Short Story: My Real Treasure!

A SHORT STORY

MY REAL
TREASURE!

Let's experience Ellie's adventure!

By: Tengku Suraya Najihah

Ellie is in Standard 4. She loves adventurous activity.
Adam, her seven years old brother, shares the same
interest. He would follow Ellie wherever she goes and imitate
whatever she does. However, their mother says that Adam is
still too young to join Ellie and her friends. Hence, Ellie would
not be able to play with her friends whenever
Adam insists on following.
 
            Today, Ellie decides to join her friends for a treasure
hunt. They will hunt the treasure in an orchard owned by Ellie’s
grandfather. The orchard is 5 minutes away from their house
by car. Ellie’s friends, Joanne, Ali, and Mithilda are all familiar
with the orchard as they used to follow Ellie and her
grandfather there. Ellie thinks Adam would not want to follow
her this time because he is always annoyed by the ants in the
orchard.
 

However, Adam is hard to expect. He loves doing things
according to his own terms and likes. So, Ellie waits for Adam’s
naptime before going. She really hopes that her plans would
not fail because of Adam. As soon as Adam has taken his nap,
Ellie goes out quietly. Ellie rides her bike to the orchard. Joanne,
Ali, and Mithilda have already waited for her there. They begin
to draw a map of the orchard on a
piece of paper. Joanne then suggests places where the treasure
could be found. Ali helps to put the ‘X’ sign on the places
pointed by Joanne. As soon as their map is complete, they
begin to hunt for the treasure.

 

1

After almost 30 minutes of hunting, they still could not
find the treasure. Ellie suggests that they divide themselves
into two groups and search for the treasure in different paths.
The rest of them agree to Ellie’s suggestion. Mithilda copies the
map in another piece of paper for Ali and Joanne’s guidance.
They then separate ways. As they are engrossed in their
hunting, Ellie hears her grandfather’s voice. She thinks it is an
echo of someone else’s voices. Ellie ignores it and focuses on
her conversation with Mithilda.
 
  Not long after, Ali, Joanne and Ellie’s grandfather walk
towards them. Ellie is surprised that her grandfather is there,
but she is more excited on the idea that maybe Ali and Joanne
have found the treasure. When three of them reaches Ellie,
Ellie’s grandfather asks her about Adam, “Is Adam here with
you?” Ellie shakes her head confidently because she has made
sure Adam is asleep before she left the house. “He’s at home.
He’s sleeping,” says Ellie. “I’m afraid that might not be the case.
Adam is not homed. Your parents have been searching for him
for quite an hour,” says Ellie’s grandfather. Ellie is shocked by
the statement and questions, “Have they search for him in the
house? He might be in the playroom, playing by himself.” Her
grandfather shakes his head. “I’ll give that a try”, says Ellie’s
grandfather before dialling Ellie’s mother.

After the phone call, Ellie’s grandfather confirms that
her parents have search the house thoroughly. Ellie
begins to worry. She is afraid that something bad
might happens to Adam. “Or maybe, Adam really
followed me here. I wonder, would he?” says Ellie.

2

Ellie’s grandfather instructs Joanne, Ali, Mithilda and Ellie to
search the area and inform him if they found something. They
are to be gathered at the same place in half a hour time.
           
            Ellie is really worried now. She thinks about all the good
times she had with Adam and ponder on the thoughts what if
Adam is hurting? Ellie yells Adam’s name a loud as she can.
She hopes to hear Adam answering “Yes Lilie!” as he would
always has. But all she could listen to was the echo of Adam’s
name from Joanne, Ali, Mithilda and grandfather. Ellie suddenly
remembers that the only place Adam would come near to in
the orchard is his favorite apple tree.
 
            Ellie quickly dashes to the apple tree. She is so eager to
find Adam and really hopes Adam is there. Ellie sees a red shoe
behind the tree trunk. ‘It seems like Adam’s,” says Ellie.  When
Ellie comes nearer, she finds Adam asleep under the tree. Ellie
runs towards Adam and hugs him with tears in her eyes. Ellie
yells for his grandfather, Joanne, Ali, and Mithilda. Adam opens
his sleepy eyes and says, “I finally found you Lilie.” Ellie’s
grandfather quickly calls for Ellie’s parents to inform them. “I
would never leave you again,” says Ellie in her tears.

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