Benji Strafford, age 12
Chapter 1.
12:23 am. Tom woke up. He looked around as if trying to find what had woken him; both his parents were asleep. His dog was curled up on the end of his bed, snoring. Confused, Tom fell into his bed. 1:39 am. Tom woke again, still not knowing why. He decided to go out into his garden.
Chapter 2.
Tom looked around the garden, observing all the night time sounds: the crickets chirping, the curlews squawking in the distance, the neighbours screaming. Wait, the neighbours screaming? Tom, startled, listened closely. All he could hear was soft talking; whoever was screaming had stopped.
Chapter 3.
Tom was freaked out. He had always been scared of someone breaking in and that kind of thing, and little things like that scared him, especially at 2 am. But he knew the town was safe; he had lived there his entire life. So, he decided to go back inside. He was walking up the stairs when he heard more talking, louder this time. He wanted to go back to bed but he was too curious; he went back to the fence and listened.
Chapter 4.
Tom was standing next to the fence listening, when he heard a noise in his house. He was scared, but knew it was probably his mum. He kept listening but he heard nothing. Tom was frustrated. He was so curious, he decided to stand on his trampoline so he could see what was going on next door. The first thing he realised was that there were two people next door. One was probably his height around 40 years old he guessed. The other was tall, skinny and wore stained pants and a ripped, muddy shirt. He was holding a knife.
Chapter 5.
A scream slipped out of Tom. He prayed the man hadn’t heard him. He ran as fast as he could, up the stairs and into his house. He was so scared. What was going on over there? He ran into his mum’s room to tell her what had happened, but to his horror, she wasn’t there.
Chapter 6.
Tom was terrified. Not just your everyday scared like when you hear rustling in a bush or when you get tapped on the shoulder out of nowhere. This was serious. Tom ran into the bathroom. Surely his mum was in there. But she wasn’t. Fear surged through Tom. He checked the toilet; she wasn’t there. He checked his bedroom; she wasn’t there either. ‘One more room,’ Tom thought. He hoped so much she was in there. But it was empty.
Chapter 7.
Tom started to panic. Where was his mum? He checked his dog was still there. Phew, his dog was asleep on his bed. Tom ran to the kitchen to look for his mum’s phone. There it was on the counter. If she had gone out willingly, she would have taken it with her; she always did. This upset Tom even more. He grabbed his mum’s phone and called his dad.
Chapter 8.
Tom didn’t live with his dad most of the time; he only saw his dad a few times a week. His dad had moved out when Tom was five. Tom loved seeing his dad; he felt like his dad was his friend. His dad lived in an apartment block just up the road on a steep hill. It was always fun going there. As the phone rang, Tom worried even more. What if his dad was gone too? What if his mum’s phone ran out of battery? He didn’t know where the charger was. He quickly checked the battery on his mum’s phone. 16%. That would last for about twenty minutes, but not if he was on call or text, then he would only have around five minutes. Five minutes to talk to someone. If his dad didn’t answer, he would lose hope.
Chapter 9.
A wave of relief washed over Tom as he heard his dad’s voice. ‘Hello?’
‘Hey dad,’ Tom said, with a shaky voice.
‘Why are you calling at this time?’ his dad asked. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘Yeah,’ Tom replied. After explaining everything to his dad, they decided that Tom would stay with him until they worked things out.
Chapter 10.
Tom’s dad arrived after a few minutes and they headed up to the apartment. On the way there, Tom asked, ‘Are you going to tell the police?’
‘Probably,’ his dad replied.
As they drove gently over the gravelly road, Tom felt tired. After a few minutes, he was asleep.
Chapter 11.
Tom woke up at 6:30 and groaned. He was hoping he would get more sleep. Tom realised he was in his bed at his dad’s apartment. His dad must have carried him inside. He got up slowly and poured himself a glass of water, downing it in seconds. It was after he had put down the glass that he realised his dad wasn’t there. ‘Not again,’ he thought. After looking in every room, Tom saw a note taped onto the door. He walked over and picked up the note.
Chapter 12.
Tom quickly scanned the note to make sure it was his dad’s handwriting. It was. This is what the note said:
Hey Tom. Don’t worry about me not being there. I’ve just gone out. I can’t tell you where, but DON’T WORRY. Don’t leave the apartment. What you saw last night was something serious. I’ve never done something like this before, but I’m looking into what happened last night. I know some people who can help me. I’ll be back around 3. Dad. P.S. there’s some breakfast and lunch in the fridge for you.
Chapter 13.
After reading the letter, Tom felt calm. Had Dad just gone out to do some detective work? He had never shown interest in solving crimes before. Tom thought for a while. He had just finished a murder mystery book. And he liked the idea of solving a crime. He knew his dad would never let him do something so dangerous but he knew what he was doing. Tom unlocked the door and left the apartment.
Chapter 14.
Twenty minutes later, Tom was back at his mum’s house. He knew what he was going to do. He had a plan. He walked over to the neighbour’s house. He didn’t go inside. He was way too scared for that. Instead, Tom sneaked into their garden. He looked around for some kind of evidence. There was their overgrown passionfruit tree, their shed, their car, nothing out of the ordinary. Tom decided to look in their shed. He walked over to the shed and realised something. His heart beat fast. He heard footsteps.
Chapter 15.
Fear soaked Tom. He quickly scanned the area. He didn’t see anyone, but he still heard footsteps. Then he saw someone walk into the garden. He did the only thing he could do and ducked into the shed to hide. There was a little crack in the shed door so Tom could see what was going on outside. He saw a man. The man was looking around swiftly. He had obviously heard Tom. Tom shook with terror. The man looked straight at him. It was the man who had been holding the knife last night.
Chapter 16.
Tom looked around the shed, looking for a better place to hide. If the man opened the shed door, he would see Tom. As Tom looked around, he noticed all the unusual things inside the shed. There was a computer; it was coloured red, and was old and battered. It had scrapes and scratches all over it. The weird thing was that it was tiny, about the size of an iPad. it had a mouse connected to it, and for some reason, the mouse had a little sticker on it, saying ‘NTA’.
Tom thought what this might mean. Was it a business? Or maybe a secret gang? Tom stopped thinking when the shed door started to open.
Chapter 17.
Tom panicked. He swiftly jumped to the back of the shed where there was a small door. He opened it, and jumped inside. It was dark; Tom couldn’t see anything. The musty smell of dust and metal was the only thing he could observe about the room. Luckily, the shed door had a lock on it so the man took a minute to open it. This gave Tom enough time to hide. He heard the shed door creak open, and the man quietly stepped in and closed the door.
Chapter 18.
Tom could hear the man breathing. As he walked into the shed, Tom heard a weird noise. It was like a crunch mixed with a scrape. Tom noticed he couldn’t hear the man breathing anymore. He picked up the nerve to open the door slightly. The man was not there, and the shed door was still closed and locked.
Chapter 19.
Confusion overwhelmed Tom. The man couldn’t have left the shed. The shed door was loud when it opened. And all Tom had heard was the odd crunch-scrape sound which definitely wasn’t the shed door opening. Tom carefully opened the door and stepped out.
Light embraced Tom. He thought for a second. Or a minute. If he was a crime solver, what would he be doing? Looking for clues, Tom thought. Tom spun around, knocking something over. He looked down at the object. It was a dusty, old box and had the engraving of a bird on it. Tom picked up the box, and opened it.
Chapter 20.
There was a collection of things in the box: a pin cushion, a few buttons, a few pieces of broken glass (which Tom made sure not to touch). But the one thing that caught Tom’s eye was a necklace. It was tan coloured, dusty, and made out of silver, Tom guessed. The weird thing was, it had the same bird engraving as was on the box. Tom put them side by side. The engravings were exactly the same. Tom pocketed the necklace and put the box back where it had been. He unlocked the shed door and left.
Chapter 21.
Tom was back at his dad’s apartment. It was 1:43 in the afternoon. His dad would be back in just over an hour. Tom looked around the apartment, soaking in all the details. The stand his dad kept next to the freezer, the coffee machine, all the Aboriginal masks and spears on the wall. Tom wondered what he would do for his thirteenth birthday. He would turn thirteen in five days. It felt hard thinking about other things when meanwhile your dad is solving a murder, and your neighbour is a murderer.
Tom realised something. All he had seen was two men, one holding a knife. He hadn’t actually seen a murder. The man could’ve just been cutting shrubs, or cutting veggies early in the morning. Was his dad solving a fake case? But no. This didn’t seem right. Tom had heard screaming. And the man was holding the knife point down. If he had been cutting bushes or vegetables, he would have been holding the knife point forward. And the other man had been cowering in a corner of the garden.
Chapter 22.
It was two thirty. Tom’s dad would be back in half an hour. Tom lay on the couch and petted his dog, Teddy, trying to remember more details of what had happened last night. He had seen two men. One was holding a knife, that was all he could remember. He was annoyed, he wanted to help his dad, make his dad proud of him. But then, Tom realised something. He knew his neighbours. A woman, in her 40s, he guessed. And a French man who was staying there. The two men he had seen last night did not live there.
Chapter 23.
Tom was excited. He had found out something worth thinking about. He checked the time. 2:55. Tom’s dad would be back in 5 minutes. Tom remembered he hadn’t had breakfast or lunch yet. He had forgotten because he had been in the neighbour’s garden. He grabbed the box of whatever breakfast his dad had made him. It was egg on toast. He gobbled it up hungrily. Then poured some water, and downed it quickly. It was finally 3 o’clock. Tom heard a knock on the door, and rushed over to open it. He gave his dad a big hug.
Chapter 24.
‘Hey Tom.’
‘Hi Dad.’
‘I need to tell you something, and show you something.’ Tom said.
He told his dad everything, then he pulled the necklace out of his pocket to show him. His dad’s face darkened as he inspected the necklace.
‘H-how did you get this?’ Tom’s dad asked. ‘You shouldn’t have this.’
Chapter 25.
‘What?’ Tom asked. ‘What is this?’
‘Something that will help us. Very much. But where did you get it?’ his dad asked.
‘From the neighbours’ shed,’ Tom answered.
‘Wow. Well, good job Tom, this is brilliant,’ Tom’s dad said, with wonder in his voice.
‘No problem dad.’
Tom’s dad walked to the door.
‘I need to go somewhere. I’ll be back for dinner.’ And with that, he closed the door and walked out.
Word Oysters 