Short Stories of 2021

The Thief

Travis woke up just to be greeted by an angry mother's face. He frowned sleepily, thinking he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Travis!" his mother hollered. "What is this?" She shoved her phone into his face. This must be a dream, Travis thought, and was about to go back to sleep when his mother grabbed him by the ear and sat him up.

"Ow! That hurt!" he yelped, too pained to pronounce the 's'. He recovered from his daze, picking up the phone, and looked at the picture of him and his friends sneaking into the local store at night.

"The cops caught you shoplifting!" his mother scolded. "I never thought you would be a thief! I know you want the Nintendo, but I told you that you have to get good grades before buying it! If you do this again, I'll send you to the cops."

Travis shrunk back a bit, but he thought, Mom would never send me to jail, right? He mentally shrugged as his mother grabbed her phone.

"No breakfast for you today!" she called as she left the room. Travis blinked and fell back onto his bed.

Just to make his punishment worse, his mother grounded him in his BEDROOM for one day. At night, Travis picked up his iPad and pretended to play the newest game, but when his mother finished checking on him, he immediately called his best friend, Connor.

"Hey, CONNOR! Wanna go out again tonight?... Okay, but my mom is getting suspicious, so... oh, we'll play for a while, and I'll sleep, but call me after an hour... deal, at the store, 2 A.M? Bring Carl and Katie... Good... WILL? Oh no. Okay, I guess... Bye!"

Travis clicked into the new game before his mother could come back.

"Remember to sleep earlier, okay?" His mom asked through the door. Travis nodded, even though he knew his mom couldn't see him. He continued to try to win while his mother's heel-clicking and voice faded away.

Travis snuck out the door to see if anyone was there. He locked the door and turned off the light. Then he tucked himself into bed, waiting for Connor's call.

DING! DING! Travis jumped when his iPad rang. He pressed the green button and said, "I'm coming!"

Travis grabbed his black clothes and 'SWISH'! He had them on. He grabbed a black mask and put it on his face. Then he carefully unlocked the door and tip-toed outside, looking out for any people. He slid downstairs as quickly and quietly as he could, opening the front door and closing it at once.

Then he ran. He ran, as fast as lightning, in fear that his mother had caught him and was coming to get him, or that someone was going to see him and say, "Oh, there comes a ROBBER! Oh, call the cops!" if they heard footsteps outside.

A hand reached out and pulled him to it. He was about to scream when Connor clamped his hand over his mouth, his blonde, shaggy hair swaying in the wind. "Do you want us to be caught?"

The next thing everyone knew was that they were in the store, diving under the razors and dodging the security cameras. Will threw Connor a flashlight, and Travis snatched it, lighting up his way.

"Hey, there's a Nintendo!" The boys whisper-shouted together. They ran over and grabbed one for themselves. Katie grabbed two strange-looking things before rushing out with her brother Carl. The rest followed. As Katie ran, she tried to duck a razor, dropping one thing in her hand. Travis slid over to grab it, and they parted ways back home without even saying "goodbye."

The next day, when Travis was at school, his mother went to search his drawer. She found ANOTHER Nintendo and... a tool for braiding hair? His friend must have dropped it.

She sighed, now learning the fact that her son hadn't learned his lesson.

Travis's mother took his Nintendo and the hair braider to the store to give it back, ready to teach her son his lesson. When Travis came home, looking all innocent and nice, his mother slammed the door behind him, making him jump out of his skin.