Iwas sitting at the edge of the pool in my house, when suddenly I saw a glass bottle floating to the surface. I was shocked to see bottle in our pool, because it was impossible to be thrown by someone in there from our house.

Thinking that someone had thrown it from outside and it has landed in the pool made me angry. How can someone do such an irresponsible act of throwing trash around, I wondered. Anyway, as it floated near me, I extended my arm and picked it up. I noticed that there was a paper inside it. Out of curiosity, I decide to take it out and read the note.

It said: “Come at the little house in Bluebell Woods at midnight tonight. Your friends’ lives are in our hands. Don’t tell the police and don’t inform anyone else about this note, or else you will lose your friends forever.”

For a minute or two, I stared at the paper in my hand. I resolved to throw away this note, but something made me stop. What if my friends are really in trouble? Despite the warning, I tried to reach out to my parents who were out of town that day. But there were no signals so I couldn’t call them. None of my relatives lived in our city, so I decided to check it out myself secretly. After dinner, I started to get ready.

The autumn air swished down into my lungs. I rode on my bicycle and reached the little house in Bluebell Woods within 15 minutes since it was not very far from where I lived. I crept into the little house as quietly as a mice.

What I saw was not something that I expected. All of my friends were tied with a rope next to the window. I could assure that something was not right about this.

Thus, I decided to send a message to my friends while hiding myself in the bushes. I threw a small paper ball to get their attention, the ball landed near Tina. Thankfully, she saw the paper ball.

I blew a light whistle and she fortunately turned around and saw me. She was astonished and delighted to see me. I gestured to her to distract the kidnappers. Soon my other friends got to know that I was there. The happiness on their faces was unexplainable.

I secretly called the police, in less than 10 minutes of extreme stress, the police arrived very quietly and surrounded the house. Then one of the kidnappers, who was outside as a guard, was held by police while the other policemen looked for ways to get inside without alerting the kidnappers. Then the police barged into the room, with weapons in their hands. As soon as the bad guys saw the police, they panicked and tried to run, but they were soon overpowered. Their leader, whose name was Peter Berry was also arrested.

My friends were free and were very thankful. They called their parents and told them about what had happened to them. I was very happy and was also looking forward to the scolding I was about to get from my parents for going out alone.

After the initial reporting and filing of the case, the police took us to my house, where my friends’ parents arrived. They appreciated me for my bravery, but also cautioned me to always inform and take parents into confidence. My parents had already reached the house. When they were told about the whole incident, they couldn’t believe what had just happened. But as soon as they came to their senses, the episode of scolding started. But at the end, they hugged me as they were happy that I was safe and also proud of what I had done.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 24th, 2023