Danger Of A Stranger

• Nathan White, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2011

It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Everyone knows that saying. Every kid in school knows it. My name is Bryce Wellington. A teen that is famous. I live in a small, rough suburban town.

My story begins when I was 12 years old. I was a bit of an outcast with a huge ambition, to become a singer that was really famous. I talked about it all the time. To pretty much everyone I knew, everyone had had enough of it. I never really saw what becoming a teenage superstar was like, but I didn’t know I was about to become one…

I wrote lots of songs, and eventually joined a band and got a record deal. Then I went solo and released a studio album. My first single was released. When I went on iTunes one day, I absolutely squealed. My single, my first song was at number one. I was famous, I couldn’t believe it. But the rest is a story for another time.

One day, I was swamped by a massive paparazzi in my town just trying to walk to the cinema. It was so big I couldn’t see anything but people. I got lost and ended up in another town. I tried finding my way back and walked into this big, beefy guy.

“Are you lost?” He said in a mysterious tone.

“Yes. I am.” I replied. I expected lots of useless questions, but I didn’t get any. He asked me these little questions that got bigger. I didn’t realise, but he started invading my privacy.

“Which street do you live in?”

I was such an idiot.

“Maple Avenue. I live in the house with the yellow Ferrari.

“Cool. Well, the town is that way…”

“Thank you so much.”

That night, I fell asleep much quicker than usual. Within 30 minutes. It was when I was having a pleasant dream where there was a smash of glass in my dream. It was loud and the dream started to blur. I shot up. That smash was no hallucination. A few seconds later, a massive but familiar figure rose over me with a curved knife. I don’t know how I did it. I kicked his stomach with a swift, hard movement and punched him in the nose. He fell to the ground. I got up and started sprinting.

I ran out the door and onto the street. Within seconds, he was hot on my tail. He threw the knife at me and I dived onto the rough road. The knife missed and went down a drain, but the guy didn’t. He was about to grab his hands around my neck when a huge howl came out of his mouth. He was hurt. I was too dizzy to see more…

I was in hospital the next morning with a minor hip injury. My Mum was leaning over me.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

I learnt my lesson and promised never to speak to a stranger again.