Animal Instincts

• Cooper Fletcher, Grade 3, Queens Beach State School
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! The fire alarm was ringing. I was stuck in the building and was terrified! Before I go on let me take you back to the beginning of how it started. It was an average day at school. I was out at play with my friends when suddenly an arm grabbed me from behind. I barely got a glimpse of where I was as everything was a blur. The only thing I recall seeing was a group of animals and then everything went black. When I woke I found myself asleep on the edge of a cliff. I tried to run home but as I started running I realised I was moving faster than all the cars. "A human couldn't do that right?" Suddenly someone jumped in front of me and he said, "give me all your money NOW!" I tried to get past him but suddenly I felt an urge to jump over him. So I did. I jumped 60 feet in the air! I landed back on my feet and ran off. I had evaded the robber. What was happening to me! I finally made it home and was still wondering how I had jumped and ran so fast. I went to bed to sleep on it.
I woke up the next morning and got ready for school. I went to school and everything was back to normal, or so it seemed. Lunch time came around and my friends and I started playing tiggy. One of my friends was in and they started to chase me. I started to run and then realised everything was a blur. I looked around and realised I was running around the whole playground as fast as a cheetah. We then started to play hide and seek. I was looking for a place to hide when I realised I was just standing still yet my friend could not see me. It was like I was invisible, just like a chameleon. I finally became visible and my friend found me exactly where I had started off at. I decided to take a walk around the playground when another arm grabbed me and pulled me into the bushes.
“What is going on", I demanded. "Is this a joke?" The man who had grabbed me said, "You were our test subject. We wanted to see if people could survive and adapt if given animal abilities. That is why you have been acting so strangely." Things were finally making sense. The bell went so I had to go back to class. It was then that I smelt fire and my teacher said "EVERYONE GET OUT OF THE BUILDING!" The teacher thought that everyone was out so she locked the door. So here I am inside a flaming building. There was smoke and flames everywhere so I used my eagle eyesight to spot a window. Before I leapt for safety I saw a young child sitting behind a chair in the corner of the room. I ran to him, picked him up and jumped through the window. We had made it out alive and completely unharmed. That afternoon I realised my animal abilities had started to wear off. Well most of them did. I did manage to keep one of them though - my cheetah speed.