Sandaracher Stone

• Finbar Curran, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2017

I stare into the darkness frustrated as Nimrod - the man who I thought was a loving stepfather - drives off with my stolen baby sister, Sandy. Mum does too.
‘Ugh,’ I moan softly. Something flickers in my mind. ‘Why did he steal her?’ I ask curiously.
Turning to face me, Mum replies, ‘Hmm. I should have warned you earlier, Nimrod loves power and to have money. Which is why he always wanted to take San… g-g-go to bed n-n-now.’
Like a blind man, I stumble into the darkness, up to comfort of my bed. To sleep. But I don’t sleep. No, I gaze at the Sandy’s empty cot melancholy, wondering what Mum was going to say after, “Which is why he always wanted to take San…”
What begins with ‘san’, I wonder. Sank, sandarac, San Paulo. Isn’t that where my dead grandmother lived – no! I’m off track – sand. Sandy! Of course, it all fits together, that traitor of a father, wanted to take Sandy away as an orphan. To thus save money. Or to sell her, making money, I conclude. I drift into a restless sleep.
Click. Click. I flinch, waking abruptly. There’s a noise downstairs. Dropping to the floor, I slink across the splintered floorboards, silently open the door, and look at the kitchen to Mum locking a safe that I never knew existed. It has a purple glow. I decide I won’t ask Mum about this, not till our fiasco is over. I start to feel groggy. I go back to bed.
The sun’s rays pierce my I eyes. ‘School. Great,’ I utter, sarcastically. Reluctantly, I get out of bed and change. Fifteen minutes later, I’m outside the gate ready to walk to school. ‘Wait, wait! James, I need to tell you something: be careful today. OK James?’ she asks me. I nod. Mum drives off to work leaving me alone. Vulnerable, to Nimrod. Picking up all my courage, I trudge dismally to school.
School passes quickly and soon I’m home. When I arrive home, Mum looks like she has seen a ghost. ‘What’s wrong Mum?’ I urge, concerned. ‘Just slightly perturbed,’ Mum answers. She looks scared to death. ‘Seriously?’ She sighs, ‘I have to hand over the Sandaracher stone to Nimrod. Now. Or else.’
My face goes pale, but colour appears when I wonder ‘the Sandaracher stone’ is. Somehow, Mum realises my confusion and replies, ‘The Sandaracher stone is a family heirloom that allows you to control and read someone’s thoughts, thus why Nimrod wants it.’
My brains clicks. That’s what Mum had in that safe.
I flinch. A stern, formidable figure’s facing me. Nimrod. He holds his hands beckoning. Mum, out of nowhere gives him the stone.
He laughs hysterically, ‘The power! The power! NO TOO…!’
BANG! He drops to the ground, dead. I hear a baby scream, it is Sandy trapped in Nimrod’s car. I grab Nimrod’s keys and rescue her. She looks content. We all are now.