John Is Missing

“John Is Missing” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Ivana Bomi Edun, RA International School, Bonny Island, Nigeria.

John Is Missing

John was at the fair with his mum, his elder sister Beth and his dog, Rover. Beth and his mum went off to get some candy floss while John and Rover went to explore the fair and find cool rides for them to go on once Beth and his mum returned.

John and Rover went to sit on a bench that was beside the long line leading to the ferrous wheel. From their bench they could get a glance of the big wheel turning round and round. After that, they went to watch the people coming out of the ride of a million screams with pale faces and wobbly legs because of the horror in those walls. John said to himself that was the ride he wanted to go on first.

They went to have a look around the fair to find the activity they would like to do once Beth and his mum had gotten the candy floss until John felt like it was time to head back. As John and Rover were strolling back to the place where they started from, Rover stopped and started to bark at some strange noises coming from behind a photo booth; it was like the sound of a man giggling.

John wanted to check where the sounds were coming from and who was making them. Rover had a bad feeling about it and so tired to hold him back but he went anyway. Everything was all right until “AAAAAAGH!” it was John screaming. Rover rushed to see why, but it was too late and he could not find John anywhere and he wished that he had never left him to go all by himself.

Meanwhile Beth and mum had finished getting the candy floss but they could not find John or Rover anywhere. Mum regretted leaving a six-year-old and a dog to roam about on their own so she went to get security while Beth went to search for them, asking everyone that she saw if they had seen any of them.

Eventually Beth found Rover and took him to mum, they were so glad that he was all right but they still had not found John. So Rover led them to the last place that he saw John and security man came with them. When they came to a particular place, the ground opened and they all fell in and this time Rover fell in as well.

Once they landed, they found themselves in a secret underground layer where they found an ugly man. As the man saw the security he owned up and confessed he said that he used to work for the fair but they chased him away. Ever since, he had been secretly stealing some of the fair’s earnings. An old man caught him but he killed him and now he kidnapped John because he also found out about what he had done.

And so, the security immediately arrested the man and brought John safely to his family. John’s mum promised never to let anyone of them out of her sight again and she made sure that the man was punished for what he did. At the end of the day they did not go on any horror rides again; mum said that she had had enough horror for one day and everyone agreed.