Dangerous Books

• Emmanuel Kasadelis, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2018

I hurried into the bookshop.
I ran to the non-fiction section.
I scanned the titles.
Nothing.
Not one thing on Mount Vesuvius. The essay had to be finished by tomorrow and I was completely stuck! Just then, gleaming in the sunlight was the most amazing book I’d ever seen! Not only because it was golden, the title was The Eruption of Mt Vesuvius. Just what I needed. I hurriedly brought it to the counter. When the guy at the counter saw the book, he went all weird and mysterious on me and I was almost certain that he mumbled, “I should have thrown that book out…”
I quickly rushed home and opened the book… aargh! Mt Vesuvius literally just popped out of the book! I’m doomed… The book was thrown aside. I grabbed the book and desperately looked for something to help with the volcano in my room! I scanned the chapters and saw something that said ‘How to calm Mt Vesuvius’. You shall find a golden key in a cave, the book said.
Suddenly something popped into my mind. I remembered that I had seen a book about keys and that it didn’t look like a loose one, it looked more like a lever... I went back to the bookshop and tried looking in the section that I found the book of keys. I pulled it out. This book must lead me to the ‘golden key’.
Right in front of my eyes the shelf slid aside and revealed a cave. I cautiously stepped into the cave. I took a few more steps until I was on mossy ground. Suddenly fire shot up from the ground, searing my hair. I jump over the simmered moss and ventured off into the cave. Just then I saw it. The golden key. But there was a twist: it was on a rock… on the other side of the wobbliest wooden bridge I had ever seen. The ropes were fraying and some of the wood planks were cracked. There, under the bridge was a huge pit of lava. I took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge. Halfway there, the ropes snapped on one side and I was left to climb up a really dangerous ladder. I got there in the end, but my lower body was burning from the boiling hot lava below. When I took the key off the rock, it shifted aside and air powerfully shot up onto the ceiling of the cave.
Suddenly light flooded into the cave. The ceiling had been blown off and it had made a hole. I rushed to the blowhole and was blown upwards. I suddenly smelt the fresh air of the outside world. I ran back home, dodged Mt Vesuvius (which was pretty hard, mind you) and locked the book back up with the golden key. My quest was finished! Phew, I was safe.
Wait a second, what about my essay?