Under The Skin, The Real Him

• Mia Torcasio, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2021

The angry revenge-seeking giant clenched his fist around one of his many toxic potions. He was getting ready to launch it at his enemy. The man he’s despised since they were kids. He pulled back his heavy arm, getting ready to catapult this fragile glass jar at his enemy’s bedroom window. Why is he doing this, you ask? It’s because of his job. What job, you ask? A very bad job. A job too violent to speak of. Why is he still working at this job, you ask? Because he can’t quit. He’s afraid it will put him in too much danger. He hesitated before throwing the jar. He thought to himself, ‘I can’t do this. That’s not who I am.’
He turned around and walked towards the lab...
“So? Did you throw it?” The boss’s voice boomed.
“Uhhhhh... Well...” Matty, the worker replied.
“I’m waiting.”
“Yes. I... uhh... definitely threw it.”
“Since you’re sure that you threw it, let’s do a SCAN to be sure.”
Matty, the worker, was extremely hesitant. His hands started fidgeting. As the boss approached Matty, the scanner started beeping. This scanner was used to detect magic potions, not normal ones.
Beep... Beep... Beep... It started beeping rapidly. Suddenly red-hot, fiery things burst out around them. The flames vigorously shot out like fireworks on New Year’s Eve. The scanner lay there on the floor, broken into tiny pieces.
Matty darted out through the tunnels, desperate to escape in time. He was nearly at the elevator when he realised, where was his boss?
‘Do I go back, or do I not?’ Matty decided to go back and save his boss.
When Matty had reached his boss, he grabbed him by the arm.
“Come on!”
The boss jumped up quickly and his little legs ran as fast as they could go.
As they made their way out, the rocks above trembled and they stopped in their tracks. The ground above shook and the surface crashed down right in front of them with a loud ‘THUD!’
“Oh no!!!!” The boss cried.
The gears in Matty’s head started to turn. He had an idea.
Matty could see a little glimpse of light in between the rocks. He launched his boss up to the gap and he climbed through the hole. It was a tight squeeze but he made it through eventually. Once he was through the hole, the boss hurried to his house and grabbed a hammer, ran back to the lab and started smashing. SMASH! SMASH! Meanwhile, Matty was on the other side of the wall, trying to kick it down.
“It’s too strong!” Matty yelled.
“I’d say there’s about a couple a’ centimetres left for me to knock down, don’t worry.” The boss yelled back.
KNOCK! SMACK!
They were both out, and so relieved!
“A reminder, kid, just because we escaped together, doesn’t mean that you can speak to me rudely, I am still your boss!”
So, to conclude this story, nothing had changed between them.
The End!