Mason

= ﻿ ﻿Mason's Portfolio=

Preposition Poem
toc In the time I've traveled Out of this place and To the land of evil, Through my eyes and In my mind I keep my voice at ease.
 * War for Peace**

Pieces of a Poem Poem
C ﻿o n f u s i o n //    ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ Although the story above is odd and // as weird as it may seem, // through the looking the looking glass// and down the rabbit hole Our world (to them) is a dream. As I sit here waiting __for something new to come__, You just sit there shaking your head wondering where this is from.

Red=Subordinating Conjunction Orange=Preposition Yellow=Coordinating Conjunctions Green=Dependent Clause Blue=Independent Clause

Hint Fiction
I just laid there on my back, watching the birds fly by, breathing in the dead air, as he walked past me and dropped his cigarrete.

Blitscussions Revision
Cell by Stephen King

I chose the book because the world-gone-zombie like setting and also because of the author. The setting is in some big city (it never specifically states it, maybe New York or San Francisco) and around modern times. The main main character is a guy named Clay, an artist from Maine on a business trip. The other two main characters, Tom and Alice, are both just average joes (or josephines) that Clay meets up with while barricading himself inside a building. Their main goal was to stay alive, and keep moving. They meet many other people throughout the trip, and also find out many new things about eachother. As they keep moving they find twinkies, a babie's shoe, and even the so called "russian automatic" "The event that came to be known as The Pulse began at 3:03 p.m., eastern standard time, on the afternoon of October 1. The term was a misnomer, of course, but within ten hours of the event, most of the scientists capable of pointing this out were either dead or insane." I would recommend this book to anyone who like action, zombies, wierd stuff, or adventure.

Tone Analysis
[|"Last in First out"] The simple, but powerful phrase "It's time to act" puts emphasis on the urgency and importance of the situation, which makes her tone very stern and serious. She feels the situation is dire and needs to be taken care of immediately.
 * "We cannot afford to ignore the effect that such a policy has on kids. It's time to act."**

Extended Metaphor
The dark is a monster Hanging its mouth open Waiting for someone to walk in. It lies in sleep Waiting to be disturbed by light Or for someone stupid enough To fall down its bottomless throat.

Blackout Poem
Meop

Sheep and cattle Were among the industries That had kept George and Sue’s mother Out of her yard.

George said the in addition to Shotgun shacks, across the tracks Sere more little houses

A Texas geologists who had come to Colorado Remembers the day in July 1952 When the reading was out of sight

Steen jumped right back up And had been able to survive in the 1880’s But when diesels replaced steam engines A piece of Americana was lost

Digital Vocabulary
Definition:Adj. Stealthily treacherous or deceitful

Rationale: The "stealthily" part almost immediately made me think of a ninja, or a person sneaking around. I also had make it seem like nothing was bad, as it says "stealthily deceitful," meaning it looks harmles on the surface but if you look further into it it's bad.

If you didn't already notice, there is a ninja in the middle-right-bottom window, about to karate chop the guy standing there.



Short Story
 The phone rang. It was the first thing I heard in the morning, followed by the deafening silence of my bedroom. Then another ring. I shifted slightly in my bed. Another ring. I leaned over to look at the clock. 4:45 AM. A few hours before the usual alarm. Another ring. I finally decided to kick off the covers and answer. //Why did I have to answer?//
 * I NEED A TITLE**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I picked up right as the next ring was starting: “Brown, we need you down here before you go anywhere else. Get in your uniform, and be down here by five.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I threw on the uniform without any forethought of it. I was still asleep, and had done it a thousand times before. I walked to the car. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//I need to get a new job// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I plopped into my small car, causing it to sink and rise back up.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//But I never will.// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I arrived at the station. No one but the janitor was there. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You got any idea where I’m supposed to be?” I asked over the sound of footsteps and a sliding wet mop. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> He replied with a silent statement, “Boss said somethin’ was goin’ on near the old Peterson building.” He continued pushing the mop.

By the time I got there, there were four police cars surrounding the scene. It was quite a sight to see, with flashing red lights and the sun hidden behind the small hills in the distance. There were to officers near the old brick building, one writing something in a notepad. One officer was looking at a body on the ground, soaked in blood. There was broken glass scattered all over the place.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Why did I ever take it in the first place?// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">P.2 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I approached the body. The previously white shirt was stained with red, and I was unable to even tell what color the pants originally were. It’s face Was smashed and broken where he had landed in the fall he had obviously taken from many stories above. All the other officers passed it as a suicide. I however, could easily tell it was not. There were odd cuts on it’s neck and head, which could not have been caused by the fall. It’s hands also had many cuts the were scattered every which direction, instead of the one it should have been. I mentioned this to the others. They simply nodded and kept about there work. Upon further examination, there were actually deep puncture wounds and long lateral cuts across it’s back. This completely confirmed it as a murder. It was wearing a shirt that had a front pocket, and on it read:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">RUPTURE FARMS <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 8pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">612 WHARF AVENUE

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Guys, I got an address,” I said as I stood up to go to my car. The events that followed could not have been much worse. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">P.3 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I held the steering wheel tighter than i normally do. The sudden but subtle bumps of the road echoed in the car.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//How did I let myself end up here? Why did I decide to do this?// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The address led me straight to an apartment. I knew that “Rupture Farms” couldn’t be in an apartment complex, but was pushing me inside. It was a few floors up, and, taking the fire escape, I was slightly winded by the time I got there. The window was cracked. I slipped in...

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**//BANG!!//** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

The noise drowned out the sound of the wind, and left a slight ringing in my ears. I looked around to find the source while I instinctively hid behind a low counter. I thanked god I had brought my gun that day, as I had a second thought of not bringing it that morning. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
 * //BANG!!//**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There it was again, followed by the sound of a shotgun pump. “Hey!” I shouted, hoping not to be drowned out by another shot. Another voice replied, “Is that you Jason?” followed by the sound of another shotgun shell and high caliber pistol. “Hey, it’s been a long time, Danny boy! Where you been?” I blind fired around the corner of the counter. “You know,” another shell was fired, bringing part of the counter down with it, “Just a bit more killin’.” “Who are you working for? Or are you payin’ yourself?” I ducked around the corner and fired at the man with the pistol. He fell, clutching his leg. He fired a few more shots while he was on the ground and decided to give up. “You got my man, Jason! Why do ya gotta do stuff like that?” I could here him opening the door and stumbling down the stairs. I quickly stood up from my crouched position, and fled after him. But as I turned the corner, there was a dull thud, and I was surrounding by blackness...

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">P.4 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The lights in front- or was it above?- me slowly rolled by. The faded- was I blinking?- slowly on and off. They eventually came to a stop, and I looked to my side.There was a white curtain, and a tray of supplies in front of it. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> //He’s getting away.// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I immediately stood up off the hospital bed, and headed for the door. I snuck around the corner, keeping my head on a swivel. I came across a few close calls, but I eventually made it to the front desk, and walked casually out the front door. I walked towards my house, my head throbbing with every step. The sidewalk in the distance seemed to be floating away, and the rest of the world seemed to be turning. My house was quite a few blocks away, and the walk seemed to take for hours. I finally walked in, fumbling at the front door’s knob, and stumbled into the small house. I slowly slumped into my bedroom, and fell into blackness...

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//I was stuck doing paperwork in the basement of the worst smelling apartment I had ever lived in. The air was thick with mold and dust. The only sound was the shuffling papers and the occasional skittering of a bug. The phone rang...// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//It was a call that had to do with my current situation. He “invited” me to be part of an experimental police force, which chose what position you would be in based on your your abilities, not your typing speed and ability to do paperwork. Of course, given the situation, I accepted. I had to leave my wife and kids because the job was in a different city, and they decided it would be easier to just visit sometimes rather than move with me. I hesitated,and the split second of me looking back as I walked out the door still lurks in my mind today... But that was the reason I left, and why accepted the promotion.//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I woke up. I couldn't see anything, nothing but black. Every breath brought in a large amount of water. I shut and open my eyes again... nothing. I finally realised what was happening. I stood up off the bed. I was face down in a pool of drool. My head still throbbed.. Every pulse of my heart brought a strange shaking to the outer reaches of my vision. I couldn’t think straight as what to do, and I looked at the clock: 7:52 A.M. I had been asleep for nearly thirteen hours. I rushed out to my car, still in my uniform, when I realised my car wasn’t going to be in the driveway. It was at the apartment where I left it, probably with broken windows and slashed tires by now. I checked around my pockets for my phone. Not there. I checked the pocket I kept my wallet in... In it’s place was a paper that said:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SIX BILLION DOLLERS <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It had a smiley face drawn in the center. It had obviously been drawn by someone of low intellect, most likely one of Danny’s men.

I decided to walk, as I did before. The footsteps echoed in my head, the sound of huge water drops in a cave. The world ahead wavered with a slight turn as I drew closer to the station. I was still dazed by the time I arrived there, and almost didn’t realise that I was there. I walked to my desk without even mentioning to the others that I was there. I picked up my pencil and barely felt my head hit the desk...

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//I was asked, nearly forced, to get government job. They had said that I had a “select set” of skills. I simply shrugged them off at first. But then my friend had join the police force. It was no big deal. But I still had feds bugging me everyday about getting a government job. So I did it. Simple as that. I had no other reason to do it. It was just the combination of encouragement, pressure, and necessity.//

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I woke up, again, in a pool of sweat and drool. “Hey man. Aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital?” It was my boss. He had seen me before I went to the apartment, and had heard about what had happened. “Uh...” I couldn’t think of anything to say. “You should go home. Rest up a little.” “Could you give me a ride? My car was at the-” “We got that taken care of,” he interrupted me, with a stern look on his face. I gathered what little belongings I had, walked out of the office and out the front door. There was a man holding the door for me like a limo driver, only with with a badge and police hat instead of a suit. The drive was getting long. I was starting to get drowsy. And ten minutes after I thought the drive was getting long, we were still driving. “You know where we’re going?” “Yeah, the hospital.” “What?” I was confused. My boss had clearly stated he was taking me to my house... Hadn’t he? I obviously needed medical attention, but I still needed to find out who Danny was working for. It was simple enough. Even with a head injury I could do it... but maybe not. Maybe it was for my own good. Arriving at the hospital, I was simply taken to the bed I had previously been in. No one new was there, and when I lay sideways like I had before, the white curtain was in the same exact position from earlier that day. The pillow, which previously had painfully grip my head, caressed it gently and carefully...

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//The days had grown long. More work in an office, with a few investigations of petty theft and armed robbery mixed in. Nothing new. But I had heard of something, well, somebody, new coming to the office. A few days later he had actually arrived: Danny Goodrich. He was younger than I was, and// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">much <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> //more immature than me. He had the “new guy” aura about him, but he was friendly, even if he did curse a lot. We were scheduled for a partner investigation, which, given the circumstances, was more of a reconnaissance mission. We went in, expecting little more than a petty gang to show up and try to mouth us off. But we walked in, and no one was there, just a few broken windows. After we snooped around for a little, two guys walked in, looking like normal civilians. Danny opened fire without a second thought. I screamed at him, telling him to stop, but they were dead before I said a word. I was outraged, and he was unshaken by my scolding. He walked over and opened one of the body’s jackets. It had Thompson sub-machine gun hidden within it. I was still outraged, even a few days after it happened. I had later reported him for it.. He was discharged. He held a grudge against me ever since. That’s why I went into the apartment. I knew in my gut it was going to be him. And now here I am.// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I woke up. This time, though, there was dried spit caked on the sides of my cheeks instead of me being face down in a pool of it. The doctor walked in, “We got you checked up, and on some meds,” he gave me a bottle of pills. “Two in the morning, two at night, every day. We’ll call you if we need to get you in for any surgery. Oh, and by the way, an guy called asking for you. He said he was an officer, and he needed you at the Peterson building right away.” My thoughts raced. I couldn’t just let Danny get away, but not showing up for something like this is what got people fired. Personal revenge was what I had honestly wanted to do, but then I was young and obedient. In fear of being fired, I went to the scene. I arrived there, by foot, my headache nearly gone but still lurking. The scene was abandoned. The body was still there seemingly untouched... and so were two police cars, empty and abandoned. I looked around for whoever might have called me. Nothing. I crouched near the body, looking for anything different. Nothing. It was completely untouched. But that is what was weird. By this time the police should have had it bagged up and away from the scene. And yet, here it was, along with two police cars that seemingly have been here for days. I turned aroun-

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**//BANG!//** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

The sound rang in my ears, along with the sound of my increasing heart rate. I dropped to my knees. My heart rate picked up. My hand, which had been clutching my stomach, was soaked with blood. My heart rate picked up. I fell back, my legs popping out from underneath me. The thud of my head hitting the concrete hung there as if suspended by wire. My heart rate picked up. I had realised, as I was losing consciousness, how suddenly death can come. There is no drama, no slow motion camera shots, no final words. It just came. My heart rate slowed. I heard a voice. It said:

“It’s been fun. Hope you sleep well.”

Black.