The Old and Small House

“The Old and Small House” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Mio Magara, Shonan International School, Japan.

The Old and Small House

Chapter 1: Introduction

It was a rainy day. The raindrops were hitting Sara and Kiyoshi’s faces and it hurt. Here is Japan, in Ukyo-ku Kyoto. Sara bought a raincoat for herself and her small brother Kiyoshi.

They were kicked out from the temple in Osaka because they were over 11 years old. They walked all the way to Kyoto to stay in the temple until the typhoon goes away. They found a house. It was small but they heard a peaceful laughing voice.

Kiyoshi said “ Let's go in” but Sara did not agree. She said, “ No! We will still walk…” Kiyoshi walked to the house, as he was being pulled back by Sara. They went up to the door of the house. She knocked on the door. “Knock, knock, who's there?”

Chapter 2: The Small House…

Then it opened. At the entrance, there was an Angel! Sara was scared because there was a ghost too! Kiyoshi went inside with Sara. First, when they came inside and they dried themselves, and then drank tea and ate a light snack. After that, the butler came and they slept because it was lunch time. They slept until dinner time. They ate their dinner that the butler gave them and they took bath. They brushed their teeth and were sleeping well. They were snoring.

When the siblings woke up, the typhoon was still here in Japan, in Ukyo-ku Kyoto. They first ate breakfast and changed clothes. After that, they played a life game and then, ate lunch, took another nap and slept for 45 minute. After the nap, they played Othello. But...Kiyoshi was not good at Othello. Also, The Angel was not good at it too. So, they made teams. The butler as the judge and there were two teams, The Ghost and Kiyoshi in one team and The Angel and Sara in the other.

Chapter 3: The battle…

Butler started to say”3, 2, 1, ready...Start!”

The Angel and Sara said they wanted to win. “Rock, scissors, paper!”

Kiyoshi and The Ghost also yelled, as they wanted to win too. “Rock, scissors, paper!”

Yet, Kiyoshi cried and said…”も～どうして負けるの〜僕はじゃんけんに強いのに〜”(Means that his complain about rock scissors paper.)

Sara said strongly… ”私も強いのよ！きよしは強いと思ってるだけ！貴方は弱いの本当は!”(Means that she is saying that Kiyoshi is not strong at Rock scissor paper.)

Now, these two were fighting. The Ghost had to stop Sara and Kiyoshi. They stopped.

The Angel screamed, “DUDE! It's only a game!” Then they heard a weird sound. “Zzz Zzz Zzz”

Sara said, “What? What is this sound?” The next 5 second, “Zzz Zzz Zzz Zzz Zzz” Sara said,

“EVERYONE? WHAT! HOW COME?”

“HAHAHAHA〜” Suddenly, Sara Said “HELP ME〜 “ “~HAHAHAHAHA〜”

“HELP ME〜MA〜MA〜” The voice in the sky sounded like he was the nicest person ever.

Chapter 4: The voice in the sky…

“Sara, now you go inside the bed.” Sara did as she was told. It was morning.

It is a sunny day and it seems that she can play outside. She went to the living room as soon as she got up. Both the house and everyone was normal. Sara was relieved to change her clothes. She went to wake up Kiyoshi, Then Angel, The Ghost and The Butler. Although she went to wake everyone up no one had not come down yet.

Sara thought it was a bit strange because they had slept from 6:30 PM yesterday. Then Sara had an idea.

"If it is sunny we can return home!" So, Sara decided to write a letter and then she woke up Kiyoshi. She performed the strategy she thought up. She also prepped for going back to the temple in Osaka.

Chapter 5: The performance...

Sara wrote a letter. She wrote:

"Dear my friends Butler, Angel, and Ghost.

This is a goodbye letter. We could sleep well and eat well this time. I will take back the tea bag and light snack. I will keep the wagashi (Japanese snack). Yesterday's sleeping condition and what happened is on Sara's bed. See you.

With similes…

Sara and Kiyoshi

Then she woke up Kiyoshi and helped him pack because she was ready to go.

Chapter 6: The end of the story…

Kiyoshi was ready so they went outside.

When they looked at the road... Kiyoshi and Sara saw their parents. They were very surprised.

Their mom screamed like her voice could not come out. "IT IS NOT ME OR YOUR PAPA WHO KICKED YOU OUT OF THE TEMPLE! IT WAS YOUR TEACHER! THEY WORE OUR COSTUMES!"

At the same time, Kiyoshi and Sara screamed "WHAT!" And then, they rode in their car to go home. Their dad was very surprised when they heard about those 3 days. One thing their dad thought was very funny… Kiyoshi and Sara had walked from Osaka to Kyoto.

Two hours later they arrived to a temple, and changed clothes, 10 minutes after that, everyone in the temple surrounded them.

Kiyoshi's best friend Shota came by and said, “Our teacher Ms. Emi was fired from the temple.” Sara's best friend also came and told us, “Our teacher Mr. Tokimi was also fired from the temple too.” And everyone was happy because the teacher who tricked Kiyoshi and Sara was fired.