The 100 Year-old Legend

• Valentina Costa, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2017

Today is the first day of school for the year. It’s Friday, gloomy looking and crowded inside the hall. I wait for my name to be called by my new year 8 teacher. After what feels like forever, I hear “Lucy Fragan,” called out and move off to meet other students. I’ve already noticed one student in my class looking very suspicious because of how he has been moving around. It looked like he was trying to hide something. I’ve told myself to forget about it but I still keep thinking it over in my mind.
At the end of the day, I head to my locker where my bag is. There, up the hall, I notice that student again, suspiciously hanging about the Principal’s office. That’s when I suspect something peculiar going on. I wonder why he’s hanging around the Principal’s office.
I get home, smell my mum’s cooking and notice I’m very hungry. Once I’ve eaten my roast chicken, I head straight for my cosy bed. Tomorrow morning I’m going for an interview for a part-time job as an In-school Detective. I’m quite glad about this because if I get this job, I’ll be able to find out what is happening with that suspicious acting student I noticed this morning and can’t get out of my mind.
It’s now Monday morning, I’ve been given the job, and it’s time to investigate. I’m at school early so I can do some research. I have heard this school is 100 years old. The first-ever Principal had a companion dog at the school. It was obedient and loyal to the Principal and the Principal used the dog to control students. Whenever the students did something out of line, she would get the dog to chase them around the school barking. Oh no, the bell has just rang and I need to get to class quickly. Our Principal may not have a fierce dog, but she has a fierce temper!
In class I wait eagerly for break-time. Finally, I hear the sound l have been craving - the bell. I grab my lunch and move off to find out more. On the way to the library I see a dog in the school chasing children around the quad…oh no! Is what I’m seeing real, or am I remembering what I found out this morning?
The dog is heading towards me, I’m not dreaming. Just then, I hear a boy’s voice, peculiarly, it is the same voice as the suspicious boy. Now I see the dog isn’t heading towards me, it’s running towards that boy. Aha…it’s all coming together. I think that the suspicious boy has tried to re-create the legend from 100 years ago with the new Principal.
Back then, the Principal used her dog to punish students and people are still scared of the legend today. Maybe the boy has been acting suspicious because he is working with the Principal to help train this dog. Who am I going to tell?