Oh NO!

• Nina Van Zijl, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2009

I stumbled up the bus stairs.
“Another exhausting day,” I mumbled to the bus driver, but he took no notice. As the bus wheezed down the street, I remembered all the terrible things that had happened that day.
“Hmm, before school, the bully flushed my homework down the toilet. Bell rang, teacher yelled at me because I’m covered with toilet water. After morning tea, teacher screamed at me because I was talking so she made do extra homework and spelling. I wondered why she made me do all this work because I do try my best,” thinking about doing my best, made me suddenly realise that this afternoon my mother was going to buy me that cute, black kitten, that I saw yesterday at the pet shop, all because of my improved report card.
“Well there’s a spot of luck,” I muttered. All this thinking made me sleepy. I stared out of the window. We were miles away from home. I decided to have a ‘little’ nap because I was as weary as a bear during hibernation. I closed my eyes and drifted off.

“Hey, wake up!” A loud voice woke me from a deep sleep about my kitten.
“Kid, you have to hop off. This is the last stop.” I realised that it was the bus driver.
I peered through the bus’s cracked window. It was really dark! I felt my body tremble. I was so far away from home! I had some money in my pocket. I asked the bus driver if it was enough, but he just shook his head and showed me the way out.
“I knew I shouldn’t have spent my two dollars at the tuckshop,” I whispered as I stomped down the bus stairs. The bus disappeared into the darkness, heading closer to home. I noticed that I was standing on a patch of over-grown grass. A man’s head appeared out of the window. He started yelling at me so I sprinted off. I was too frightened to argue. I heard scuffling movements around me. I pivoted in every direction, searching for the creatures that made those frightening noises. I felt like a mouse being chased by a cat. This also was nothing like our street. Our street was all nice and neat and our neighbours were friendly. This was the opposite. I spotted a telephone booth. I inserted my left over money and dialled my phone number. I placed the grubby phone to my ear, but the line was dead. Suddenly a car came towards me, its bright head-lights shone in my eyes. People came out of it.
“What if they were kid-nappers or bank-robbers,” she thought, but they were…
“Mum, Dad!” I gasped as I scrambled to hug them.