Kio

• Melita Nau, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2020

Rain poured and people ran through, making their way back home. Black umbrellas popped up around the graveyard. Everyone stared at the coffin of Gabriel Cyr. The burial was very emotional for everyone, especially Mrs. Cyr. Her son, Kio Cyr, tried his hardest not to weep, but he started to tremble instead.
His friends, Anthony, Jaden, Bryce, Josh, Griffin, Nick, Quinton and Zachariah supported him as they all watched Gabriel’s coffin go deep down and out of sight. Kio couldn’t hold the depression inside him anymore. He then ended up crying floods of tears while holding his mother close.
After the burial, Kio and his friends decided to go and get something to eat and talk for awhile.

“Okay,” Bryce started as they all sat down. “So now that your dad is, um, you know, uh, anyways, you’re now officially the man of the house!”


“What Bryce is trying to say,” Nick said, looking sternly at Bryce. “Is that you’re going to be responsible for looking after your mom.”

“And her bills and taxes.” Anthony muttered.

“True.” Quinton added.

“Can we just, forget it, right now?” Kio asked nicely.
They all looked at Kio and saw him glaring out the window, waiting for something good to happen.
“Anyways,” Josh interrupted. “What are we doing for my birthday? Like are we throwing a celebration at our house or what?”

“Our lips are sealed!” Jaden told him. “But we can tell you that we’re are doing-”

Kio didn’t really listen to the conversation. He was in his own world, as he watched the rain drops land on the windowpane and fall down. Then, he noticed the public library. He thought of how his father taught him how to read inside that library and sighed.

“Hey, yo, Kio, want a biscuit?” Zach asked him and Kio awoke from his silence.

“Yeah, sure.” Kio replied. “Hey, look, I, uh, gotta be somewhere, right now, and, yeah, so,” Kio got out of his seat and squeezed past Quinton, Griffin and Jaden. “I’ll take some of these.” He then grabbed a handful of biscuits and quickly walked out the door into the pouring rain.

A few moments later, Kio finally found a bin to put the soggy, disgusting biscuits in. He then paced his way to the library, brushing the crumbs off his hands on the way.

As he entered the library, he heard the silence and felt the warmth inside. He remembered how his dad used to take him on his bicycle to the library and they both used to read for hours. Everyday when Kio’s dad returned from work, Kio was very ambitious to go. Those times were very fragile and brilliant moments to Kio.

He walked and looked around for a familiar book he had read with his dad. He then found a book called Hollow City. Kio grabbed the dust-covered book. He then remembered how his dad had to describe most of the parts slowly to him so he would understand. He grinned slightly to himself and decided to read it again.