Recently, CIS Grade Grade 4 classes participated in a creative writing contest. We’re happy to share that of the many contest entries, Wanaly Chann from Ms. Dumontier’s class won first place with her story “The Spirits”. Enjoy!

The Spirits

Archie wakes up and gets ready for school thinking it would be a normal day. As Archie
gets his cereal and milk he hears something on the tv:”Breaking news:there have been reported
cases of spirits in people’s houses.15 children have been missing ever since they saw the
spirits.Some people say that the spirits come from another dimension.” Scientists are still
researching about the spirits and where they came from.” Archie sees his parents watching the
tv. Archie didn’t really understand what the tv was talking about but he knew what a spirit
was.The news scared him a bit. While Archie was walking to the car to go to school he thought
about the spirits.”What if the spirits are friendly?” He thinks. He kept thinking about the spirits on
the way to school.He didn’t even realize he arrived at school when he arrived. About an hour
later Archie’s teacher mentioned the spirits. Archie thought about the spirits again. Archie could
remember every word the news reporter said even though he didn’t have the best memory.
”Archie?Archie?? Archie!?”Are you listening to me?”the teacher says.
”Yes Ms!!” Archie replies.
The teacher continues talking about the spirits and what to do if you see one. Archie
hears the teacher say “Don’t interact with a spirit that glows any color except for white”. Archies’
classmates raised their hand. “Yes?” The teacher says.
The student asks “What happens if you interact with the spirit that isn’t white?”
“No one knows but if you do something bad would happen”. The teacher replies.
When school was over. Archie went home. In the car his dad looked stressed. He asked
his dad
“Dad? What happens if we see a white spirit?”. Archie’s dad says “don’t talk with them
even if they won’t hurt you”. When Archie was at home he managed to forget about the news
and act normally. About 3 hours later Archie ate dinner. He had his favorite, chicken and fries.
Archie remembered the news again but this time it gave him the chills.He was now scared of the
spirits. Archie was scared but he got the courage to sleep on his own tonight.That night turned
out to be a regular night. Archie was relieved that he didn’t see any spirits yet. Archie was eating
his breakfast while his parents turned on the tv.
“Breaking news: 7 more children have gone missing last night. Police are investigating
and looking for all the children that have gone missing.”
Archie kept staring at the tv.When Archie finished his breakfast he went to school. One
of Archie’s classmates wasn’t at school. The classmate that was absent was the same person
who asked what happened if we talked to a spirit that isn’t white. He asked his teacher if she
knew where he was. His teacher replies “he had gone missing last night.” Archie was shocked.
As Archie and all of his classmates walked in the hallway Archie heard a faint sound, it sounded
like whispers. Archie didn’t think much of it because he thought that maybe a group of girls were
gossiping about something as usual. Archie goes to one of his friends and asks him if he
wanted to sit together at lunch. “Yeah sure!” his friend replies.Archie zoned out for a while but
continued walking. Archie didn’t realize that he arrived at the classroom. In the classroom they
all put away their backpacks and lunch boxes and sat down at their desks then listened to the
teacher. There was an empty seat where Archie’s missing classmate sat. At lunch he heard
whispering again. Archie thought that the girls were gossiping again. Archie walked to his lunch
table where his friends sat. Archie thought about the 7 missing children. Maybe his classmate
was one of the seven children that was missing. Archie zoned out for a minute while staring at a
window.

“Hey Archie can you pass me the salt?” His friend asks.
“Huh?! Uh yeah sure!” Archie says as he takes the salt and passes it to his friend.Archie
started eating. When lunch was over his class and he walked in the hallway. He heard the
whispers again but this time it was longer and louder. “What’s with all that girl gossip about,” he
thought. He walked into the classroom and sat at his desk. It was math class. Archie finished
the worksheet and put it in a basket. He was one of the first students to finish. Archie thought
about the spirits again and was curious about them. Math period was over. When school ended
he went home.
When he arrived home the first thing he did was go to the living room and do his
homework since the homework he got wasn’t that hard. Archie’s dad was outside having a
meeting and his mom was cleaning the house. In about 5 minutes Archie finished his homework
and went to his room to change out of his uniform and shower. When he was done he went
back to the living room and watched some tv. When he turns on the TV he sees the news again
but this time it wasn’t about the spirits. He watched some tv for a while then stopped. He
thought about the white spirits. Thinking about the spirits scared him so he did some reading to
distract himself from thinking about the spirits again. When Archie ate dinner the room was
unusually quiet. Archie was fine about it though because he didn’t have anything interesting to
say. When he was done he went up to his room to get ready to go to bed. Archie told his family
goodnight when he finished getting ready and went to bed. He kept the night light on. It was
hard for Archie to fall asleep but after a while he did.
A few hours later glowing white circles went into Archie’s room. Archie woke up. Archie
covered his mouth with his hands trying not to scream then covered his whole body with his
blanket when he saw the glowing circles . Archie looked at the glowing circles for a second, it
was spirits. He got scared but stayed silent. Even though Archie was scared he wanted to try to
talk to them. Archie closed his eyes. He knew that the spirits were white so he decided to say
something. “Hi?…” Archie says. There were 2 spirits. “Hi” both spirits said. One of the spirits
sounded like a female, the other sounded like a male.”We won’t hurt you, there’s nothing to be
afraid of” said one of the spirits because they knew Archie was scared. Archie opened his eyes
and sat up. He stared at both spirits. The female spirit asked the male spirit, “should we?”. The
male nodded. “We used to be like you.. human.” The female spirit says. Archie stayed silent but
tried to figure out what the spirit was talking about. After the spirit said that the room was silent
for a while. “We both interacted with a black spirit. The next thing we knew we fainted.. we didn’t
know that the dark spirits were dangerous ”Archie was shocked but still stayed silent. Archie
was still trying to figure out what the spirits were talking about but it started to make a bit more
sense. “We woke up in an empty room and we were spirits. Our families and the police are
looking for us and the other children” It all made sense to Archie now. “The missing kids must
have turned to spirits after they talked to dark spirits!” Archie thought. Archie wanted to tell his
parents in the morning but he thought that his parents wouldn’t believe him but it was worth a
try.“You should go back to sleep Archie you have school tomorrow” the male spirit says. Archie
listens and goes back to sleep since he didn’t want to be late for school. Archie fell asleep a few
minutes later. A tiny voice asked “ is he the one?”