Zip The Zork

• Liam Downey, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2007

One dark gloomy night in a distant universe, in a distant planet, in a distant town, there sat a young Zork named Zip. H e had been sitting under a beautifully coloured wignut tree. He had been sitting there for what seemed to him like years, just thinking. The sun that had lit up the town had now disappeared over a far away hill, leaving behind a gloomy black sky.
Over the last couple of weeks, things just hadn’t been going quite right. It had all started that horrible afternoon. Zip was walking home after school. Zip wasn’t exactly what you would call a smart Zork. His two sisters Twinkle and Lil were both role model students. They were extremely good at everything. Zip on the other hand just couldn’t quite understand what to do, no matter how hard he tried. As he walked, he imagined he was the smartest Zork in the whole town. This made him feel a lot better.
As he arrived home, he noticed that the space ship wasn’t parked on the runway. As he walked up to his house, he remembered that his mother had told him that she was taking Twinkle and Lil to buy some new clothes. In the kitchen he found a note from his mother. It said, “Hi son, this afternoon I want you to get something to eat and then turn the oven to 500 degrees. Once you have done that, I want you go to and do homework.” He threw down the note, not realizing that there was still some writing on the back of the note.
Zip was sitting at his desk doing his homework like his mother had requested when he heard the faint ding dong of the door bell. Opening the door, he saw his best friend Jack standing there, looking really excited. Zip was glad to see Jack as he was sick of doing his boring homework. Zip then asked what Jack was going at his house. “You have to come to my house right now,” replied Jack hurriedly. Zip was a bit confused but agreed to go along.
Arriving on his hover board at Jack’s house, he immediately understood why he was so excited. There, sitting on the front lawn, was a box. Although boxes are pretty exciting, it was the contents of the box that had made Zip stare in wonderment and awe. Inside the box was an Ungala bush. This bush could produce whatever food you wanted. After standing there admiring the bush for a while longer, he decided that it would probably be a good idea for him to return to his house.
As Zip approached his street, he heard sirens and saw flashing lights. As he got closer, he noticed that all the noise and lights were coming from his house. He gulped as he rode up his runway. He could now see his house or what was left of it. He could smell the smoke and see little flickers of fire. He then remembered the oven and started sobbing heavily as he ran over to his mother and sisters. That night, they stayed at his grandparents. Zip had a lot of trouble getting to sleep.
When he awoke, he felt sick. He walked out to the lounge room and sat on the sofa next to his mother. There was a deafening silence for a minute. Zip’s mother then spoke very shakily. She said “I thought I wrote on the note to say at home and turn the oven down after 30 minutes. LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!!” She then stormed off angrily.
Things had been getting a bit better since that afternoon but Zip was still feeling really bad. They were still staying at his grandparent’s house. His mother was still sad but at least his mother was talking to him now.
As he stared up at the stars, he wondered what the rest of his life would hold.