Coralville Public Library's Teen Zine
The Barn Story by Lexi
The barn was tall, as tall as the trees, with wood that looked like it used to be red.
The roof was brown and caved in on one side, as if a tree fell on it. Greenish-brown mold
grew on the barn walls and the grass around the barn was brown and dead. The day was dark
and wet. As the sky rumbled, ice-cold raindrops fell to the ground.
Standing in the center of the barn was a girl named Elli. She is tall and skinny, with curly
red hair that billowed wildly in the strong winds that blew through the open doors. She was
wearing old, torn blue jeans and a wrinkled, faded green t-shirt that read NORTHWEST VOLLEYBALL
on the front. Elli’s clothes looked as if she had just jumped into a pool from the downpour outside,
and her gray Converse were caked with mud.
Elli looked around in astonishment, trying to take in every little detail. She studied the tools
that were piled to the ceiling in the corner, the endless number of barrels of hay that were strewn
around the room, and most of all, that little red and black container of gasoline that was lying
on it’s side, right by her foot. She didn’t know what, but there was something about that
container that sent a chill down her spine.