The Crocodile

• Aris Ma, Grade 5, Sutherland Public School
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

The creature sat, still as a statue not daring to move. Its scales shimmered in the afternoon light and its teeth, its long jagged teeth painted with the blood of the fallen glistened against the radiant sun. I too was lying face down in the mud not daring to further alert my target. Carefully camouflaged in the long emerald green grass I waited patiently for the crocodile or more specifically ‘the killer of men’; yet still it sat poised in a dreadfully deadly pose waiting for the first shot to be fired. If the crocodile wanted to be killed I’d happily follow his wishes. Slowly taking out the Sceptre of Kamikaze I focused the beam of fluorescent light atop the crocodiles head. Within moments the crocodile fell from his position slowly descending towards the floor. I shook my head in disgust. The most powerful beast in the known universe taken down by a single shot? That couldn’t be true. I stepped towards the motionless body. The glint in its eye told me everything. That it was still alive and that I wouldn’t be.