The Cereal Killer

• Janani Prabhu, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

I and my siblings (Matt and Kim) are in the middle of an all-night game battle and pause to take a quick snack break. Mum and Dad went to sleep thinking we had been snoozing from 4 hours ago and it's 11:30pm.
Just then, something drops from the top shelf of our open kitchen pantry. I squeeze my eyes, hoping that Mum and Dad didn’t hear that, and slowly turn around. I look at the beige floor tile where I find this cardboard box lying on the ground. I creep forward, scared something might jump out of the box. As I approach it, I realise that it is one of those cringy cereal boxes with mascots. My siblings also come to have a look at it. All of a sudden, the box joggles and a black foggy-looking figure shoots out of it, ripping the mascot. "Stay away from that beast!” shouts another creature as it shoots out the same way the monster did. I jump back, startled. “What are you waiting for? Pick up the box and run!” It yells, pointing at us. I grab the box and we run for our lives.
We stop to rest in our basement, checking that the monster didn’t follow us and Matt turns to the creature questioningly. “Listen, this may sound weird but that black thing you saw is trying to make the apocalypse happen if it gets its hands on this,” the creature says pointing towards the box that I am holding. “It’s my duty to keep these away from it. It can kill people by snatching their souls out of their body.” I nod vigorously as I take a closer look at the creature and realise that it looks like the mascot on the box.
Then I hear a distant clanging sound from the kitchen. Before I could alert anyone, the creature starts running towards the door leading to the backyard. We try to follow him. However, the monster, who had been chasing us, catches up to me and jumps in front, obstructing my path to freedom. To my surprise, the monster makes an agonised face and whimpers like a puppy. “My babies!” It exclaims in a raspy voice. I take a minute to process everything like why it hadn’t eaten me by now and why it was telling me something about babies. Then, it hit me, the cereal was its babies and it was asking me to give them back. But then I wonder, would that mean the mascot was the one who stole them in the first place and was the real bad guy?
By then, the mascot appears at the doorway and warns “Stop! It’s trying to make you give the box to it!” I still hand it over, not listening to the mascot. “You should have listened to him.” the monster says grinningly with an evil look on its face. “The end has neared, thanks to you…”