Finding

• Summer Newton, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

Amaya exaggerated a yawn as she woke up. Is it morning? She thought. 8:03am her phone read. A wide smile spread across Amaya’s face. She bolted up out of bed and sprinted out of her room. She slammed open the door to Matron’s office and sat herself down on a chair.

“Ahhh, Amaya! Happy 18th birthday!” Matron exclaimed. “About my papers…”, she quickly mentioned. Matron nodded. “Yes! Yes! Here they are!”, reaching behind her to get a file. “Are you sure you want to do this?” She whispered softly to Amaya. Amaya confidently nodded back. “Thank you, Matron,” Amaya said, giddy with excitement, before rushing out the door.

5 minutes later, Amaya emerged from the gigantic orphanage with a small backpack. She sat herself down on a nearby bench and stared at the folder. Amaya bit her lip as she slowly pulled out a white piece of paper. She scanned the page.

She had a dad!

This alone made her feel over the moon. She peered over at her mother’s profile. UNKNOWN. This news overwhelmed her with joy, curiosity, and sadness. Amaya pushed away the sadness, she has a dad! She scanned the documents for his whereabouts.

C6 Thompson drive, Bordertown.

She hastily snatched her phone out of her pocket to scan the bus times. The next bus to Bordertown would leave in…10 minutes! Amaya threw her small bag over her shoulder and took off running down the road. “Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!” Amaya shouted carelessly as startled pedestrians dodged her as she flew down the footpath. A sign up ahead read BORDERTOWN BUS STOP, pointing to the right. She took a quick turn, narrowly avoiding bowling over a child and its parents.

The bus was in view, but the last people were hopping on! Amaya picked up speed and as the doors were closing, jumped onboard. The people in the bus were doing one of two things, staring at her, or being engrossed in whatever was displayed on their devices.

Five minutes later Amaya was leaping off the bus and starting back up a fast-paced run. She was never good at running but now she was determined! Amaya took a sharp turn to the left and started running up a barren street. Gray houses fenced the corners of the street. Towering streetlights shone down a hazy yellow light onto the concrete footpath. Amaya found herself suddenly flying into the air and landing harshly on the ground on her elbow. She winced as she turned over her arm, blood soaking through her jumper. She inhaled shakily then she got up to keep running. She kept running up the street at a steady pace until she came to a slow stop at a block of apartments. Amaya took a deep breath in then walked up the driveway. She slowly knocked on the wooden door. It creaked open. A tall man slowly came into view. Tears pricked in the girl’s eyes.

“Dad.” She croaked.