City Labyrinth

By: Felicia Fang (Age 12)

(A retelling of Hansel and Gretel)

“Ugh! How am I supposed to make an all new original movie in a month. Making a movie is a long and tedious process that can take years to make. First I need to write a script, get together a group of spontaneous actors, film it and then edit it all into the movie that wins at least one Oscar. My supervisor really doesn't know anything about making a movie,” complained Harold to his wife, Georgia.

“Harold, I know you’re stressed out about that new movie you need to make, but I know why you can’t concentrate on making the movie that will make me- I mean us rich and famous,” exclaimed Georgia, “It’s the kids, they are too noisy and always asking you for ridiculous things like that new and expensive art kit Grace wanted for her birthday and that new apple laptop Harry wanted for Christmas. You spend all your money and time on them and not enough on the necessities in everyday life.”

“Well, then what do you suggest we do?” questioned Harold.

“I think that if we get rid of the kids, you’ll be able to focus on your career. I say we go on vacation tomorrow to New York City where we ‘accidentally’ lose them in one of the many crowded streets of the big city,” replied Georgia with a malicious grin on her face.

Unfortunately for her, Harry and Grace were in Harry’s room testing out some new gadget he made that let them hear what people were saying within a 10 m radius, and they were within 10 m of Harold and Georgia. They heard it all so they planned on how to deceive her plan and make it back home without getting lost. But despite their efforts, their parents were still able to lose them and they found themselves in an alley in the middle of nowhere.

Fortunately, Grace had brought some of her spray paints from an old school project. Along the way, she quickly sprayed symbols on the heavily vandalized walls. They were going to be okay after all. But their life wasn't that good. Gangs had come back to their marked territories only to find big pink hearts covering all their menacing graffiti. They weren't happy about that and they decided they were going to get back at whoever made them the laughing stock of the neighborhood. They followed the big pink hearts to where Grace and Harry were just realizing that they were lost.

When dawn broke, Harry and Grace woke up, but only to find themselves in an abandoned warehouse and being towered over by teenagers up to no good. Thankfully, Grace had her spray paint and Harry had a homemade taser. They not only managed to escape, they also found hidden stashes of stolen jewels and other valuables.

Harry and Grace were good and smart kids, so they decided that they would use the GPS tracking device in Harry’s phone to locate the nearest police station. When they got there, they told their story to the police and they handed in the valuables, which apparently were part of a long unsolved case. Together with the police, they were able to track down the members of the gang that stole the valuables and kidnapped Harry and Grace.

The police also were able to track down where Harold was. When the kids were reunited with their father, he finally told them about how he ended up getting married to a woman he didn't even like. He was forced to marry Georgia, and thanks to the incident of Georgia inferring that she wanted the kids gone, Harold was finally able to see that he wasn't okay with being married to Georgia. As a result, as soon as the kids were gone, Harold went and got divorced with Georgia. Then the kids told Harold about what he had missed. That is when he knew he had the best movie idea ever. He was going to film what had just happened to them all.

Later in life, Harry always said to his kids, “That’s the story of how your Aunt Grace and I learned that you can only fully rely on yourself.”