Sub-junior 2nd Prize Winning Story - Sakura and Lazar the Mouse

“Sakura and Lazar the Mouse” by Varun Satbhai, Jozefschool Wassenaar, Netherlands, is the Second Prize winning story in the sub-junior category of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2019.

Sakura and Lazar the Mouse

Once upon a time, there was a tiny girl whose name was Sakura. She lived in a remote forest with her grandfather. She had no siblings or friends. Her grandfather always had to go in the deep woods to gather firewood.

Due to this she hardly saw him. She felt embarrassed to make friends at her school because she was the shortest girl in the whole school and she was very shy by nature. But on the other hand, she was a genuinely nice person. She was so tiny that a closet would look like a huge building.

One day she just went for a walk to clear her head. On the way she saw a huge bulldog which scared her so much that she had to run back home crying. But then she got an idea to invent a machine which will make her bigger. She started making it. And after a week it was done. She went in it and she was bigger. Sakura was very happy. She went for a walk and everything seemed smaller.

But then she started shrinking after some time! "Oh no, it is wearing off!" said Sakura. She quickly ran home and by the time she was there she was as tiny as usual. Her machine had been broken in the process of using it. Sakura was very sad but just then she saw a mouse. "Hello!" said the mouse. Sakura got shocked. "Hello. You can talk?" asked Sakura. "Yes," replied the mouse. The mouse saw that Sakura was sad. "What's wrong?" asked the mouse. "I am so tiny and I get scared of big animals and I don't have friends," replied Sakura.

"You have to be brave. I once saved a lion, you see. Sometimes small things can do big wonders," replied the mouse. "Really?!" asked Sakura. And then suddenly in the middle of their conversation came a serpent. Sakura took the mouse and jumped into a nearby chest and closed the heavy cover above them. After a while they came out of the chest and the serpent was gone. "Thank you," said the mouse. "See! You just saved me from becoming a snake's food!" They then got out of the chest. Sakura felt nice hearing the mouse say that. "Just believe in yourself," said the mouse, "then things will be better."

"Just now you made a new friend," said the mouse. "My name is Lazar." Then Lazar went away. Sakura felt amused and happy with the whole episode.