Look Up

• Maxine Onibere, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2021

Once there was a little boy who always stared at the ground. Regardless of what situation he was in he would always keep his gaze on the ground.
One day a girl came up to him and said: "Today is going to be a good day!" Then he asked her how she knew that and the girl replied by saying that she knew she would have a good day because she believed that she would and so she would make it a good day.
The boy did not understand what she was saying and just walked away, still with his head down.
But soon he started to realise that this girl really did seem to have a lot of good days, So one day he went up to her and asked her a question. "Why are you always so happy?" And she said: "My secret is that whenever things go wrong I know that there are many people who are worse off than me and I know that every failure I make is just another chance to improve. So, whenever something bad happens I always try to look on the bright side. Sometimes I just can not be happy but I still try to be optimistic, and so should you. Then the girl walked away leaving the boy to think about what she said.
Many months later the boy was running a race when he tripped, sprained his ankle and ended up coming last. The boy was angry and upset that he had lost and had to go to the infirmary when the girl suddenly appeared. "I hope you get better soon," she said. The boy was looking at her feet when he suddenly remembered her secret. The he looked up for the first time and said: "Thank you. Next time I am going to do way better!" Surprised, the girl smiled at him and said that her name was Amia. He smiled back and said that his name was Iosua.
Then from that day onwards there was a little boy who always looked up.