I lay on my bed staring at the wall of my room which was decorated with different posters and pictures and had my name, "DAVID KELVINS '' boldly written on the door.
I lay there thinking of how I would be able to get through the night. I was so hungry that my stomach was making different noises every minute. I had spent the day starving myself because my mum had offended me and I wanted an apology. I knew I'll be expecting a big apology tomorrow as I was the only child and that was expected but the thing now was that I didn't know how to go through the night without dying of hunger.
I decided to sneak into the kitchen without anyone finding out and so, I took silent footsteps up the stairs making sure none of the steps made a creaking noise as I went. I gripped the door handle to the kitchen silently so I wouldn't wake anyone up. I went to the pot and saw the remains of dinner. I quickly took a spoon off the spoon rack and began to eat. I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't hear when the pot cover dropped.
That was the loudest noise I had ever heard in my life and so, fear gripped me and I knew everyone would be awake by now and would catch on that I was stealing from the pot but surprisingly when everyone rushed in, no one was concentrating on me but instead, they were looking behind me. I wondered what might have been behind me only for me to look back and find the lifeless body of our maid, Mary, on the floor.
Everyone looked at me with suspiciousness in their eyes. I had goosebumps and a shiver raced down my spine and a lump formed in my throat as I had nothing to say. I immediately knew that danger lurked in every door. I needed to run and I needed to run fast.
"What have you done?!" My mum screamed and I quickly ran out through the opened back door. I didn't know where to go. It was midnight and the weather was so cold and dark. I ran so hard that I got to the middle of the forest and I could only hear the sounds of the crickets in the bushes.
"What must have happened to Mary?" I asked myself. I stood near a tree and cried so hard. I wished I had never starved myself in the first place or even gone to the kitchen to steal food from the pot. I had never been away from home and it scared me so. I had to hide at the back of a tree to protect myself even though I knew that was not also safe.
I traveled in that forest for two days. Two days of having to eat fruits from trees as I had no source of food. That was until I heard sirens in the distance. They were coming and I knew. I saw the sirens light in the distance flicking on and off, blue and red. They caught up with me and when I saw my mum, she ran down from the car and embraced me crying. I was taken home. I had my shower and was given food to eat.
I had come home for three days now and in those three days, my mum had sat down on the same chair crying. Her face was so red and whenever I asked her what happened to the maid, she would cry more. A week later, I was walking down the stairs only for me to find the maid, Mary, cleaning the compound. I screamed so hard and I was sure the colour drained from my face. How could she be here? I wondered and I immediately ran to my mum in the sitting room.
"Ma- Mary, Mary" I stammered out to my mum and she laughed. She had gotten over the fact that I ran away and is now calm. My mum was laughing and it scared me the most. Mary shouldn't have been here I thought.
"Mum, what happened? Why are you laughing? Mary is outside and you're laughing" but laughed harder and I wondered what was so amusing.
"Nothing happened to Mary." My mum answered after several fits of laughter.
"What'd you mean nothing happened to Mary.? I don't understand. She was lying lifeless on the kitchen floor. How is she now in the compound cleaning".
"David, I said nothing happened to Mary," she answered again.
"Mary only had a headache during the day due to so much stress and she fainted in the kitchen, that was all". My mum continued.
I had never felt so relieved all my life. I was so happy but I still had one lingering question on my mind.
"Why did you cry for days after my return mum?" I questioned her.
"You're my only child and I was so scared that something could have happened to you while you were out there".
It all clicked now and I was so overjoyed. I told my mum about my adventure in the kitchen which caused my presence at such a scene. I promised to never steal from the pot and not to take for granted that I was an only child.
Hi @tozill
It was a cool story and until the end, I didn't know what happened to Mary. The story was engaging :)
I'm glad you find it engaging....thanks for your comment!
you are welcome 😇
Wow! Such a nice story. I thought someone else murdered the maid.
Thanks for your comment!....really appreciate
You are welcome😊
Thank goodness the maid was safe or else all eyes would have been on you. Hunger made you run a race you have never ran before. Hehehe...
It certainly does
You certainly have conflict, and hunger in here @tozill. You did a really good job. The twist with a dead/not dead Mary is great. The emotional conflict of the character (resolving the issue of resentment and being an only child) is good also. This is an excellent example of how a story can have more than one conflict. We have hunger and resentment. We have stealing food from the pot. We have the escape to the forest. And finally, the resolution with Mom when the character comes home.
Thank you for sharing this story with us. We see that you have engaged with @mrenglish. I expect that you will find the time to engage with at least one other author this week. That engagement is much valued by writers. Thank you!
I'll make sure to engage more
wow interesting story with unexpected plot, you did it🙃
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I liked your story, once when I was a kid I also thought about running away from my parents' house, just for a simple scolding for being naughty.
Thanks for the comment!....everyone has that naughty side
Interesting piece, I must say. I was filled with suspense and wanted to know what really happened to Mary their maid. Your transition from a hungry spoilt boy who denied himself food for an apology only to skip home for days over suspicion of the death of their maid seems abrupt but you did justice to it at the end.
Nice one.
Hehe... Thank God Mary was alive and this is a great lesson to children who feel over pampered.
It was truly a lesson.....thanks for your comment!
You are welcome 🤗🤗.
You know, I thought this was gonna be just about eating food in the dark 😂. I got gripped at the "...our maid, Mary lying on the floor" part.That oughta teach David , I guess. Awesome story ❤️✨
Talk about excellently executing the prompt, you added conflict and worked your plot around hunger. This is very creative on your part, wonderfully done
Thank you so much for your comment.... really means a lot
Terrific story, @tozill! Thank goodness Mary was okay! This story is very realistically told through the eyes of a child.
Yea....it was good Mary was okay so David wouldn't get into lots of trouble. Thanks so much for your comment!