<br />He got up quickly, right as the animal was about to end his act. I did notice the creature was standing awfully close to the boiling pot of hot water.<br />I gathered enough strength to push the pot over, dumping it upside down on the devious vermin. The rushing water drowned out any screams that could be heard.<br />Quickly, I grabbed the cookbook, my brother’s wrist, and my favorite hair bow and ran. We ran all the way just outside the forest. Before Philip could yell at me, I showed him the book. It was a quiet walk home. <br />