Jared's P5 Compo 1

First Draft: 24, 2nd draft 27, 3rd draft 32 (with daddy's help)

Title     :  Losing a phone                                                

Theme/Topic : An Unexpected Event

          Sam stood on the top of the pyramid climbing frame at the center of the playground, surveying the children around him. Pulling out his new iPhone 6, he selected one of the trending hot songs, “Wandering”, and set the volume to its loudest. Music blasted and filled the whole playground.

          It was a cool and breezy weekend and Sam was showing off his new phone that his parents gave him for his birthday. All the children turned towards him with great amazement and their eager eyes were wide as saucers. Sam bragged, “Check out my new phone! Sleek, eh? The sound can be amplified until almost illegal levels! Fast song upload, and it can be set to upload trending songs automatically!”

          Sam climbed down the frame, still bragging about the fast microprocessor and other features the phone had. When he got to the part about the durable screen, he noticed a boy pulling up his hood and walking towards him. He did not pay much attention as he was too engrossed in blowing his trumpet about his new toy. After all, how many children could own a smartphone, let alone this special phone that was just released five days ago?

          When he finally finished listing all the features, he asked the curious children, “So… What do you think?”

          Immediately, the children shouted, one after another, “Hey, can you lend me that phone? Let me try the games!” The children stepped forward, expecting Sam to lend the phone to them. Annoyed, Sam replied, “No! Of course not! This phone is mine!” He continue turning down the children’s requests, but to no avail. The children continued advancing towards him while nudging each other. Soon, Sam found himself nearly surrounded by the children!

          He had no choice but to slowly back off, as the children would not leave him alone. Out of the corner of his eye, Sam noticed the boy in the hood again. What he did not realise was that the boy was getting closer to him faster than the others. Sam was almost reaching the fence at the end of the playground!

          Realising that if he did not react fast, he would be cornered and forced to surrender his phone. At that moment, he chose to flee the playground. Just as he turned towards the playground exit, a streak of blue whizzed past him, grabbing his phone. Stunned, Sam could not react immediately to the unexpected incident. Those children who had witnessed the theft gasped in horror. As Sam came back to his senses, his jaw dropped in shock. His heart palpitated wildly. It was him! The boy in the hood!

          Sam took off after the thief, cursing himself for not being cautious about the boy earlier. “Give me back my phone, you rascal!” shouted Sam as he tried to keep up with the thief, who had nimble legs and darted around the roads. “I’m going to get you and you’re going to regret it!” Sam screamed.

          Unknowingly, the boys soon found themselves running through a construction site. A nearby foreman shouted, “What are you boys doing here? Don’t you know that it’s dangerous?” The thief paid no heed to the warnings. Sam looked at the foreman for a split second, but decided that his phone was more important. When he turned around to continue his pursuit, the boy was no longer in sight. Searching around hastily, Sam espied some movement behind a giant scaffolding. Sam sneaked up to the scaffolding among the clanking machinery, then jumped behind it and announced, “Haha, got you at last!”

          Sam tried to wrench the phone from the boy, who was wrestling his arms away. As he dodged Sam’s hands, his hood fell back! The boy quickly pulled it back on, but Sam had seen his true identity. It was his neighbour, Tom! Feeling angry and disappointed, Sam snatched the phone back with a burst of will and yelled, “How could you, Tom? I thought we were best friends!”

          Instead of apologising, Tom gasped and pointed behind Sam. It was a forklift heading right for them! They were in the blind spot! Tom dashed off immediately. However, poor Sam was too tired to even walk. He only managed to edge away. As the forklift was about to hit him, Sam shut his eyes tight, bracing for the impact. The next thing he heard was what seemed like the crunch of bone and metal. The pain was so intense that he nearly blacked out. He could only hear voices saying, “Oh my goodness! There’s a boy here! Somebody call the ambulance!” Sam grasped his left arm and groaned in pain. Another person hollered, “Don’t move! You might have broke your arm!”  After what seemed like an eternity, Sam felt himself being hauled onto an ambulance and was sent to the hospital.

          When Sam opened his eyes again, he realised that he was in a hospital ward with his parents bent over him. “How are you feeling, dear?” asked his mother.

          “I’m okay,” Sam replied. “Where’s my phone?”

          The nurse explained that the forklift driver had called the ambulance, and he was whisked to the hospital. Sam had broken his arm and his phone was crushed under the forklift. His parents chastised him, scolding him as he took uncalculated risks, risking his life. They would not buy him a new phone again and he had to help them with the household chores for a week. Meekly, Sam apologised as he found out that he could not find any other excuses. He hung his head in shame and accepted his punishment.

          Sam was discharged with his arm in a cast. He learnt from his parents that Tom had escaped unscathed and had come over personally to apologise to his family.

          When he returned to the playground a week later, everybody stared at him awkwardly, but no one approached him. Maybe it was because they did not know what to say. Maybe they were unhappy that Sam did not share his phone. But to Sam, all that was running through his mind as he sat on the swing was what happened on that fateful day. Tom was nowhere to be seen. Sam sighed and decided to let bygones be bygones and forget about what happened.

          After that accident, Sam vowed never to boast again or put his life in danger. He forgave Tom as he had admitted to his mistake. But they were no longer best friends like they used to be. Losing a five-day old phone was already an unexpected event, but what really left an indelible mark on Sam’s memory was the fact that it was caused by his bosom buddy.