Village Myths

• Kai-lin Chen, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2013

A few centuries ago in America, David had been a detective and was known for his bravery. He had only killed others because he was concerned about the people who were being attacked by them and wanted to keep them safe.

One day in July, David heard a sudden DONK SHATTER, the sound of breaking glass as something crashed into it. Rushing outside to see what was causing the commotion he saw a steadily growing group of people standing by a pile of glass. Next to them was a broken window. Suddenly a woman came running out of the house next to the one with the broken window.

"My child!" she sobbed. "Someone kidnapped him!" The lady was getting hysterical now. "Timmy is only 4 years old! Someone also stole ALL my jewellery!"

"Hmm," David thought, "the guy who stole her jewellery probably kidnapped Timmy, and also threw a stone at the glass to create a distraction. So that means he is about 5 minutes away. But that also means he could be already be a few miles away," he thought in dismay. "Wait. He would only be a mile away at the most on foot and he would have a bag of jewellery and a child to carry." There was a big crowd now. "I'll go right after I get some stuff for the journey," he told everyone.

David did exactly what he said and set off a minute after he said he would go after the thief.

Soon he was out of the village and on the main road leading out of the small town. After about half an hour he came to an old, derelict two-storey house on his left. David was very hot and tired and couldn't see the kidnapper on the road in front. As he walked towards the house he saw the long, flat dirt road on his right. He rested in the shade and then went in to see if the man was in there or not.

The thief was hiding and the man had been hoping to confuse David to go past the house but he was mistaken. Out of the corner of David's eye he saw him dash to the staircase. He sprinted after him but didn't catch up in time.

After a minute or so, he was still climbing the staircase. He thought this was the eternal staircase that was often mentioned in the village myths. Soon he saw them and ran faster than ever.

He loaded his gun and then BANG! BANG! BANG! The thief slumped, dead and the bag fell out of his grasp. David slashed open the bag with his knife and in the bag was a little boy who was sadly dead as well. He felt a wave of remorse as he stared sadly at at the boy. He then started walking down the stairs without looking back.

David was still walking down the next day.