The Secret of th

e Rainforest

By: Mark Halste

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The Secret of the RainforestBy: Mark Halstead

Today was the day! I finally was going to save a

rainforest. Before I do, let me tell you what has happened to the

forest. It all started on July 7, 2024 when we were moving to our new

house by a huge rainforest.

When we got there, I thought it was very stupid. I thought it was stupid because a lot of weird, scary animals live in the rainforest. When we

finally moved in the rainforest, it didn’t seem so bad. My older brother, Tye, asked if I wanted to

explore the rainforest with him. At first, it seemed horrible, but it wasn’t horrible for me

after I saw my friend Shawn’s reaction to all the weird sounds. Just then Tye’s cell phone rang and he decided not to join us. He went to his

friend’s house instead.

We had walked for about ten minutes when we heard chainsaws and trees falling down. Shawn started freaking out at first, but I told him, “Let’s check out why they are cutting down the trees.”

As we were approaching the area, we saw a weird animal. It was so unusual, so we called it a “Snag”. It had the face of a lizard, it looked like a walking fish with a back of a turtle shell. It was a

mother and had given birth to babies.

Suddenly, we heard the sound of chainsaws again and the Snags ran. We tried to find them, but we couldn’t. So, we went to find out about

that sound again. Fifteen minutes later, we saw a construction team cutting the forest down. The team went on a break, and we told them about the Snags. We found out that the Snags were a rare lizard created by a scientist. The workers

didn’t seem to care one bit and they said, “We don’t believe you and until you have proof that snags live here, we are going to continue to cut

the trees down.”

We went to find the Snags again so we could prove to the construction workers that they existed. My mom said we had to be home by seven, so we said we would look tomorrow.

The next day, we got a lot of different food. We thought we wouldn’t find the Snags, but there

they were, drinking water from the stream. One Snag looked at me, ran over and licked me

like there was no tomorrow.

When I tried to get my camera out, the construction people continued cutting trees down again and scared the Snags away. I started yelling at them because I was about to have proof that the Snags existed. They just

laughed at me because they didn’t believe me. I thought, “They don’t care about animals, they only

want to make money.” I got upset at them and went home. Shawn and I told

my mom and she didn’t believe us either. My older brother Tye heard us and wanted to know what we

were talking about.

The next day, the three of us went out to find the Snags. Within ten minutes we found the Snag at the

stream again. Tye was so shocked to see such an animal. Tye’s reaction was silence and he had a blank look until the Snag came over and licked him on the

face to get his attention. During that moment, I got the camera out and took a

picture of the Snag. “Now we can do something about it,” I said.

As soon as I spoke, we heard the construction crew again. We caught them and showed them the picture.

but did they listen—NO!They continued to cut twice as much trees down!

At this point, we were so angry that we decided to call the police.

When the police arrived, I asked them, “If there is an endangered animal in a forest

or jungle, is it legal to cut the forest down?”

Just like I thought, the police told us that it wasn’t legal. So, I showed the police proof

of the Snag and explained, “There is a construction crew killing all the trees

where the Snags live!”

The police told us that they wanted to see the Snags and make

sure we were not lying. So we took the police to the jungle

and just like the last time, the Snags were near the stream.

The police were just as shocked as we were. Next, all of us heard the construction crew, and the police

caught them. The crew got in trouble. The Snags lived there forever, and we

were happy. We all kept the secret about the Snags to ourselves, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Hi, my name is Mark Halstead. I’m a junior at

Lawrence County Career & Technical Center, and I am

enrolled in the construction trade

program. My home school is Lincoln High School of Ellwood City and that is

where I live. I chose to write about saving the wild and

endangered animals. It came to my mind when I thought of animals that people don’t know much about because there are so few or they are being

killed. Of course, the Snags do not exist, but it

would be interesting if they did.