Fear

• Diya Lijoy, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

She is gone. Adriana was burned alive brutally by those ignorant, life-threatening barbarians and it was all my fault. I lost the code. I gave away the message. I revealed her whereabouts. And now, she's dead. Now I have guilt and dismay building up inside of me like an atomic explosion. I can't stay hidden forever though. I need to find a safe location to live in. But that's quite hard because these days, scavengers and spies aren't welcome in society. In fact, we are often shooed away and told to live a peaceful life. But that's hard to do when you live in the Flayel family. We are dedicated to spying and fighting and are all brothers and sisters. Adriana was my sister, but also my best friend. We were very close and now, she's gone. Mother is going to be very disappointed in me. But I had no choice.
Adriana suffered brain injuries on our latest quest. Unfortunately, all the other spies were out of town for the next mission so it was just Adriana and me. We were meant to retrieve the beloved, dazzling Golden Key and return home. Easy mission. The Golden Key was kept at the library, so it should've only taken 3-4 days for us to return home. But we never realised how unrevealing security was. They tracked every single nook and cranny. We had to carry out the mission at night because of the danger. On the second night, we were suddenly caught. We outran the guard but we ended up hiding. 14 kilometres apart from each other. My falcon, Malcolm, was intercepted after I sent a letter to Adriana, filled with information on our secret code and the whereabouts. When Adriana was caught, she was put on trial and the court decided to burn her at the stake. So now, she's gone.
Anyway, I need to come up with a plan to escape this rotten town before they take my life. I have to warn the others. They're still in this town and now the townspeople know who the Flayel’s are. I put us all in danger because of that stupid letter! How am I going to explain this to mother? Unfortunately, I won't be able to tell mother at all if I don't escape quick. I'll have to move at daylight. The streets are being patrolled at night so there's no chance I'll escape then. And I can't live in a squashed tree trunk forever! Great! They're moving along. This is my time to escape. Here I go... Uh-oh... I've been caught!