Shakespeare+AK2


 * Hamlet in Trouble**

"I can't believe it happened." My eyes were so filled with tears the day I found out that my father died. Claudius, my older brother who is 20 years old, was with me while I cried all day. Claudius was that one brother who would always help me when I'm feeling sad or even mad. Claudius cheered me up with happy thoughts and memories about me and my father. He was helping me cheer up by letting me go go-karting with him and Laertes at Celebration Station in Louisiana. I had so much fun going there, it took my mind off of things, but not entirely. His fatherly face always popped into my mind when ever my father crossed my mind. I realized that now I can't live without my brother because he supports me in all I do.

Three days after my father's death, Laertes came over to my house to help me what I was dealing with. He was my best friend that I had. Laertes was helping me with what I should do to take my mind off of my father's death.

"Hey! Ham!"

Yup, that's my nickname, but my real name's Hamlet.

"Yes?" I said.

"We should go to McDonald's for lunch, I'm hungry." I had agreed, mainly because I'm hungry too. I told Claudius about where we were going to eat and he decided to let us go. Once Laertes and I went out to go eat, we saw some gangs in this alley where we were cutting through because it's a quick way to McDonald's. There were two gangs in a fight because both of them needed one more person to be in their gang to be complete, and decided to come towards us. One person from the two gangs said "Do you want to be in our gang?" and we, even though Laertes and I were 12, both said "Yes." Then we went to McDonald's and ate there for a while and then came back to my place.

The next day, Laertes was in his gang because they had come over to his house. Laertes told me that he can't hang out with me because he's in a different gang and our gangs are rivals.

"What that isn't fair, we are best friends! We always stick together no matter what." I've honestly never heard myself scream so loud.

My life is the worst. I thought to myself. My father has died and now I can't hang out with Laertes just because we're in different gangs. I mean does it even matter? Well I guess so because my gang that I'm in doesn't get along real well with Laertes's gang. I have to find a solution to this problem. Maybe I'll ask Laertes about it! He'll definitely help with it too.

Claudius found out that I'm in a gang now. He got really mad at me for joining one and he told me to leave the gang or else I'll get grounded. Claudius really sounds like my dad now and which reminds me I miss him a lot. Its been a week since he's been gone now. Now I really want to find out who killed him because he's been murdered. I have to be one of those detectives that I saw on TV, maybe I'll be Sherlock Holmes and Laertes could be John Watson. We would be the perfect team for this, but the thing is that we can't hang out anymore. I have to find a way to tell him about being detectives.

The next day, I came over to his house to tell him what I've been doing. His mom answered the door. I saw him standing there behind her. I think he was waiting for me to come over, I guess. Laertes went up to me and said "What are you doing here?"

"I have to tell you something! It's important."

"Well, I'll talk to you later."

"Fine, but talk to me soon." I said. I knew something was up. Laertes wasn't being his usual self. I haven't seen his dad lately. He's usually the loud one in his family. Every time that I would come over to his house Laertes dad, Polonius, would be yelling about something, maybe about sports. I called Laertes to see if his father is doing okay. Laertes answered and said "My father died in a car accident." I was so shocked in hearing about his death. "I'm so sorry for your loss." I said.

"I know it's shocking after hearing your father died too." Laertes said in a sobbing voice.

"Now we both have a reason about being in a gang. I also wanted to tell you that we could be detectives to investigate our father's death. It would be like an adventure that we would always do!"

Laertes was ecstatic in hearing about this. "That would be a lot of fun!" He said.

"I'll talk to you more about it later."

A few days after we had talked. Claudius was still mad at me for not leaving the gang and I said "I have a reason to be in a gang and so does Laertes." Claudius then said "Well I am now your legal guardian. You have to listen to what I say from now on." "This isn't fair! You were a lot more fun when you weren't that bossy." I said being irritated. "We'll talk about this later, Hamlet"

I was so irritated after talking to Claudius about the gang. Which reminds me... my gang is coming over. The gang leader had talked to me about Laertes dad's death. He had said that he was in a car accident and killed Polonius. I was so shocked. I needed to tell Laertes about this immediately, but then he said "Don't tell your friend about this. Remember that if you tell him, something bad will happen to you. This is a warning for both you and your friend."

"Aren't gangs supposed to be loyal to each other?"

"You're right, but we are rivals. It's a long story to explain."

"Okay then." I said, feeling like there really isn't a long story.

After they had left, I called Laertes as quickly as I can. I told him about the feud between our gangs. I had also said that my gang leader had killed his father and I felt really mad that Claudius was right about the gangs. Laertes got really angry at me because he thought I knew all along, but I didn't. I told him that I just knew about it yesterday when they came over to my house.

I still need to figure out who had killed my father since now I know that my gang leader had killed Laertes dad. I just wanted to leave that gang already. Claudius is always right. I walked towards Claudius to talk about who had killed our father. He told me not to worry about it because he's finding it out who did it too. When I was talking to him, I didn't feel like he was going to find out who did. I think he thought he didn't feel like our dad wasn't important at all. I have to confront him about it. "Claudius." I said. "Were you the one who had killed our father?" Claudius then said, "Why would you think that? I'm not the one who killed our father." "Well you act like you don't care about finding who did this."

"I have a lot of things on my mind now, Hamlet. I don't have time to do this right this second."

"I just think you did it." I said.

"I might have done it." Claudius said ashamedly.

"How could you?" I said angrily, "He is our father." Claudius said, "Well he's not the greatest father and I also had a reason too." I said, "Yes he is. He's the greatest dad that you could think of. I am so angry with you right now like I don't even want to see you ever again." I walked away angrily and at the same time I was sad. I'd never known that my own brother would ever do this to our family. I thought he would always do good instead he chose to do bad choices. Am I imagining this? I thought to myself. No, I couldn't be imagining it. I need to get my mind off this.

Laertes and I were in our gangs, but we were in different places. I think Laertes is mad at me even though I did nothing. Our gang met up in an ally where all the bad things happened. I guess this is where the fighting happens, but honestly I would want to run away as far as I can to get to my house. I would do that, but they all know where I live. I saw Laertes there standing next to his leader. He looked like he was looking directly at me and he was mad. You can tell if he's mad or not and today he is mad. I've never seen him looked this mad before. Our gang kept on arguing and fighting about stuff that weren't important. It was getting annoying. Why can't they be friends already and enjoy what they have? Well I felt like leaving already before the real fight happens. I knew they were going to fight because having two rivals isn't a good idea.

The fight had started. It was brutal. Someone from my gang pushed me to go fight our "rivals." I wouldn't call them my "rivals" though, more like strangers. I saw Laertes fight, he fought as hard as he can. He had never done that ever in his life. I saw that he started to bleed on his face and I saw that most people started to bleed. After I saw that, I got punched in the face. It hurt really badly. I just wanted to go home already, but people were still fighting. I didn't like this. Why did I even join a gang? This isn't me. I saw people lying on the ground and I know that they are dead. I can't believe this happened. I wish that I never joined a gang. Laertes was still fighting as hard as he can. I have no idea why he was doing it. Maybe it's the thing I told him about who killed his father in the car accident. Well, it's over now. I could clearly see that no one had won.

Today was a very gloomy day because on the ground I saw Laertes. Laertes was on the ground covered in blood. He was my best friend and now I see him lying there without any movements. I couldn't hear him breathing whatsoever. Well I had come home and I had to tell Claudius about it even though I'm still mad at him. Once I walked in the house, he was gone. It looked like a train wreck when I came home. Everything was destroyed. I had no one left who I could talk to that was close to me.