He was gone!

• Harrison Forward, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2006

He Was Gone!

It was Friday the thirteenth although I’m not superstitious I still believe that something bad might happen today.

Ding dong. It’s my friend Clint at the door because we usually walk to school together. We hate school because we have a grumpy old hack for a teacher.

I grab my bag and shoot out the door because we are now late and the old hack punishes late kids. Clint and I start running. Clint trips and falls because he never does his shoe laces up. He tells me to run on ahead, so I do. I stop and turn around but he’s gone! Because he’s always playing tricks on me I don’t take much notice so I kept running.

Soon I arrive at school and our grumpy teacher Miss Hugbottom gives me detention for being late. I still haven’t caught sight of Clint and I’m starting to get worried because it was now past lunch time.

The bell rings for home time. I gather up my belongings and I start walking home thinking Clint will jump out of the bushes any second, but nothing happens.

I reach my house. It is a bit of a shack but no one seems to mind. I swing the front door open and I go straight up to my bedroom to do my home work, slamming my bed room door behind me.

I change my mind rush down to the telephone to ring Clint’s number.

Clint’s mum, Mrs Munch, answers the phone in her deep voice, she asks “who is that?”

I reply, “it’s me. Clint’s friend Jay.”

“Oh,” she says, “Clint’s not in if you’re looking for him.”

“Okay Mrs Munch,” I say and then hang up.

Now I am getting just a little bit superstitious and worried because nobody has seen Clint since he tripped.

Day after day passes and now it had just ticked over to day 364. Every one has given up hope and now Mr and Mrs Munch have given up hope too.

Soon another day is over and it a whole year since Clint disappeared. I wake up and I’m late for school so I grab my bag and run out the door. I trip, stop and turn. There right before my eyes Clint has reappeared. I run over to him and asked where he has been… then I wake up, thank God I was only dreaming. But now I’m late for school and I can hear Clint ringing the doorbell.