That Monster Jeff

• Harrison Betterridge, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2015

Once upon a time there was a two-headed monster named Jeff. He dwelled in a scorching hot desert. The desert wind gusts were strong enough to blow a man clean out of the desert; Jeff was strong and didn’t get blown away. One particular day the winds were extra strong, a tornado started, it was headed straight for Jeffs’ house. Thinking fast, Jeff burst out of the door and without a moment to waste he started sprinting into the vast countryside. The tornado seemed to have a mind of its own because it changed direction from Jeffs’ house to Jeff himself. It was an exceptionally windy day which added to the speed of the tornado. The tornado started to suck up scorpions from under the ground and launched them at Jeff who was so focused on running away he didn’t notice the commotion behind him. After 5-6 hours of nonstop sprinting across the vacant desert, holding on to dear life as a tornado fired out constant scorpions at Jeff, he was tired and ready to collapse on his sofa. The tornado slowly stopped. It was then just wild wind and Jeff started to slowly wander home. His house was made of brick which handled the winds extremely well. The old house was cold, the window sills were rusty with mildew growing all over them. The windowsills were all rusty with mould growing all over. The windows themselves weren’t in the best shape, they were cracked and so foggy you could barely see out of them. Jeff didn’t think he needed a big fancy house with carpet, tiles, or a TV; he didn’t need any of that. Isolated in an absolutely, stupidly, ridiculously hot desert. One positive about it was that nobody what so ever under any circumstance ever visited let alone even think of entering a super hot desert where a big scary two-headed monster lives. Jeff found it had its ups and downs. On the upside nobody can laugh at what a pathetic monster he was. He really wasn’t actually that scary. On the downside he got really lonely not having anyone to talk to or even have around as his buddy. When Jeff was a little monster he got bullied at monster school because he was such a wimp of a monster. One of his big problems was that he stood up for just about anyone except for himself. He could get just about anything he wanted except the one thing he really wanted .....a friend. Jeff had almost everything he desired right at his fingertips except the most important thing of all, a friend. One cold, still day Jeff woke up and tried to look out his disgustingly dirty window and thought to himself, ‘days like this don’t happen very often’. Suddenly in a burst of joy mixed with excitement Jeff leaped up and grabbed a bag and packed. He set off for Old Monster Town where Jeff fitted in perfectly.

THE END