Emily Carr: Student Showcase

Odds and Ends, by Emily Carr (Canada) 1939

Creative writing students at Arrowhead Union High School in Hartland, Wisconsin, recently engaged in a project centered on seven distinct works of art. Using these pieces as inspiration, students crafted original stories, bringing their unique visions to life. Each class participated in a rigorous peer-review process to read and critique 30 of the 86 student-authored submissions. Ultimately, the students took on the role of editors to select the most intriguing pieces for publication, celebrating the diverse literary talent within our writing community.

Terri Carnell, teacher

**
​
​Green Ash
 
He looked out his window to the black smog in the north. Years before the sky was blue and the rivers were clear. They had both since transformed into black, charred, and lifeless colouration. Fish were dead and plants shriveled, from the glory of God to the destruction of man. There was a promise of expansion and development, but from that promise no one expected what was to happen to their forest. 
 
All but one had given up; the sight alone demotivated any response, but that one had a fire within him. His home, once in the centre of nature’s beauty, had now become a dead zone covered with factory runoff. Protecting the wild had always been his motivation, and now was its absolute necessity. First he went to the local governing body. He expected resistance from the elites, but believed that by begging and providing evidence he could turn the council against the factory and its manager. He brought with him proof of the factory’s violations of policies and evidence relating to the consequences of industrialization. He provided testimony, study after study, but for nothing. The body upheld their decision and dismissed him. 
 
The manager laughed in his office as he read the newspaper. The one man opposing him had failed to stop him. Not only that, but the body had given him authority and approval to expand beyond the small village, into the city. Stock continued to rise and shareholders gloated along with him. The city helped provide the factory with new business partners, from gas stations to grocery markets, and immense power supply to throttle production efficiency. Tree cutting and exhaust quantity both saw rises in efficiency. The manager established new locations and factories to further increase production. The lumber they had been cutting was being transported for further use, which included fuel production and construction. Trucks rolled out with lumber day and night, stuffed to the brim with once beautiful trees that had transformed into a simple market product. The trail the trucks etched in the soil seemed almost permanent. Profits only continued to climb, and market share had essentially belonged entirely to the factory. By this point, the manager even started branching out into other fields, due to the drastic drop in the value of lumber. Those new ventures expanded the devastation the factory already provided. For example, ancient rock hidden beneath the towering presence of a mountain range transformed into a quarry designed to extract it for profit.
 
The environmentalist desperately tried to stop the factory. He continued to appeal his decision, but by the time he was finally successful, in the highest level of the judiciary system, the entire forest that he had called home for decades was gone. All that remained was stumps, polluted rivers, and the quiet presence of what once was.
 
Luke Moseler
 
**
 
Lost and Found
 
In this modern world, technology is truly a life saver because without the GPS no one would know how to get anywhere. At least that’s what they were all thinking as they were rushing to get to the wedding. The four cousins—Mindy, Tara, Chase, and Leo—had convinced their parents to let them drive part of the way, arguing they knew the shortcuts. Everything had been going smoothly until the GPS suddenly flickered and went blank. 
 
“Wait, it’s not working!” Tara exclaimed, starting to panic. Leo glanced out the window and frowned. Minutes later, they realized they were hopelessly lost. 
 
The road ahead of them twisted into a dense forest they hadn’t noticed on the map, sunlight filtering in through the canopy of trees. Tall, straight tree trunks lined both sides of the road, some chopped, and some not. The grass underfoot was a rich, vibrant green that almost seemed unreal. 
 
“Should we stop and see where it goes?” Mindy asked. The sky slowly darkened around them, but in this area it seemed brighter. One by one, they stepped out of the car onto the lush grass beneath them. 
 
The air smelled like earth and pine. The forest was quiet, silent except for the occasional chirping of birds or rustling of leaves. As they walked together down the path, something caught their eye. It was a small tennis ball, half-buried in the dirt, the initials A.R. faintly scratched onto the surface. It lies next to a cracked watch, a tattered photograph, and a tiny dog toy. Each object seemed like a clue from someone else’s life, small pieces of a story frozen in time. Tucked under an old pile of leaves, they found a tattered map. 
 
It was hand drawn, creased at the edges, and the lines of paths and streams were sketched carefully across it. The cousins gathered around, tracing the paths with their fingers. This map stretched over into the next town as well! It wasn’t a GPS, but it would have to do. Following the map, they retraced their steps through the forest, careful not to disturb anything else. As they stepped back onto the open road, the sun was dipping low behind the trees. It hadn’t been the wedding that filled that afternoon, but rather a series of odds and ends. Tennis balls, watches, photographs, and dog toys were seemingly ordinary objects, and yet they had all carried something extraordinary. 
 
As they climbed back into the car, Mindy nudged the GPS screen again. “Maybe it’s working now?” she said hopefully. 
 
Tara hesitantly tapped a few buttons, and the device lit up. “Wait…It was showing us this whole time?” Leo said. The map on the GPS had simply autozoomed into the forest, and all they needed to do was zoom up to see all the roads around them. The cousins all burst into laughter, but then Tara realized something.
 
“These roads are the same as the ones on the map!” she exclaimed. Mindy shrugged. “Then let’s just use the map. Why not?” she said.
 
They carefully followed the hand drawn map, steering through the turns they had memorized, ignoring the GPS beside them. By the time they reached the main road, they hadn’t needed the GPS at all. All they needed was an old, worn map to lead them through. 
 
Mekenna Verhagen
 
**

Unthreaded Earth, Inspired 
 
The saws have gone silent. The people loaded their iron teeth into trucks and left the mud to settle. They took the giants. The tall, sturdy, valuable ones. They looked at me: crooked, thin, and frayed. Deciding I wasn't worth the fuel to slash. Now, left vertical in this horizontal world, a lone needle stitching the broken earth to the heavy sky. 
 
Without the canopying timber, the sky has turned into an indigo flood. It doesn't feel like air anymore, but water, a thick and churning current that's flooded the valley I stand in. There used to be a ceiling of green lace to hold the weight back, branches acting as a shield to keep the pressure off my head. But the shield has broken. Now there is only this blue weight. I have to grip the mud with my roots just to keep myself upright, feeling the soil underneath me pulling at my base, trying to drag me down into the rest of the terrain. 
 
The silence left behind is unfamiliar. Even the wind feels lost in this deserted valley.
It wanders without direction through the clearing, slipping past me, brushing over the stumps like it searches for something that isn't there anymore. Once, it used to move swiftly through crowded branches. Leaves rustled, gaps whistled. Now, it rushes freely, making me sway as it tugs at my crooked limb. The emptiness makes the blow deafening. The ground beneath me is hollow where roots once tangled with mine. 
 
Clouds begin to gather, hovering above me – heavy and low. The indigo sky starts to thicken. The wind grows stronger pushing against my trunk. I lean slightly creaking as I try to stay upright. Then the rain starts suddenly. It strikes the exposed earth, splashing against the stumps and filling the deep tracks left behind from the trucks. When the rain falls the soil moves faster than before. The mud pulls at me, slowly loosening my grip and the valley doesn't hold me the same way it once did. Water rushes past my roots. Wind presses harder, bending me further than before. 
 
I try to hold. The mud shifts. The wind roars across the clearing that's no longer blocked by branches. I tilt further and further, my trunk groaning and splinting. The surface beneath me gives away and I begin to fall. Crack. My world turns sideways, the sky rushes past me. For a moment I hang between the standing and the fallen. I collapse. 
 
The impact was quiet, unexciting compared to the giants. I lie still, my bark pressed against the wet ground. Now, the rain taps my side and the wind moves over me instead of through me. For the first time I am horizontal like the rest of the valley. I stare up at the indigo ceiling. It still feels heavy but I no longer feel I have to hold myself up. The rain continues gently now, pooling in the hollow beneath my roots. At first it's just a trickle but with every passing hour it grows, carving a narrow stream underneath me. The mud continues to soften around me, allowing the water to flow freely carrying the leaves and pebbles with it. I start to realize I am no longer just a fallen tree but a bridge. Now I tie the broken earth together.
 
Suddenly I feel a paw step onto my trunk. A rabbit, cautious it pauses, sniffing my bark and the air around me. It then presses forward trusting me to hold it above the current. Birds follow, hopping along my splintered branches. Their wings brushing gently along my side as they land. Even a deer comes, heavy and careful it steps slowly across me. I hold them steady. 
 
The wind moves differently now, not against me but around me, lifting leaves into the current below me and guiding the creatures that pass across me. I am no longer a needle stitching the earth to the sky. I am a path, a bridge across the broken valley. I hold movement and life trusts me to stay in place, to connect what was torn apart. The sky lightens slowly and the indigo sky fades into gray and then a pale gold. The stream glimmers beneath me against the sun and the mud presses gently against my roots holding me firmly. 
 
I am horizontal now, but my purpose is noticed. I have become something the valley needs, replacing the giants that served a different purpose. I carry the creature across what was once hollow and lost. I am necessary. I have a purpose.

Myah Boone

**

The Origin of the Magnolia 
 
It was dead silent in the forest. Not even the wind dared to make noise. But out from the bushes popped the head of a deer. It crept into view and moved over to the strange forest beings. “Hello, little friend,” one said to the deer. They were both out looking for the same thing: berries. It was usually very peaceful in the forest of the Dryads, but lately they had been getting a strange feeling of something soon to arrive. 
 
The elders who, usually just taught the children, were preparing for something, something they didn’t speak to the others about. The rest of the Dryads began to feel uneasy. Yet they tried to act as if nothing was happening so as to not scare the children. 
 
The next day when Silva and Oreiades went to look for berries again, there were no animals in sight. “Where did all the creatures go?” asked Silva, “And what's that strange noise off in the distance?” Oreiades just looked at her in concern and confusion. Something wasn’t right. 
 
They decided to go back and tell the elders. Once they told the elders, they got told to gather the rest of the Dryads and start training. “Start training for what?” asked Oreiades. 
 
“The worst case scenario,” answered one of the elders, “destruction of another world that we have only heard stories about.” The elders led them to a secret cave hidden behind a large weeping willow tree. 
 
Inside the cave were bows, arrows, spears, swords, and shields. The Dryads knew there was no time for questions, they had to start preparing for war. They appointed Oreiades as their general. For the next two days the forest was filled with the wisping of arrows and clamoring of swords.
 
Once those two days had passed, the day came where they could hear a loud noise coming from deep in the forest somewhat close to them. It was time.
 
All the Dryads, except for the elders who stayed behind with the children, gathered their weapons and headed for the noise. Silva and Oreiades looked at each in shock when they finally got eyes on these destructive beings. “What are they?” asked Oreiades.
 
“I’ve never seen anything like them,” returned Silva. “They are like us but their skin is pale and they destroy everything they touch.” 
 
They were instructed to wait in the bushes until the evil creatures approached them. Once it was time, Oreiades would give out a deafening cry and all the Dryads would attack at once. The beings with pale skin were quick when it came to destruction. And after a few minutes it was time to attack. 
The pale skin creatures didn’t react fast enough and their entire front line was instantly wiped out, but there were many more to go. The Dryad army only had around one hundred and forty soldiers, and the pale skin creatures had roughly doubled with what looked to be three hundred. 
 
These destructive creatures, armed with machetes and spears, fought with incredible strength, but it was sloppy. They had no control. However the Dryads lacked the strength but made up for it with control. The archers could shoot arrows through the smallest gaps of armors and the spears could pierce them too. The swords moved with incredible maneuverability, slicing everything in its path.
 
“We’ve lost twenty of our fighters, Silva,” alarmed Oreiades.
 
“But we’ve slain half of them,” responded Silva.
 
The bodies kept stacking higher and higher and the floor became blood soaked. A tough battle was fought and many died that day. The forest was saved in the end but not without a cost. The pale skin creatures learned fast and they adapted to the Dryads’ tactics. Three quarters of the Dryads were slain in that battle. 
 
They returned to the elders with heavy hearts and crowded minds. The forest was safe again and the animals returned, but the forest knew that some of the Dryads were missing. And so where that battle took place was where the first Magnolia tree was born.

Solomon Kalusche

**

What They Leave Behind  
 
It all begins with leaves of deep sage and a damp, chilling breeze. Just as it always has. 
 
Forests surround me as far as the eye can see, and thick tree trunks obscure any sight of an exit. I flick my ear as I slink along the soil, careful to step over bits and pieces of shattered glass from a time long before my own. A second passes, a minute, and finally an hour before I spot a faint blue glow in the distance. My tail billows behind me like a slow cloud of smoke, smoothing and thinning as my paws pick up into a trot. Metal cans, toys made of smudged wood, and old ragged clothes lay strewn about, long forgotten as my eyes adjust to the light. 
 
The light flickers, and gradually becomes a bright, brilliant beacon. Beyond the trees, the thick darkness that once enveloped me dissipates, revealing a clearing of little sound and even littler presence. For how silent the forest had seemed, this place seems impossibly quieter. A valley of rolling grass expands, multiplying with each step I take, and the smells of fresh rain and mud linger. I take another step forward, and within this spot of dirt lies a divot larger than the prints I left behind. Another creature was here before me, and the several tree stumps I pass as I continue only serve as further proof of this. 
 
The storm passed a few days ago, and took many of the things that had been made by these beings. Their objects washed up among those of us living in the forest, discarded as they fled their homes for higher ground. Even the most treasured of items could not be taken. The moment the shifting of clouds began, the cries of children who had been forced to abandon their toys had resounded loud enough to stand out even above the striking gale. 
 
Even so, the valley is almost completely empty. All that remains of the creatures that lived here are the dry footprints in the mud. It would appear that everything that hasn’t been washed away has been whisked somewhere safe. 
 
I feel relieved, until my paw settles on something firm. A thick board, only one in a pile that remains of a house, crackles underneath me, and I’m quick to scurry back onto the safety of the grass. From somewhere nearby, I hear a high-pitched voice. 
 
“Hello?!” They shout, their throat crackling and raw. “Is someone up there?”
 
Still startled, I nudge my snout along the side of a piece of wood. As I move another board, the light expands upon a deep hole. I peer down at the cause of the noise. Beneath the wreckage lies a human girl, her eyes wide and brimming with tears. Her tiny hands clutch an even smaller locket and chain, and she nods to answer as my focus lingers on it.
 
“It’s important. I had to go back for it.”
 
People are peculiar. Why would this girl dive into danger for something that has no practical use? She looks up to me as I extend my tail towards her, helping her back onto the ground.  Inexplicable to me, she rubs a thumb over the jewellery's gold plating and looks down to it with a warm smile, as if it had been the one to save her. I question this as she clings onto my tail once more. She’s following me now, but her eyes are still glued to the locket. 
 
She strings it around her neck. With the trinket securely resting over her heart, she looks up to a sky filled with bursts of blue as if it suddenly grew a thousand times brighter. After a moment of reverence, she continues forward, finally content to leave behind the rest of the wreckage.
 
Reagan Cabaniss