The First Horse

Poseidon is the god of oceans and earthquakes. He controls all waters, has his own underwater palace, a wife, and many children. Yet, like all gods, Poseidon gets bored easily. Amphitrite, his wife, was okay, but she was just a Nereid, and ever since she experienced Mountain Dew, she’s been a little crazy. So Poseidon went hunting for something- or someone new.

He rose up out of the sea and morphed into a hawk, where he could look for something that will attract his attention. Looking down on the Earth, Poseidon saw mortal girls shopping, wind spirits singing, and water nymphs gossiping. Looking up at the heavens, he saw Hera, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Demeter sitting on Mount Olympus. Hera and Aphrodite were arguing, (no surprise) Artemis was making a new bow and arrow, and Demeter was weaving a basket. She had several more besides her.

Which goddess is worthy enough for me? Poseidon thought. Hera is married to Zeus, ignorant, full of herself, always mad, always complaining, and always jealous of everyone (yes, I agree, she’s got lots of problems. I don’t know why Zeus married her). Aphrodite’s good looking and blonde, but she’s so bossy and also full of herself. Artemis isn’t in a relationship, and never will be.

 So that leaves Demeter. She’s single and nice. Harvesting crops didn’t sound to exiting, and I know nothing about agriculture, but she’s available. Poseidon flew to Mount Olympus, and hid where Demeter couldn’t see him. Then he caused a small earthquake (being the god of earthquakes, and all) and watched the goddesses, hoping they would move.

Hera and Aphrodite stopped talking. Then, “What, in Zeus’s tunic, was that?” Hera asked.

 “An earthquake, you genius. Ever felt the heavens shake? You should know: you’re so clumsy that every time you move, all the clouds get messed up in my hair.”

“Oh, yeah? You’re one to talk! You were born from pieces of Uranus and sea foam, and even older than my father, Cronus!”

“You’re always trying to get rid of anyone who is prettier or smarter than you- and that’s everyone! - because you think that you know everything, and can’t stand anyone who’s better than you!” Aphrodite shouted.

“You do that too!”

It went on like that for a while. Poseidon thought, time for more power! And created a slight hurricane.

“Why’s it so windy? Hera demanded. There’s never wind on Olympus… unless someone summons it.”

“What’s Poseidon up to now?” Aphrodite asked.

“Making sure that no one else gets born from his sea foam,” Hera muttered. Artemis rolled her eyes. “What? That’s probably what he’s doing!”

“You’re just jealous Aphrodite’s prettier than you,” Artemis challenged. “And don’t argue with me! She the goddess of love and beauty. You’re the goddess of what? Housing and marriage. And cows. Who cares about that?”

Well, they’re not leaving, Poseidon thought. Especially now that Artemis has joined the fight.

“You two just need to stop fighting, and consider each other,” Artemis said, calmly. “Hera is the goddess of marriage and cows, and Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty. Can’t change that.”

“You know what I can change, Artemis? The shape of your face, after I pound it in!”

“Lay off of her Hera! She’s just a girl,” noted Aphrodite.

I’ll just have to bring Demeter to me, he thought. Demeter had been sitting quietly, minding her own business. She knew not to get in Hera and Aphrodite’s way when they were having a fight.

“You know what?” chirped Hera. “I think that you’re all jealous of me!”

“What! No one even likes you!

“You back-stabbing, ugly little-“

And I know exactly how!  He summoned the winds and slowly, blew one of Demeter’s flower baskets away, toward the woods. He was sure she would follow.

“What the...” she said, and went after her basket. Poseidon blew the basket to behind the tree, where he was hiding.  Even though it was far away from Hera, Aphrodite, and Artemis, he could still slightly hear them shouting at each other.

When Demeter was in the position where Poseidon wanted her to be, he stepped out from the shadows, and revealed himself. “Hello Demeter. You look lovely today.” Demeter was startled, but spotted Poseidon, and relaxed.

“Oh, hello Poseidon.” Shouldn’t you be in your underwater realm and trying to stop your wife from giving Red Bull to any fish she sees?”

“She’s sleeping,” he said, lying through his teeth. “So, I was just passing through here.”

“Uh huh. Well I was just looking for my flower basket. I think it blew over here. Have you seen it?”

“You mean this one?” He held up the basket.

“Yes, thank you.” Demeter took the basket from him. She turned to leave.

“Wait, I was thinking. You’re single, and I’m... available, and I need a new… person in my life and-.”

“You’re married, Poseidon.”

“Well… still. What do you want? I can get you pearls, jewels, gold, anything.

Darn, Demeter thought. This guy is just like Zeus. Changing from one relationship to another. I need a serious man in my life, not powerful, like Zeus or Poseidon, but mature! One that will marry me, and not have other relations with other girls, no matter how hot they are!

These gods sure aren’t like that! Once they see someone young and pretty, it’s ditch-the-wife-and-pretend-you’re-not-seeing-anyone-else! I know; I’ve watched Hera. And this is why she’s so angry all the time. I don’t want to end up like that! I’m always quiet because I don’t want to get involved with anyone just to be crushed, like Zeus did to me. The only reason that Hera is still with Zeus, is because she knows she won’t get any other guy from her reputation!

I’m definitely not hooking up with Poseidon. He’s trying to bribe me with gold and pearls. I don’t need anything except simple clothes and food. I need to get him off of this subject and distract him.

Demeter pretended to think. “Hmm…well… you know what I would want? I want you to create the most beautiful animal that has ever walked the earth! One that won’t eat other animals, (ugh! Every animal should be vegetarian!) and one that is peaceful and kind.” That should distract him!

“Sure!” said Poseidon. How hard can it be?  “I’ll get right to work.” He jumped off of Mount Olympus and dove in the water where he could think more.

Poseidon’s first thought was to create a small fish. It would have vivid colors, like red, orange, and gold! She would love that! It’ll have a curvy tail and snout, not like any other fish in this ocean!

When Poseidon was finally done, he put the creature in a small clear tank filled with water, and brought it to Olympus for Demeter to see. He found her still weaving. “Look here! I’ve created an animal that has great beauty, and doesn’t eat meat! It is called a…hippocampus!”

Demeter saw it, and agreed that the hippocampus was very exquisite indeed. But to get Poseidon to work harder, she said “It is very pretty, but it is too small, and the name is too long. Try again.”

Poseidon wasn’t discouraged. He let the hippocampus stay in the ocean, even though Demeter didn’t want it. It was so small and peaceful that it couldn’t create any harm. Then he got to work, again. This time, he created a much larger land animal that will eat tree leaves and grass. For the beauty, it will have brown spots all over its body.

When he was done, Poseidon brought the animal to Demeter. He couldn’t present it in a tank because it was so big! Instead, he let it float next to him on the way to Olympus.

Demeter was shocked. A very large creature had just been laid in front of her. “What’s that?!” she gasped.

“This,” announced Poseidon “Is a giraffe! The most beautiful animal in the world! It eats grass and tree leaves. It’s completely harmless.”

“Uh huh.” Demeter didn’t think so. “But this is a little…too big. And I don’t like the brown spots on it.”

Poseidon sighed. “Okay. I’ll try a new approach.” Liking the giraffe, and not wanting to destroy it, Poseidon brought the new animal to a continent that had plenty of grass and trees. When he got to Africa, he created another giraffe, but this one was female. And Poseidon let the giraffes live peacefully in Africa.

I’ll make another animal that is like the giraffe, but like Demeter said, it’ll be smaller and not have spots. Instead it’ll have… stripes! Black stripes and a white body. It’ll also live in Africa, along the mortals. I don’t know why Demeter didn’t believe me when I said the giraffe was harmless. All it does is eat and sleep. So Poseidon got to work, once again.

The new animal had a snout similar to the giraffe and hippocampus, but had a shorter neck than the giraffe, and less vivid colors than the hippocampus. It was pretty much the same thing as the giraffe, except it had the qualities that Demeter wanted.

“I will call you zebra. And if Demeter doesn’t like you, I’ll put you in Africa with the giraffe.” Again, Poseidon brought Demeter his new creation. “I give you the zebra.” He said when he found her.

“Oh! That… that’s a nice looking creature. But I don’t like the stripes. Just leave the animal plain. And have different colors.” With that, she disappeared before Poseidon could say anything to her.

Poseidon was tired of all the imperfections he was making. He decided to try one more time, and then just leave the animal like it is, no matter what Demeter thought.

The animal he had in mind was plain in beauty, going to have different matte colors, and a lot like a zebra. He created five different colored ones: black, grey, white, chestnut, and honey. The creatures were all muscular, had wavy manes, and straight tails. They looked like they could hurt you, but Poseidon created their strength and stamina for helping mortals in their farm work.

For the last time, Poseidon rose up to the heavens with five strong and beautiful animals next to him. Then he found Demeter sitting in her flower garden.

 When she saw Poseidon, she thought, this guy never gives up, does he? He needs something better to do with his time, like controlling the seas, making sure nothing happens. I bet Amphitrite has been in charge the past week. Has he even looked at the water since? It’s polluted with used Coke and Sprite cans. After this new animal, I’m just going to tell him to back off and spend more time with his wife!

But Demeter never did tell Poseidon anything, because she was speechless. Five of the most beautiful animals had just trotted up to her, followed by Poseidon, grinning. “Five colors, five beauties. These are horses, give of take. It’s my last offer.”

Demeter could have easily said that she hated them, and never have to deal with Poseidon again, but she was honest. “These mammals are the most beautiful animals in the world. Great job, Poseidon.” She then turned into a white mare, and galloped away. Poseidon transformed into a black stallion, and followed her.

A few weeks later, Demeter gave birth to the immortal horse, Arion, the fastest horse in the world, and Despoine, the goddess of mysteries. Poseidon had gotten his wish, and Demeter had hers. He sent pairs of horses all around the world, to work with mortals, and also to live in the wild.

He then decided that the hippocampus should be called a sea horse, instead, because it resembled a horse, but was a fish. So the horse would be recognized on land and in the sea. All around, mortals and gods saw the horse for its beauty, strength, and gentleness. They also now see Poseidon as King of the Seas, Bringer of Earthquakes, and the Father of Horses.

Okay so this is my thoughts on the last book in the series Gone by Michael Grant called Light. 

If you haven't read Light then you probably shouldn't read this because it has all spoilers. And if you haven't read the series, then go read it if you're 11+. It's supposed to be, probably 13+ but from society today, I think a lot of 11 year olds are reading or most likely, watching stuff like this all the time. The first book's called Gone.

If you like super powers and action then read it. Like most things, this is for school. Enjoy. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SPOILER ALERT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the last book in the series, and it had a very long epilogue that was divided into three parts. I did not like the ending, because I don't like any endings in any books, because it’s the end of the book, but this ending was just bad. The story just ended suddenly; the antagonist was killed, the main character’s brother died, and the dome was lifted. The kids got back to their families. The end. I think the epilogue had more detail and entertainment than the actual story did. This is the worst book in the series. The epilogue also could have said some things that were not cleared up. Michael Grant did not use the character Lana very well. He made it look like Lana was going to be an important character in the last book, since she was one of the first characters introduced in the entire series, and was described as “the one person the Gaiaphage (the antagonist) could not control and power over, the one the Gaiaphage almost feared itself” so it looked like she was the one who was going to stand up to it and kill it.

But she didn’t. In the whole series, she gets a voice, yet she never gets to do anything with her point of view, never actually getting in action like Sam, Diana, Caine, and all the other important characters that faced the battle too. Lana was a powerful person, who could kill easily, and Grant should have given her more voice. Most of the people he gave a voice of action to died, and I didn’t want Lana to die, but I would have rather her do something important, using her power to never get hurt in battle, and died a heroic death that made the story 100 times better, than not doing anything at all. She would have helped out a lot, since she couldn’t die easily, and done the things that killed most of the kids better, since they died and she could heal herself. Gaia used that power for the smarter idea; Gaia used it in battle, something Grant never had Lana do, and Gaia was unbeatable, since she couldn’t’ die, with Lana’s power. Yet Grant never thought about letting LANA do it.

Grant also led up in that book that Lana might be important, like I said before, by saying that the Gaiaphage was “unbeatable” because it had Lana’s healing power, and without it, it would die easily. This made it seem that in the end, Lana would face the Gaiaphage, almost kill it, die, and have Sam kill it in the end. But NOPE. In the end, CAINE dies, and kills Gaia, which didn’t make any sense, since Caine apparently kills it with his power of force, making the Light from Gaia backfire at her, killing her, and also killing himself too. That doesn’t make sense, because how could he, himself just kill Gaia like that? In about three sentences, the thing that has been the BIGGEST problem since book two GONE? He just fires, he kills her, she dies, and her Light kills him too. And it’s over. Why did Caine have to die? If his power ricocheted back to Gaia, then why did HE die too? How could the Gaiaphage die so easily, after countless wars from hundreds of kids, she still lives, but when Caine comes back in the end, and only the end, because before Caine couldn’t do squat, even though she still has Lana’s healing power, she dies.

At the beginning of the book, it was titled Light, and I thought to myself, “Well, the last book was Fear, so I’m guessing this is the end where the kids finally get out. They finally see the light, and freedom, all’s fine now. One one’s scared anymore and the Gaiaphage is gone. Wait, but how could the Gaiaphage be gone? Light… oh! Sam kills her with his light! That makes sense, because the opposite and enemy of darkness is light, and that’s Sam, the main character’s power. I’m guess that’s why his power in the first place was light! It was a metaphor saying that Sam was the one who would defeat The Darkness in the end, and the one who would bring hope to everyone, being the leader an all! Good job Michal Grant, you know exactly what you’re doing!”

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The kids saw the light… to heaven. 60% of the kids died. Sam was only the leader in the first three books, then he gave up from all the pressure and stress, and he doesn’t even kill Gaia in the end. Caine does. It was apparently, “Sam’s light “ that killed her, but it wasn’t his body, his mind, or anything to do with him.

In the epilogue, Grant should have explained more. There were many unanswered things, like what happened to the love triangle between Lana, Quinn, and Sanjit? What happened to Drake? What happened to Edilio and Roger? What happened to all the kids who stole, killed, and every kind of crime imaginable? In the book, Sam always wondered what would happen to all the kids after this was all over; would they go to jail, a lab, or a mental house? Well we want to know too, Sam. The ending was bad, and Grant should have given more voice to some characters. A lot of characters, like Brianna, had unnecessary deaths that annoyed a lot of people. He could have made the ending to the series a lot better.

Stay Strong

Alone is not desirable

To stay sane is going to be a miracle

The thought of never seeing

A different human being,

Without the joy of others

Without the sight of another’s

Face it unbearable

Depression hits loud like thunder;

My mind acts in a slumber

Being in a gloom

Can act like I’m stuck in a tomb

To suffer for my actions

With no real satisfactions

Breaks my heart and makes me wonder

Stay Strong

You know where you belong

The voice inside my head

Echoes in my mind when I’m filled with dread

And as I sit at the horizon, looking ahead,

I realize that I’m not yet dead

And I shouldn’t waste my whole life long

 

Stay Strong

My thoughts stab me like a prong

I realize that when times are bad

That I’m not going to sit around and be sad

Not gonna let them break my bones

Not with words, or sticks and stones

Not gonna let them butcher my soul

Not gonna let them achieve their goal

Even when they say I’m wrong

I know I’m going to hang on

I know I’m going to stay strong

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So i'm not usually one to write poetry, because I don't think I'm any good at it, but last year my teacher made us write a poem about isolation, so here it is.

-Caroline XD

Dog and Cat 

Dog liked to swim in the Betsy Creek. He loved the cool refreshing feel of the waves on his chocolate brown fur, the sandy damp lake floor on his paws and the huge friendly salmon swimming below him. He was a stray, living by himself in the wilderness, sometimes venturing into the old city next door. The fleas were aggravating, and it was freezing in the winter time, but life was good.

In the mornings, Dog woke at the crack of dawn and feasted on his daily meal of rats, rabbits, and any remains of rubbish he could find in the trash cans of human’s homes, who, for some reason, threw out large quantities of their meals everyday.

He didn’t like city though: it was too loud, with too many people, and loud moving objects that had loud people in them. But the worse thing was the group of mean looking men always there, with leashes, muzzles and Animal Control written all over their clothing. The ones who came from the horrid so-called Dog Pound, where he could hear the whimpers and whines of dogs there, just like himself. Dog had seem them scooping up helpless puppies and tossing them into barred cages like they were nothing but sacks of flour. How he would hate to be in a cage! Trapped and defenseless… he shuddered just to think about it, and continued his swim.

Dog never stayed in the city for more than a day. He only went there for supplies or news from the other town strays. Dog liked them all, but didn’t they know they’ll soon get thrown in the pound eventually? The forest, Dog’s home, was off limits to the dog catchers. He didn’t really know who owned the land, but was grateful they weren’t kicking him out of his safe haven.

Although, if the dog catchers ever came to the forest, what would happen to them? He thought. Would they get kicked out, or would no one care? If no one did do anything, Dog was sure that he would think of something that will drive them out. With that happy thought, Dog started to paddle around the lake to the deeper end, when he heard the cry of help.

A yelping noise could be heard, clearly in distress, and Dog swam towards the vociferation of the victim. Although, as he got closer, Dog thought the sound was coming from a cat, not dog. Maybe it wasn’t. He had only heard cats a few times in the dark alleys, their glowing eyes glared at Dog gawkily when he got near their territory, and he gruffly gathered himself to get going.

But he saw it was indeed a cat. An orange and white striped tabby treading in the treacherous and tainted turquoise waters. There were other cats sitting calmly on the land, and Dog guessed questionably they knew what was going on, but the cats didn’t conflict. Exactly why they didn’t do anything, he didn’t know such a thing.

Dog didn’t know how cats would handle such things like this. The ones in the city seemed just pure evil, and destructive, but cat or no cat, this creature was in danger and he wanted to help. She seemed to be struggling to hold her head above the water, and would surely drown in a matter of seconds, but the cat hissed at Dog when he tried to help, “No, I can help myself! I don’t need anyone to help me!”

“Oh really?” he asked. “Because you sure look fine to me”

The cats on the higher land smirked and laughed tauntingly. “Yeah, sure Tigress!” A grey tomcat yelled. “Just let a dog save your miserable life, you worthless thing.”

Dog growled and barked at the cats, and they scurried away. Tigress glared at Dog, just like the cats he encountered on his pleasant stroll in the city.

“Okay. Suit yourself, Michael Phelps” He didn’t go away though. Dog knew the she was going to need his help in a few minutes.

He knew that time had come when the poor cat was gasping for air, trying to swim, unsuccessfully to land, and her head when under the waves.

Dog dived on after Tigress, brought her body up to the water’s surface and dragged it up to the sand. He didn’t know what to do. Should he try CRP (does that even work on cats?) or wait? Dog decided to thump the cat’s back with his paws, which seemed to work, because the she coughed and sputtered, and seemed to come back to life.

 Dog noticed a shining blue collar that seemed to be camouflaging when Tigress was in the water, because he didn’t notice it before. She has a collar, he thought. This is a house cat. The cat once again glared at Dog with her fierce tiger-like eyes. “I didn’t need the help of a dog. I could have taken care of myself”

“Yes, yes, your welcome, I know I’m so brilliantly awesome for just saving your life.”  The cat rolled her glowing eyes and muttered, “Dogs” then turned to leave.

“Hey, wait a minute.” Dog started to follow “I just saved your life, and you leave without even a thank you? I want to know why you were drowning. Tigers are supposed to be good at swimming. You cats are all the same: selfish, independent, bossy, proud-” Tigress whipped around, cutting him off with her electrocuting emerald eyes.

“You think we’re all the same? We are definitely not all the same. Sure, we’re all independent, and hate dogs, but that’s what we learn as cats. You want to know why those cats back there didn’t even blink an eye as I drown? It’s because I have no honor. I can’t even catch salmon. All cats can catch fish, but not me. I almost died trying. I am the exact opposite of my name. We cats are not all the same. And I don’t’ need to be reminded of it by a dog”

She looked Dog up and down. “Especially not street mutts trying to do honorable things. You have no honor, dog. Now, from saving me, you took my honor, and I am what you where.”

“Now I must go. I can’t stay in a place where I am being constantly tormented and seem with no respect. I’m sorry that I was cold hearted towards you when you saved my life, but I was rather angry. Thank you, and goodbye” With that, Tigress headed off deeper into the forest, leaving a very stunned dog named Dog.

He decided, since Tigress took the forest as her new home, he should go to the city and see what the other town dogs thought about this change.

How is it that suddenly, I am a dog of honor and a cat that I just met is a cat of no honor? Honor never really mattered to Dog before. He didn’t’ have to worry about that when there was no one to impress, unless you count the trees and piles of dead leaves on the ground.

Now, he thought, I am to live in city as an honorable dog! Dog was so busy thinking about the future that he neglected to notice the present, or why he so much hated the city in the first place…

“There’s one!” A deep booming voice could be heard, and a second later, Dog was being muzzled and leashed, and shaking furiously, trying to rid of his captors. Nothing worked. These humans were trained professionals and they knew what they were doing.

After being tossed in a cage, thrown in a truck, and shoved in a pen, Dog sat quietly for a while. How could he have been so unaware!? Now he was locked up and was once again a dog with no honor. ‘You have no honor, dog’ he could just hear Tigress saying that. Of course. He was a dog, and dogs had no honor. Even when they had tried to bend the rules, it just backfired and Dog lost the little honor he had. Cats and dogs were different. There was no Cat Pound, only a Dog Pound. You didn’t go and take your cat out on a walk, leashing them up and running around. Dogs were much crazier and cats were more independent, he thought.  

Still, Tigress and I, we both have no honor, out of homes, and suffering. We both once had honor and now, we’ve lost it. So how different are we really?

***************************************************************

So this was another thing from school. I wrote this last year, so it might not be the best thing, but it's still good. It's just a short story about honor and stereotypes. Hope you enjoy. 

-Caroline XD

Stereotypes 

Those who don’t ask don’t know US. Those are the people that are full of knowledge in every single way, except this, when they’ll become dumb ones, always in a shadow of assumption and rumors. They’re the ones that hear the stereotypes of our society today, but don’t hear US. They might know who they think we are, from what they see and hear, but those are usually lies. And they judge us with their eyes, cold cold eyes from where deep inside, their brains decipher their thoughts about us, our looks, our family, and our friends.

It’s not their fault. Usually. They can’t help but fix thoughts in their heads from what they see, place labels on names to help them remember, “Oh, that’s the kid with the brother who got expelled from high school.” And they compare. To our siblings, to our peers and our friends. How we’re different, how we’re the same. They watch us like hawks watching their prey they’re about to kill. Usually we don’t meet their expectations. Usually we’re not the same as our talented siblings, our crazy friends, or the rest of our society, when they do get to know US. They’re surprised when they shouldn't be, and then they ignore us when they realize we’re just like any other person.

Because my brother is stunning with the musical arts doesn’t mean I am too.  People think that, since we’re in the same family. That doesn’t mean it’s true. There are different arts to triumph over.  Because my friends act a certain way, doesn’t mean I’m 100% like them. People think that, since friends have similar personalities. That doesn’t mean it’s true; there are many people in this world. Because the rest of society, boys and girls my age today, are on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, always busy texting on their phones and being like teenagers are, doesn’t mean I have a phone too, and I’m spending my Sunday night crashed out on the couch watching TV while playing on my phone and doing three other things too; some people are different.

Different from who you ASSUME them to be. Because, if you go all your life not asking them who they REALLY are, you’ll never truly know.  And they’ll also be the ones judging you, putting labels on your name because of your family history, your peers and friends. And we’ll all be the idiots, implicated to those loyal stereotypes, and strangers to impartiality.

-Caroline XD 
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Hey thanks for reading. This was for school, social studies when we were assigned an assignment to write about the steriotypes in our lives. All of this was true for me, and I spent some time on it, so I hope you enjoy