Outstanding Stories » Bob And Sam

“Bob And Sam” is one of the outstanding stories (junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Adriel Lim Shern Yang, Tenby International School, Malaysia.

Bob And Sam

There were once a pair of twins named Bob and Sam. They lived in a quiet village near the forest. Although they looked the same, they had very different personalities. Bob was a sporty child and was very rough. He wasn’t that bright in his academics though. The boy spent most of his time outside running around. Sam, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. He wasn’t very good in sports and prefers to stay indoors. Sam enjoyed learning in school and was very bright. He loved reading and doing crazy experiments. So naturally, they had lots of fights. They often shouted at each other and screamed.

One day, they argued about who owned the toys. That made their mother so mad that she screamed at them “GET OUTSIDE AND ONLY COMEBACK AT SUNDOWN!!!” Frightened, they ran outside and onto the street. There, they sat and thought about what they had done. After a few minutes, Bob piped “Let’s go to the Abandoned Playground.” Sam didn’t want to. He was a scaredy-cat . He had heard stories of ghosts and snakes and all sorts of creepy crawlies that lived there. But he didn’t want to be alone so, reluctantly, he followed Bob.

They walked and walked into the forest until they arrived at a clearing, and there was a playground decked in grey. There was mist everywhere and creaking noises came and went. Bob marched towards the slide like it was nothing, but Sam became extremely afraid. Suddenly, he heard a blood curdling scream. Spooked, he ran into the fog and found his brother there laughing! “You are such a scaredy-cat, Sam. No wonder you hardly have any friends!” Then, he ran away.

Sam followed him and found him in front of a wall. “I am going to climb the wall, Sam. If you are brave, you would follow me,” Bob said and started climbing. Sam couldn’t see the top and thought to himself. “This is dangerous!” He shouted at Bob and called him, but he didn’t stop climbing. “Fine, I will just wait here,” Sam muttered to himself. He got up and went into the forest.

Sam had a really good time. He explored and looked at the ants and insects living in the forest. He tried eating the berries in the bushes. “TASTY!” he thought to himself. After spending an hour there, he went back to the wall and to his surprise, he couldn’t find Bob. “Never mind,” he said and sat in front of the wall and dozed off.

When Sam woke up, it was dark and eerie. He called out Bob’s name but only heard his echo. He called again but still heard his echo. Sam sat there for a while and thought to himself. Could Bob be in trouble? For a moment he was worried. But then he thought, Bob is strong and could take care of himself. He waited for another 5 minutes. Then, he could no longer take it. Bob must have been in danger. Sam got up and turned towards the wall. He started to climb it but hopelessly fell. How was he going to climb this wall? Then, an idea lit up in his head. He walked towards a palm tree and started climbing on it. When he reached the top, the tree lowered down and on the other side of the wall. Success! He thought, but it was short-lived for when he turned around, there was a big river.

He stood at the edge of the river for a while. The river was fast flowing and led to a waterfall. How would he cross to the other side? He looked around and saw only stones. Quickly, he picked up a stone and tossed it into the river, it didn’t move. He tossed another stone and another until they formed a line and soon created a wall of stones. But the water could still flow in between, he thought.

He spotted a small palm tree and started plucking its leaves off and placed it in front of the rocks. Now, he had created a dam. The water was now flowing onto the side and Sam quickly ran across. Just as he reached the other side, the stone wall collapsed and rolled down the waterfall. He ran through a path and soon reached a yellow place. Curious, he threw a pebble onto it and it sank. QUICKSAND! How could he get pass this? He climbed a tree and peered below. There is nothing but quicksand. He looked across and saw another tree. He had to jump across. But what if he failed? It was a matter of life and death. Without hesitating, he flung himself across and caught the tree leaves. He held onto the branch and climbed to the trunk where he slid down.

When he touched the ground, he ran down the path until he reached a gateway. He climbed over it because it was locked and saw many statues. He walked around them and watched. Who could have made these statues? He thought to himself. Then, there was one statue among the rest at the far corner. It looked very familiar to him. It was his brother! He ran to it and cried. All these statues were once people and now frozen in stone forever. He cried and hugged the statue. Suddenly, the statue hugged him! He stood back and saw his brother smiling at him. “Let’s go home,” he said, and they walked back.

Surprisingly, the gate was unlocked and there were no obstacles. When they exited the gateway, they found themselves back at their house. They walked in and their mother greeted them kindly as if there had been no argument. They ate dinner and went to bed and lived happily ever after.