Old Melbourne Gaol

• Austin Schaap, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2016

"Put your toes on the line and don't talk!" a man in police uniform yells at us quite loudly. The 5/6s have gone to the Old Melbourne Gaol for an excursion. "You will call me sergeant, do you understand?"
"Yes, sergeant!" my grade replies.
"Put your bag about a foot away from you! Put your arms over the person's shoulders next to you! Raise your right foot back... OK, put it down! Lift your left leg forward... OK, put it down! Arms by your side! Now bend over to a right angle! Now stand up straight and raise your hands to my eye level! You, you, you and you, in the first cell, AND DON'T TALK!" Lachie, Corey, Kaal and I get shoved in and the door slams behind us. After everyone's in a cell, the lights get turned off. Lachie whispers "Let's hide under the seats."
Then Corey says "How about next to the door?"
Then I say "Under the seats and next to the door."
Then Kaal finishes with "Yeah, then when sergeant comes in we'll jump out and lock him in."
"YEAH!" the rest of us yell.
"Shush!" Kaal whispers harshly. Corey and Lachie go under opposite seats and Kaal and I go on either side of the door. When sergeant opens the door, he bangs my nose so I stifle a shout. Corey and Kaal jump out, push sergeant in and leave Lachie and me to get out without letting sergeant out. Lachie and I wrestle sergeant but he's a cop so - wait! Lachie does the discus clothesline and I do an R.K.O. We think he's knocked out so we start walking out but as we do, sergeant barges through, pushes Corey and Kaal in and locks the door.
"Now what do we do?" Kaal bellows in frustration. Corey starts throwing a temper tantrum and not long after, he's jumping on the seats, banging the door, pounding the walls and headbutting the air vent.
"COREY, STOP!" Lachie screams.
"No, keep jumping on the seats, everybody do it!" I exclaim. We jump and jump and jump 'til one of the seats shift. Lachie wrenches the seat off and asks "Now what?"
"Now we break the vent and climb out to freedom."
SMASH! Corey breaks the air vent and sits down.
"Corey, we need that seat: prop it up against the wall please." I command. Kaal jumps up and squeezes through. He comes back 30 seconds later and asks for the air vent cover. He goes back in and smashes the other end. "Hurry up you dawdling elephants!" Kaal's voice echoes through the shaft. Lachie jumps up, then Corey and then me. I jump out and twist my ankle. We run from an open cell in the women's area to a locked door leading to the front. "Lachie, headbutt."
"Good boy," I say as I feed him a treat. We bolt through and escape!