Help!

I am brand new to the Apple world, and I'm already lost. I'm hoping there's someone out there who can help me.

Appleworks just won't open anymore. It stopped working one day. I've restarted my computer a million times, thinking just maybe it would work. No dice. When I click on Appleworks or a specific file, it flashes as thought it's going to open, but nothing happens. The info says it's open, but it's nowhere to be found. I've tried opening the documents by double-clicking, dragging into Appleworks, etc.

Any ideas? I've got a deadline to meet!