Halloween story

[AM4]

Andrew Mori
10-25-08
Period 4
Tricks or
Ring. Ring. Ring.
“Get to class on time, we will be having tardy sweeps,” said the
principal.
It was 7:20 AM and Carl Milzon was lost in a blur of people as he
rushed to get to first period. As he walked alone to Stats, Jessica
Rab ran up and shook him. Carl jumped up and turned around. He was
extremely surprised to see Jessica. The two had grown up with each
other and their families were extremely close. Jessica had not been
to school for a while due to a family emergency back in Texas. She
returned back to school after missing two weeks of school. For Carl,
it seemed as though it had been years, maybe even decades since he
last saw her. Carl was hoping the best for Jessica and was glad to
see her back at school.
As the two walked to Stats together, Carl noticed a slimy green goop
near the tool shed. It was almost like green dyed syrup. The goop at
first glued Carl’s eyes to it, but after staring at it for a couple of
seconds, Carl turned back around and began asking Jessica if
everything was alright with her family. Jessica ignored the question
and asked Carl what he was looking at. Carl replied with a vague
answer “Oh, just something on the ground.” Jessica was doubtful at
first, but let go of the topic, as Carl seemed more concerned about
Jessica’s family rather than the trail of goo by the shed.
After first period Carl and Jessica split up as Carl went to AP Lit
while Jessica went to Physics. On the way to Lit, Carl caught a
glimpse of a green figure in the hallway. Before he could actually
tell what the green, mossy looking figure disappeared. Once again
Carl was left puzzled as he walked into English class. His English
teacher was Mr. Sham, who was a very easy going teacher, who gave very
little homework or classwork. In Literature, the students were
studying the story of Polaris. Carl began reading a line from the
story and became utterly lost when he came across,
“Slumber, watcher, till the spheres, six and twenty thousand years
have revolv’d, and I return to the spot where now I burn. Other stars
anon shall rise to the axis of the skies; stars that soothe and stars
that bless with a sweet forgetfulness: only when my round is o’er
shall the past disturb thy door.”
As Carl starred at the paper, he saw from the corner of his eye the
same slime he saw out by the tool shed, but this time it was coming
from Mr. Sham’s bag. Thoughts raced through Carl’s head as he asked
himself if maybe his teacher was some sort of monster or moss
creature. For the rest of the period, Carl could not focus on
anything, but the slime and his teacher. When the bell rang for lunch
Carl stood up and waited outside the classroom. He was very curious
about his teacher, and wanted to know if he was imagining things or if
maybe, just maybe, Mr. Sham was some sort of extraterrestrial that was
secretly plotting against the school.
Carl hid down the hallway to make sure that Mr. Sham would not notice
him creeping up on him. As Mr. Sham shut the door with his right
hand, he had his bag on the other. As quietly as he could, Carl tip
toed behind Mr. Sham. As Mr. Sham turned the corner Carl sped up to
make sure he didn’t lose track of where Mr. Sham went. The second
Carl turned the corner, to his surprise; Jessica was fiddling with
something in her locker and saw Carl. She asked him why he was
walking so quietly and what he was up to. Carl knew he would have to
avoid her or else the teacher would get away. Carl told Jessica that
he had to take care of some business and that she should meet him on
the mound. Jessica was confused and offended by Carl’s actions as he
plain out ignored her and ceased to notice her at all. She grabbed
Carl’s arm and told him that if wasn’t going anywhere without her or
else he would have to explain what was going on.
By this time, Mr. Sham had already made his way down the hallway and
was going towards the stairs. Carl knowing that this would be his
only chance to discover the truth, and was reluctant to let Jessica
tag along. They quickly rushed down the hallway and as they reached
the second floor, Carl saw the same green and sticky goop that was
outside. The goop was a green goblin, mysterious, and at the same
time deadly. Carl was not surprised, but Jessica began asking all
sorts of questions.
“What is it? Oh! I know it’s one of those slimly toys sold at the 99
cent store,” said Jessica.
Carl did they best he could to ignore her questions and make sure he
did not lose track of Mr. Sham. Down the hallway, Carl saw a green
looking man that seemed to be carrying something in its arms. Carl
dashed down the hallway leaving Jessica behind as the green thing went
into a classroom.
As Carl got closer and closer he heard voices, coming from the room.
At first Carl couldn’t understand anything being said, but later heard
words, but none of it made sense. Carl was determined to wait and see
what was going on in the room. Carl waited and waited by the door for
the dark green figure to come out. When finally, the door opened, but
no one came out. The inside was dark and spooky. Carl tried to turn
on the lights, but could not find the light switch.
Carl walked into the room and saw the outline of the same figure had
seen in the hallway. As soon as he saw the figure, he made an attempt
to run out the door, but ran into another person. As he panicked and
hoped that whoever was in the room with him wouldn’t kill him. The
hazy figure walked slowly across the room, it came closer and closer,
until finally it was looking down at Carl. Carl looked at the hideous
creature and begged for it to let him go. A loud laugh came from the
figure as it lifted off a green mask and to Carl’s surprise it was Mr.
Sham. Once he Mr. Sham unveiled his mask, the rest of the people
inside too took off masks. At that moment, Carl felt relieved, but
was unsure why his teacher was in a suit, and who these other people
were. Carl didn’t say anything, but managed to gather the courage to
ask why his teacher was in a dark room with other people.
“Why are all of you in this room and in costumes,” asked Carl.
“We are having social gathering,” said Mr. Sham.
“Well what kind of gathering,” asked Carl.
“You sure are noisy aren’t you Mr. Milzon? But I will explain to you
why we are here,” said Mr. Sham.
Mr. Sham explained to Carl it was a super secret Halloween party
hosted by the teachers of Marshall, and that it was supposed to be
kept secret from the Principal Mr. Charles. Carl was bewildered that
there was not monster or creature and left the room embarrassed and
stupefied.

Appendix A
The precession of Earth is its rotation around an axis. This axis for
Earth is known as the precession of the equinoxes. The pole stars
change gradually over time, but this change takes thousands of years.
Right now, Polaris is the North Pole star, thousands of years ago; the
North Pole star was Thuban in the year 3000 BC. The wobble effect is
the cause of why the stars change gradually and thus that Polaris will
eventually be replaced by a next star. The time needed to for the
stars to change takes thousands of years, which it is almost
unnoticeable during our lifetime.

Appendix B
“For Carl, it seemed as though it had been years even decades since he
last saw her.” This is an example of a hyperbole as Carl exaggerates
how long it has been since he has seen Jessica. The quote helps to
convey a minor theme of family. Carl cares a lot about Jessica and
was ecstatic to see her return to school. “It was almost like green
dyed syrup” is a simile that compares the green slime to dyed syrup.
The quote helps to explain the theme of not being ignorant and
believing something without any proof. Carl makes a fool out of
himself by believing there was some monster lurking the school. “The
goop was a green goblin, mysterious, yet dangerous” demonstrates the
use of a metaphor. The goop is compared to a green goblin as it has
similar characteristics of it. The quote indentifies one of the
themes of the story by demonstrating that Carl is ignorant of his
surroundings. He automatically believes something is fishy with the
green slime on the floor.
“The hazy figure walked slowly across the room, it came closer and
closer, until finally it was looking down at Carl” is an example of an
anaphora. The word “closer” is repeated to heighten the anxiety and
build up to a climax. The quote explains the theme of not being naïve
as Carl gets himself in a mess, because of his curiosity. ‘“What is
it? Oh! I know it’s one of those slimly toys sold at the 99 cent
store,” said Jessica. ‘ is an antipophora as Jessica immediately asks
one question and follows her question with an answer that isn’t
thought out. ‘“Why are all of you in this room and in costumes,”
asked Carl’, is an example of an altercation between Mr. Sham and
Carl. The two ask each other a set of questions rapidly.

-AM4