Where Has She Gone?

Dedication

To my mom, dad and sister. They helped methrough life and fantasy!! With love A.M.

“Good morning, class,” said Mrs. Bryan, the 5 th grade teacher of room 214. “Good morning,” said the kids. “Today we are going to be learning about mysteries.” “Oh, can we try and find the class pet, Leggy, the spider that I lost?” Shai asked. “You are so irresponsible!” Addy said. “Now, now, kids, let’s stop arguing over if Shai is irresponsible or not.” “Fine,” Addy and Shai sighed. “Now let’s get back to our lesson of the day.”

“Um, Mrs. Bryan, we have gym right now!” said Olivia. “Oh, I am so sorry. I got off track. Please line up at the door.” “Hey, stop pushing,” said Claudia to Sami. “I am not pushing.” “Hey, you guys, stop fighting over who is first in line. You are going to the same place, right?” “Yes, I guess so,” said Claudia. “What about you, Sami?” “Yes,” sighed Sami. “Have a good time at gym, you guys.” “We will.” Forty-five minutes later Mrs. Bryan got her class from gym and worked on mysteries.

“Brinnggg, bringgg,” went the school bell. “Goodbye class and remember, today was a half day so you do not have any homework.” “Ok, bye,” said Abby. “Um, Mrs. Bryan, didn’t you say that we had to write an article about our favorite vacation?” asked Meghan. “No, but you can write one if you want to.” “Ok. When will it be due?” “On Friday.” “Thanks, Mrs. Bryan.” “Yes. Bye.” “Wow, Meghan, you just have two days to get that done,” said her friend, Connor. “I will get it done. Do not worry.” “I will see you tomorrow, Megs.” “Maybe,” she said softly…….

“Megs, come get in the car. We can not miss our flight and we still have to pack and we have to be there two hours early,” said Meghan’s mom. “Mom, calm down. I was packing last night and that is why I stayed up until 12:30.” “Meghan, you know we are getting there late and we have to unpack and get situated, and you are staying up two hours and thirty minutes later than your bedtime.” “Mom, I am not even tired.” “Ok, then, we will see about that tomorrow!” “Where is Dad?” “He is at the house packing his stuff and my carry-on. Oh, and do you have any homework?” “Well, it is not an assignment, but I want to do it so it will be a total surprise about my trip to Disney!” “What do you mean surprise? Didn’t you give your teacher that note? Meghan Elizabeth, I told you to give your teacher that note.” “Sorry, I want it to be a surprise.” “Well, the only surprise is going to be when we get back!”

“Oh no!”

When they got home Meghan started packing her carry-on and started her article.

“Meghan, dear, are you ready to go?”

“Yes, Mom, coming.” Meghan grabbed her stuff and ran down the stairs.

They arrived at the airport. It was 3:00 and the plane took off at 5:15. “Meghan, why don’t you tell your dad about your little scam you pulled off!?” “Fine! Well, it all started out when we were learning about mysteries and…” Meghan was cut off by the flight attendant. “Flight 452 is leaving in 20 minutes. I repeat, Flight 452 is leaving in 20 minutes.” “Well, we better get on board,” said Meghan’s dad. Three hours later Meghan arrived at Disney at 8:45 and was still working on her article. “Meghan, you should be getting to bed.” “Mom, it is only 8:45 and where am I suppose to sleep? We are in the checking in area!” “Well…. you have a point there and your dad just got in so let’s go.”

Two days later and Meghan had ridden the Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain and she had gone on ten water slides! She was working hard on her article and could not wait to show it to the teacher. She wondered what the kids were thinking back at school.

BACK AT SCHOOL……….

“I wonder if Meghan is sick or something,” said Claudia. “Me too.” “Me three.” “You know what would be fun?” said Claire. “Drawing a picture of what we

think happened to her?” “Kids, I would like to introduce you to someone new,” said Mrs. Bryan. “My Grandma?” said Shai. “No, no, not your Grandma, plus she is much younger than your grandma. Doyou want to know who she is?” “Yes!” screamed everybody. “It must be Meghan!”

“Everybody this is Aubrey. She is from California and she will be your new classmate.” “This adds up to everything. She is going to fill in for Meghan,” Sami told Addy and Kieley. “We should really get started on this drawing thing,” suggested Sami. “You guys can do that drawing thing that I know you wanted to do and we will show it later while I get Aubrey situated.”

“O.k. girls, come show what you drew,” said Mrs. Bryan.

“O.k. This is my picture that I drew of Meghan. I thought this might have happened to her,” said Sami.

“I did the same thing, but mine could probably not happen!” said Addy.

A week went by and Meghan was coming home. “Meghan, make sure you have that assignment that is due and your carry-on. Do not worry, your dad has the suitcases!” “Thanks, Mom.” “Honey, are you almost ready? We have to start leaving pretty soon!” said Meghan’s dad. “Yes, come on, Megs,” Mom said. “I’m coming. Hang on! I have to draw something on my article real quick.” “What are you going to draw—Cinderella’s palace?” “No, something more special!” laughed Meghan.

When Meghan got home, it was about 10:46 and it was a Sunday. The next morning came and Meghan was so excited to go to school! “Bye, Mom. See you later!” “Bye, Megs.”

“Good morning, class.” “Good morning!” “Now, I have another special surprise. . . Meghan!!!!” Meghan walked in with the paper in her hand and everyone gasped. “Meghan, it’s you!” Connor said. “Where were you?” asked everyone. “That’s another surprise. Let me read you my paper to solve the mystery.”

Reflection

Through my years of Enrichment I have grown past many writing weaknesses. For example, I always used to never end my stories with a tie that would go back with the beginning. That was always hard for me. My teacher that helped me write this story even said, “You should end this story with a tie.” But I do have a strength, having a good imagination. I love to make some things up. This story was taken from a true story, but some things really did not happen. I did go to Disney but I did give the note to the teacher.

My mentor text is Mrs. Nelson is Missing. I used this book because I lovee how it is like a mystery. I love reading about mysteries and I know kids my age love to be hooked because they do not know what will happen next! I also used Charlie Anderson because I like the layout of the book that Barbara Abercrombie used. I also like that the two little girls were searching high and low for this cat and did anything to find it. It had a circular ending like my book had.

I wrote this story because I did not want to write fantasy or factual. I just wanted something that could happen in real life—that is mysteries! I also wrote this book because of my sister. Her name is Meghan. She inspired the Meghan character in my book because she is as courageous and mysterious as the character! Her birthday is coming up so I feel like this is going to be a good present for her!

I hope I can keep making people happy and keep writing children's stories!