I Warned You

• Beth Morley, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2017

There was once a man called Jerry.

Jerry had been stranded in the forest for nearly a week and he was absolutely starving. All he had been doing was walking, he’d walk and walk and walk until it was dark, then he’d sleep and walk again the next morning. This got painfully repetitive as you could probably imagine but… on the fifth day of starving and walking something exciting finally happened.

Jerry came across a trap door.

Now, most people would just look at the trap door and think ‘Oh its just a trap door.’ But Jerry is not like most people. He is adventurous. Jerry walked up to the trap door and lifted it up, just expecting it to be a smelly drain or something but as Jerry lifted up the trap door it revealed a long, steep staircase that plunged into an abyss of darkness. Jerry forced his body down the stairs, slowly taking each step with precaution. Before he new it he was at the very bottom and he could see nothing except from a small, dim light in the distance. Jerry’s explorative senses overcame his anxiety and he walked towards the light.

As Jerry got closer and closer the light got even brighter and he could see a mysterious object underneath the light on a dodgy table. He new what it was, he recognised the smell and the appearance of his favourite food.

Nutella on toast!

A wave of excitement came over his body and his mouth started watering. He got so close to the food and his stomach was growling for it. His body relaxed and the floor was creaking underneath him.

A voice startled Jerry.

‘Don’t eat the bread.’

Jerry jumped so high that his head nearly hit the roof and his heart started racing. He was hungry yet terrified of this unknown voice. He went for it again coming to the conclusion that someone was playing a trick on him.

But the voice came again.

‘DON’T EAT THE BREAD’

Jerry was petrified and he went to run back up the stairs but he couldn’t, his body was holding him stationary. He attempted to grab the bread for the third time. He got so close and he ate it so quickly he couldn’t even taste it.

Jerry felt like he had accomplished something that was truly impossible and he walked back up those stairs feeling wonderful.

And then the voice came back. This time saying something different.
This is what it said,
‘I warned you once, I warned you twice, I wiped my bum on every slice.’