Jake Is Lost!

• Sathvik Nanganoori, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2021

WHOOSH! CLANG! Feathers scattered on the footpath and the wind rose making a fearful howling sound. It was a windy day, when Jake Nutgraph went to ‘Jing Jang Volcano’ to write a story on his typewriter for a challenge. Jake went with his friend Jhon Appleseed, Jhon then found a myth and it is said that if one finds a gold and silver treasure chest, they will become immortal. Out of the blue, lightning flashed across the darkened sky, followed by the deafening roar of thunder, Jake and Jhon franticly raced into their cabin.
By an act of God, the next day was so sunny for Jake and Jhon to set off on a journey to find the chest and accomplish their story for the writing competition. The two friends first went into the forest to acquire clues and on the way, they met an old friend of theirs Sherlock Holmes, the great investigator from 1887. Jake asked Sherlock Holmes if he knew where the treasure chest was, and he replied that he was also looking for the chest to become immortal.
After some time, Sherlock Holmes, Jake and Jhon all were ravenous from hunger from the past couple of hours. Fortunately, Jhon could recollect about the food which he has packed in his backpack. They all ate their scrumptious lunch and continued their journey to find the chest. On the way, they found weird footmarks leading to a cave near the volcano. The challenge was going down the wire with all the clues they found.
Jake was impatient and set foot in the cave, immediately he got teleported, and he didn’t know where he was going as he couldn’t see his friends around him. Later, he perceived that he got teleported into a game called ‘Fall Guys’. When he spawned, it said ‘in order to get out you must be victorious’. Subsequently, Jhon and Sherlock Holmes realised that Jake was lost, and their hands were trembling and knees were shaking. Fear wrapped them like icy fingers around their brain and vocal cords. They felt like fish out of water when they couldn’t find Jake in the cave. It was a harrowing experience, but they were determined in solving the disappearance of Jake.
Eventually, Jake’s first game started, the first level was ‘Don’t fall off the jumping hexagons’. When Jake completed that level, he went into the next level and it was called ‘Guess the correct fruit’. Mostly, everyone went on watermelon but four of them including Jake chose grapefruit and after that 16 people got eliminated. Four were still left on the hardest level, all of them were desperate to get the crown. Finally, Jake triumphant, won the crown and treasure chest, became immortal and soon he appeared in front of their missing friends.
Overall, it was a magical experience as Jake made their friends immortal too with his new powers and they also won the writing competition.