2008 Composition Contest Winners

Here is the list of winners for the composition contest held earlier this month.

Included here are the texts of the first place winners.

Junior High 2
Third - Eva Wang/Hannah Hsu
Second - Wendy Tsai

First - Rachel Hsu

One day before Halloween when I was home alone a parcel was left at the door. The parcel was wrapped in beautiful paper. I was puzzled about this parcel. However, I took it and went back home. A few minutes later someone knocked at the door, “knock, knock, knock…” I opened the door and saw my friend Betty waiting for me. She saw the parcel and was confused about what to do; however, we decided to open the parcel. Just as we were going to open the parcel, the TV turned on by itself. Betty and I screamed. The TV turned off and some one knocked on the door again. Betty and I were frightened and looked through the peep hole. As we could not see anything we opened the door very slowly but there was no one. We quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to my room. Again we heard another knock but on the wall this time. At that moment someone opened the front door… my mother was back.
She saw the parcel and decided to open it. We thought something dreadful would be in the parcel but to our dismay there were only a big ugly doll and a card. The parcel was from a naughty little boy called Bill. He wrote a card and put the parcel on my door step. He also knocked at my door. The card read, “Dear Rachel, do you like the Halloween parcel? Ha, Ha, Ha…”
That boy is so naughty. I really hate him. Something remains a mystery though. Bill said he only knocked on my door. Who then switched on and off the TV?

Junior High 3-D
Third - Jacky Lin
Second - Joanne Chang

First - Jack Huang

One day when I was at home, a parcel was left at the door. At first I thought it was really not a good thing, but I still opened it and I saw there were three puppies in it. They were so cute. I thought they were really hungry, so I fed them some cookies and some water.
The next day, when I went to see the box, I saw there was nothing in the box. I was really sad. I looked everywhere again and again, but still couldn’t find them. I met them just one day. I hope they can come back to me.

Junior High 3-E
Third - Eric Huang
Second - Amy Huang

First - Jenny Chen

One day when I was home alone, a parcel was left at the door. I picked it up and walked into my house. I was really curious about what was inside the parcel, so I opened it. It was a little white pocket!
Although I was confused about this pocket, I put my hand into it and I found something interesting: a pink door that opened in front of me. I walked through slowly and quietly and then I saw lots of robots and machines. It seemed just like being in heaven! All the machines were automatic. I could not believe my eyes. Suddenly a robot came to me and said, “Please follow me. I will take you to another place.”
We walked for a long time and I wanted to ask him where the place was, but he did not answer my question. We just kept walking. Everything I saw in that place was different from the place I lived in, and the people looked happy and always wear a smile on their face. Even though they were robots they still had feelings. Once we arrived at destination, the robot told me to stay there and too have fun. I wandered around that place and to my amazement it was the place I was born! I saw a cute baby sleeping in the arms of a beautiful lady. That baby was me and that woman was my mother!
I felt so moved by that picture of happiness and tears came to my eyes. I walked back to the door and entered my world thinking that that trip was the most wonderful trip I had ever had.

Senior High 1-B
Third - Allan Chang
Second - Jack Tung

First - Betty Yao

On Halloween day, Samuel bet with his friend that he could spend the night in a cemetery. Samuel went alone in a big forest where there was a cemetery. Although it was very dark, he was not afraid. He kept walking very quickly. Suddenly he heard a shout that scared him. He saw a person with black wearing a white dress. That person had long black straight hair but no eyes. Samuel shouted out of fear but was too scared to run away. The ghost grabbed him by the throat. That was very painful. Samuel cried, “Please do not kill me, I do not want to die!” The ghost took his hands off Samuel’s throat and laughed three times, “HA, HA, HA!” The ghost was not a ghost but one of Samuel’s friends. Samuel was very angry at his friends. Suddenly everybody came out the bush and shouted happily, “Happy Halloween Day!” Samuel was so relieved and happy that he forgave his friends and they all have a good time.

Senior High 1-C
Third - Bunny Tung
Second - Rick Lee

First - Tina Ke

Amy had just moved to a new town in England. One day on her way home she saw an old woman in long and grey hair beckoning to her. Amy walked towards to see what the old man wanted. She walked to the forest and noticed that the woman was wearing tattered old clothes. Suddenly a puff of wind blew over the forest and the woman disappeared. Amy though may be her imagination was playing tricks on her, but she was scared and wanted to go home.
The sky was getting dark. She walked faster and faster but couldn’t find her home! She started to tremble and cry. “Light!” shouted Amy in surprise. She saw the light coming from a house and followed the path through the forest where the light came from. Then, she saw a spectacular old house in front of her. The gate was rusty and entwined in vines. She pulled the gate and rushed to the front door. She knocked at the door. “Is anyone home? I am lost and I need help”, she gasped out. The door opened on a woman who was wearing a gorgeous red dress. She invited Amy to come in.
“Welcome!” the woman grinned. “Have we met before?” Amy asked curiously. “Well, I don’t think so.”, answered the woman. Amy had a strange feeling. She couldn’t remember where she had seen the woman in red but she was very sure she had met her. ‘Are you sure?” she asked “Your face is so familiar and I remember that…” “No, I have never seen you before” interrupted the woman.”
“You don’t look well. What happened to you?” asked the woman.
Amy stammered, “I…I… got lost in the forest. I saw a woman beckoning to me and I walked into the forest and arrived here.” The woman eyes grew wider and she said, “You must have seen the witch!” “A witch?!” asked Amy. The woman went on talking, “Yes, a witch! She has lived in the forest for more than 30 years. She is as cruel as a wild animal. She entices people into the forest, kills them and eats them. She killed many people from the town. Amy was so scared that she could not stop trembling with fear. The woman said slowly, “You are lucky to be alive. At least you are safe with me now. I’ve helped a lot of people escaped from the forest. What about staying here tonight and tomorrow I’ll take you to your home.”
Amy decided to stay but she was still confused. Why was there such a beautiful house in the forest which has many withered trees? How could the woman live in the forest alone and not been killed by the witch?
When Amy went to bed she felt someone was watching her from the hallway. She looked around and saw a door at the end of the hallway. “There must be something in this room” thought Amy. She opened the door but saw nothing in the room. Just as she was closing the door she saw another small door on the right wall. She walked towards that door. To her surprised the door was unlocked. She summoned her courage to step in and she saw a long dark stairway. While she was wondering where this could lead to, the door slammed shut and got locked by itself. Amy started to run downstairs to look for another door. “One, two, three…” Amy was counting the stairs while running. Although it was pitch dark Amy could see the stairs and the cobwebs on the ceiling. Suddenly, thousands of spiders swarmed her. She shrieked. Then, she saw the tattered clothe on the floor. The clothes, the house, the woman… she is the witch the horrible cannibal. Amy screamed and wanted to run away but it was too late. The witch grabbed Amy’s arms and snapped her neck. The floor was splattered with blood. The witch drank the blood and…

Senior High 2-C

Third - Serena Lin

Second - Jason Chung

First - Joe Chen

This story happened 50 years ago in America. There were two kids: Joe and Jason, they were good friends. They liked to go outside to play basketball every weekend. One day, on Saturday October the 30th, there was a big storm. After the storm the two friends went outside to play basketball till late at night. At the end of the game they got tired and wanted to go back home. However, there was one problem: they had forgotten out to go back home. It started to ain again and they hurried because they did not want to get wet. While running they saw a very old cottage. They ran towards the cottage to ask for shelter. Arriving at the house, they looked at their watch. It was 23:59. One minute later, an old clock stroke midnight and scared the boys. Suddenly Joe’s eyes turned red. When Jason looked at his friend he got scared. Then, Joe became crazy; he wanted to drink blood. He tried to bite Jason who tried to run outside the house. Unfortunately, the door remained locked. No one heard from the two boys again.

Senior High 2-D
Third - Cinta Huang
Second - Joanna Chiang

First - Christine Chi

You may think you have heard some crazy stories before. Well this one is true. People never believe me when I tell them what happened that night, but…
One day I was in the car and listened to this half-heartedly on the radio. People who were on air said that they could not believe it was a true story, but it was. The story is as follows:
There were two girls who were good friends. They studied at the same college and lived in the same dormitory. One month the exams were due the coming week. One of the girls named Sarah had not started to study yet. So she decided to spend the night at the library to catch up. The other girl named Laura wanted to sleep because she was very tired. So while one of the girls was in the library studying the other one was in the dormitory sleeping.
At midnight, Sarah was thirsty and she also realized that she had forgotten to bring one of her notebooks, and went back to the dormitory. She opened the door carefully because she did not want to wake up Laura. She did not switch on the lights. She took a bottle of water, grabbed her book and walked out the dorm.

In the morning Sarah was exhausted and she went back to the dormitory. To her surprise, she saw some policemen standing in front of the dorm. She had a bad feeling and went upstairs to see what was going on. She was trembling. She saw that Sarah’s body had been cut into pieces; she was dead. Sarah also saw that someone had written something on the wall. The words were written in blood. It said: “You should feel lucky that you did not turn on the light!”

Senior High 3-D
Third - Gary Chang
Second - Albee Chen

First - Eva Au

It was an ordinary day. I was watching TV, playing games, and talking on the cell phone at home, when a parcel was left at the door.
It was a tiny box. I took it back in my house and opened it. I saw a small paper and a necklace inside. The necklace was very pretty and looked like a star. The small paper said, "I got a star for you, and you don't need to know who I am." It surprised me! I really wanted to know who sent me this parcel.
Therefore I called my friends and talked about it, but they knew nothing. I was very confused, because it had no address, and it was not my birthday yet. Then I guessed that maybe it was an unknown fan who gave it to me. I thought it was funny and impossible.
A few minutes later, I got an e-mail. It said, "The star is like your heart. You can't only look on top." After that I looked at the parcel's bottom. I saw a sentence that said, "When you were a child…" I thought of when I was a child.
Two minutes later I got an e-mail again. "I was your indispensable person. I have not left you so far."
At that time, my mom was in the USA. I missed her, and I thought about how she sang a song, "Twinkle, twinkle little star," when I was a child.
After that I called my mom. She already knew that I would call her, and she said, "Surprise!"
Yeah! I was surprised!

Senior High 3-E
Third - Weiling Lee/Kenshin Liu
Second - Angel Lin

First - Betty Lin

It was a dark and stormy night; all of my friends went to the costume party except me. I walked alone in the street and everyone looked at me so queerly because I wasn’t dressed up. So I wanted to leave this city. I kept walking. I was surveyed by the owls in the trees and I heard the piteous howling of the black cats. I was so cold, hungry, and tired. I saw a haunted house surrounded by a forest. I knocked on the door. Someone answered and said, “I don’t have candy, please leave my home.” The voice was very slow, low and determined. I was irresolute, even though I was bothering him. But I didn’t have another idea, so I knocked again, but no one answered. I kept knocking. Then I found the door wasn’t locked, so I went into the house which was magnificent. I went to the bathroom. When I finished, someone helped me clean my bottom. I thought this was cutting-edge technology but it was not because I saw a hand in the toilet. I was scared and jumped up. I wanted to go home but I couldn’t, every door was locked. There was lots of food on the table. It looked so delicious, and I ate it all. Then, I went for a walk around the house. When I went to the kitchen, it was full of an aromatic scent of food. Thousands of mice were working there. I felt so disgusted because all the mice were dirty. They didn’t take a shower. I heard someone yell, “Help me!” But the door was locked. Taking the elevator was the only way to the basement. So I took it. When I was in the elevator which I couldn’t control by myself, the lights were flashing and I heard someone say, “Welcome Betty.” I was very terrified. When the electronic door opened, the scene was different. I was in the hospital. All of the patients were wearing white outfits and they were strangling my neck and screaming, “Give me back my life.” I was almost dead. I was scared. Then I went back to the elevator. It went down quickly and arrived at the basement. I just saw a swarm of eyes. Then I saw a man who had wings like a bat and long fangs. Because I was the only female, he wanted to marry me. I was frightened, so I ran as fast as I could, but I just stayed in the same place. Then I woke up. All of my family was around my bed. I was happy to have been so lucky.

Senior High 3-F
Third - David Lee
Second - Pearl Ku

First - Claire Wu

Once upon a time, there was a rich pirate family. They were special because their wealth was not stolen from others; they earned it themselves. In order to help poor people live on the sea, they became pirates.
One day when the daughter, Alice, got up, she discovered her father, mother, and brother all had died. She was very sad. She found a paper on the table. After reading the note, she just knew the murder was committed by other pirates who usually rob others. So, she wanted revenge for her family.
The next day as she was singing while washing dishes, ants around the wall dropped dead and the dishes in her hands broke. She discovered that her voice while singing could kill everything. After using the special talent to kill her family’s murders, she started using it to destroy everything she didn’t like.
Eventually, when she met an old man who blocked her way, she just started singing again. However, this time it didn’t work. Her talent had disappeared. She was angry and the old man told her, “Your talent is from your parents because they wanted you to be able to protect yourself; however, these days you use it in the wrong way, so it has disappeared. If you want to possess it again, you have to promise me you will only use it to help people.” She apologized about the bad things she did and promised him. She then became a guard who used her special singing talent to solve problems and protect people who live on the sea.

Congratulations to all winners!