Lost
by Suhas Kellampalli

Chapter 1 : The Delightful Dream

There he was, world renowned cricketer Kevin Shivle, batting for England in the finals of the ICC World Cup. It was the last ball and six runs to win. The crowd roared as loud as an outraged lion as the fast bowler, bowled. Kevin felt as though the bowler was running slower than a snail. The bowler reached the crease and let go of the ball, and as it zoomed through the pitch like a cheetah at top speeds, the crowd was hushed to the extent that you could hear a pin drop from anywhere in the stadium. Kevin’s bat was just about to connect with the ball, when, suddenly, what felt like a whole bucket of water splattered onto his face.

“Hey, I never asked for water!” he exclaimed. His dream froze.
“Oh, just get up Kevin,” said a voice. His mother’s voice woke him up.

Chapter 2 : A Substitute for Toothpaste

Kevin opened his eyes to find his sister, Jessica, hopping on him. Kevin loathed upon his sister. Jessica was a short haired, five year old girl, with blue eyes and big, chubby cheeks.

“Get off,” he said harshly, getting his sister off of him. Jessica put on her cutest face, which only meant two things: she really wanted something, or she was hurt and was going to cry.

“Kevin, be nice to her, she looks like she’s hurt,” said Mrs. Shivle kindly.

“She’s fine mom, you should see her when you’re out of the house,” he said coolly, not even paying the slightest attention to her. Kevin stepped into his dirty room. There were clothes and stinky socks lying everywhere, not to mention all his toys and books.

He lazily walked into the bathroom. He examined himself in the mirror. Kevin was a skinny eleven year old boy. He had black eyes like his father, and untidy hair.

Kevin grabbed his brush and put toothpaste on it; at least, that’s what he wanted to do, but instead of toothpaste, he accidentally put shaving cream on it. He started brushing his teeth. His sister burst into the bathroom, and went to the sink next to him. Jessica liked to do what he did, and sometimes, that got him into trouble. This time, Jessica wanted to imitate him brushing his teeth. So, she took the same shaving cream, put it on her brush, and started brushing like he did.
“Hey, why are brushing your teeth with shaving cream?” he asked, looking at her blankly.

“I’m doing the same thing that you are doing, because mom says I need to do what you do and learn good traits from you,” she said cheerfully. Just then, Mrs. Shivle came through the door, and puzzled by the weird spectacle, asked, “What on Earth are you guys doing? Why are you both brushing with shaving cream?” she asked, looking dumbstruck.

“Well mom, you said that I need to do what Kevin does, so I did,” she replied innocently.

“Kevin, what are you doing with your mouth filled with shaving cream?” demanded Mrs. Shivle. By now, the puzzled expression had turned into a frown.

“I was…,” he began but he was interrupted by Mrs. Shivle.

“Yes, you were sleepy, that’s the same excuse you give all the time. Last time you put hair jell in your mouth, and the day before, you put liquid soap. Get your mouth cleaned, and get ready quickly,” she said, turning and leaving the room.

Chapter 3 The Bully

The rest of the preparation for school went well, except for spilling his milk and putting milk powder instead of coffee powder in his dad’s milk, which he did unintentionally. He had to chase the bus, like he did everyday.

He eventually got in with great difficulties. He accidentally went to the back of the bus, where all the bullies were.

“Hi there little Kevin,” said a mean hoarse voice. Kevin realized that this voice belonged to the school’s biggest bully, Bill.

“What do you want?” Kevin questioned, with all the courage he could get when all the members of Bill’s gang were punching their fists into their palms.

“Ooo, little Kevin is going to hurt me, oh I’m so scared,” said Bill with a smirk on his face. “I don’t think you want to be the victim of my new special punch. I need someone to practice it on.” He said, the grin vanishing from his face. He made a punching motion with his fists. Kevin stumbled backward while backpedalling, tripped over someone’s foot and fell with a loud ‘thud’ on the ground.

Kevin’s head was searing with pain. “You stupid bully!” he exclaimed before he could stop himself. He got up and realized he had crossed the limits, so he suddenly broke into a run, as the doors of the bus opened.

Kevin’s friend, Jack, was waiting for him in front of the school.

“Run!” Kevin exclaimed.

“What?” asked Jack looking puzzled. It didn’t take him much time to realize what was going on, and he too, broke into a run.

Bill was a very slow runner. He was extremely fat, and he barely had a neck. Kevin hated his big round face and a big round nose in the middle.

There were several ways to get to his classroom, but Kevin took the shortest way: through the front door of the first grade classroom (he was lucky there was no teacher), out the back door, through a right door, and there is his classroom. His classroom was full of colorful posters. There were desks scattered in pairs.

Kevin and Jack turned around to see Bill and his gang running towards them. Just then, Mr. Linin, Bill’s class teacher, sprang out from the staffroom, rummaging with some pieces of paper, and got a glimpse of Bill running. Mr. Linin was the strictest teacher in the whole school. He had a pointed nose, with hair slightly longer than normal men have, and he barely ever smiled. The last time he smiled was when he first joined the school.

“Bill, who are you chasing this time?” he questioned with a disapproving tone.

“Umm… Umm… no one sir, we are just practicing for the relay race,” he said, trying to sound innocent.

“Well, running in the school corridors is against school rules, whether it’s a running race or whatever,” he said, sounding harsher by every word.

“But sir-,” he started.

“Because of this, you are earning yourself a week of detention,” Mr. Linin said flatly and walked away.

“Yes!” exclaimed Jack, punching the air. Bill gave him a mean look, turned, and walked away.

Chapter 4 The Big Thing Kevin Forgot

“That was a close call,” said Jack as they went inside their class. “Hey, I totally forgot to ask you, are you coming tonight?” asked Jack curiously.

“Coming where tonight?” Kevin questioned.

“Are you coming to Time Square tonight?” Jack asked, looking at the streets of New York.

“Why would I go to Time Square, especially tonight?” inquired Kevin.

“Because it’s New Year’s Eve and tonight is the Ball Drop,” Jack replied.

“Oh yes, I totally forgot,” muttered Kevin. It slipped his mind that today was December 31^st and so he forgot to ask his mother if he could go to Time Square.

“So, that means you’re not coming,” said Jack.

“Hey, who said I’m not coming, I am coming,” Kevin lied.

“Good, because I am too,” Jack said joyfully.

“Children, settle down,” said their homeroom teacher.

Although all Kevin could do the rest of the day was dream about his lie to Jack and about how he would make it to Time Square, Kevin managed throughout the rest of the school day.

The first thing he did when he went home was find his mother. She was in the kitchen, washing some dishes.

“Mom, I want to go to the Ball Drop at Time Square tonight,” he said.

“You can’t. I don’t like being in all that rush, and it’s in the night, which makes it even more dangerous,” she said.

“Oh mom, please, please, please. I’ll do anything. I already told everyone that I’m coming,” he begged.

“Yes mommy, even I want to see the Ball Drop,” said Jessica.

“See mom, even she wants to go,” said Kevin. “Please can we go?” Kevin and his sister asked unanimously.

“Okay then, we’ll go,” sighed Mrs. Shivle.

 

Chapter 5 Lost!

So, that night, they got prepared to go to Time Square.
“Hey Kevin, don’t run like that," Mrs.Shivle shrieked, as they crossed the road.
“It’s okay mom, I’m watching," he replied.
“Jessica, hold my hand," she said.

Soon they reached Time Square. It was extremely crowded. There were lights everywhere, and the ball was glowing like an enormous light bulb.

“Mom come quick, we’re not going to get a good view if we don’t move quickly, and we’ve got to move through every small gap," he said. He ran forward without looking back at them. He came to the front row, squeezing his way out of the crowd.

He turned around and expected to see his mother behind him, but she wasn’t there. “Mom! Mom!" Kevin shouted apprehensively. The other people around him all stared at him.

He found this incident half good, and half horrifying. The half good part was that he had money in his pocket, and that gave him a good idea. He could now buy anything he desired!

The bad part was that it was night, and he was stranded in the middle of a gigantic city, on New Year’s Eve. Well, he wanted to think about the good part, and he left the bad part aside.

So he left the front row view, and went onto the sidewalk. He scanned the place. The first thing he saw was a man dressed in a batman costume. He went and gave him a hand shake, and took a picture with him. Then, he saw portrait painters on the sidewalk. They looked they looked like they were getting a huge profit. One of them was counting his money, apparently looking very happy. There were shops all around him gleaming with extraordinary lights.

Out of all of the stores, Kevin’s gaze fell on one of the shops. ‘Dan’s Toy Shop’ was its name. He walked in to find a whole room full of toys except a desk in one corner of the room, where a man sat.

“What do you want?” the man asked him warmly.

Kevin knew that he had struck a jackpot. “I would like that toy gun, that video game over there and… that pen over there," he asked.

He paid the money and left the store. It was really late, and he was getting sleepy. He really wanted to find his mother, and he was sure that his mother was looking for him too.

 

Chapter 6 : The Find

“Yes! Yes! His name is Kevin Shivle," said Mrs. Shivle, showing a picture of Kevin to the police. She looked really worried.

“Okay ma’am, you can leave it to us now," said the police. Mrs. Shivle gave him an icy look.

“You think I could go home and relax when my son is stuck somewhere in the middle of New York!” Mrs. Shivle exclaimed.

“Well ma’am there’s nothing you can do about…” the police tried reasoning with her.

“Yes! Yes there is something I can do about it! I can search for him too," Mrs.Shivle said, cutting of the police, “but he doesn’t deserve to be lost, he deserves to be at home, opening the new presents we get him. Wait! That’s it! I think I know where he is," bellowed Mrs.Shivle.

“Well then, let’s get a move on it”.

“Do you know any good toy shop?”

“There is one shop completely filled with toys. I think its name is… ‘Dan’s Toy Shop’”.

“Well, I think that’s where we need to go to," said Mrs.Shivle.

Meanwhile, Kevin found a bench near Dan’s Toy Shop. “Oh god, I made a big mistake by running off like that. Can you please make my mom find me?” he prayed, clapping his hands together, and looking into the pitch black sky.

By now, Mrs.Shivle was in the same street as Kevin. She spotted Kevin and shouted, “Oh, Kevin.”

“Wow, that was quick," he muttered looking into the sky.

“Oh Kevin, never run of like that again," she said, tears of joy running down her face. Kevin decided that no matter how tempting it may be to go off without his mother, no matter what the reason was, he wouldn’t run off again.