One day, I found a magnifying glass lens in the school laboratory room. It was old and dusty, but with a few wipes of tissue, what I found behind the cupboard where the rows of tubes were, instantly gleamed like new.
I took the magnifying glass out secretly and hid it under a pile of leaves. I'll pick it up when school hours are over.
"Hey, Frederick, what's that thing you're hiding?" suddenly I saw Katty approaching.
Honestly, I was among the kids who were annoyed with the girl. Katty is a nuisance girl and the one she's been targeting a lot lately is me.
As she drew closer, I began to imagine what happened last Friday when that girl put gum under my seat. Now she was actually in front of me and as usual, that smug look was intimidating.
"What is it, Frederick? Looks like you're hiding something," Katy glared at me.
"Nothing," I said.
"Take that thing out," the girl sounded insistent.
"Stop bugging me, Katty," I said, and still not trying to move away from the pile of trash where I had hidden the magnifying glass.
"—move over a little," she pulls me aside like he's moving a pile of trash, then quickly dismantles a pile of leaves.
"Hey, looks like we just found a thief here," threatened Katty, holding up the magnifying glass she had just found.
"Ho-ho-ho," she laughs and I hate the way she laughs.
However, my head thought quickly and didn't filter anything that passed through it.
"Hey, what are you—" Katty was surprised when I suddenly snatched the magnifying glass from her hand.
"Hey, give it back, I'll tell you to the principal, you thief!"
"I won't—" I replied.
I suddenly pointed the magnifying glass at her, like I was holding a tennis racket when my brain wasn't telling me to do that at all. Katty was surprised at first before all that happened.
A light shone through the magnifying glass in my hand and then shone on Katty's tiny body. The light caused a strange reaction, which immediately made his body look even smaller.
And, "poof!!!" Katty also disappeared without a trace.
I was surprised, however, it turned out that I wasn't the only one who was surprised. A math teacher named Margareth at that time also saw what was going on.
"Oh My God!!!"
"What did you do to that girl, Frederick???"
However, before Mrs. Margareth's came over, again the magnifying glass shot a yellow-white light. Then, the same thing that happened to Katty also happened to Mrs. Margareth.
Unfortunately for me, because this time, almost all the students who witnessed the incident started scattering into the school grounds after hearing the screams of teacher Margareth earlier. Like it or not, I have to do the same to all the students who have seen what I did.
Just a few minutes later, nearly half the population of the district where my school is located was vanished by a magnifying glass. I couldn't do anything, everything happened by itself and I was forced to follow the will of the demon's magnifying glass that was controlling me.
I started to cry, and immediately rushed back to the house rowing one of the bicycles that had been dumped in the street. Meanwhile, the streets seemed quiet until the area near my house.
You know that once you get there, everything seems normal. Chaos broke out on the television, which was showing how a boy was shooting a beacon at people.
At the same timd, my mother is now standing at the door. She started to squeal like when he scolded me when I did something wrong, and honestly, I was not happy with the way my mother scolded me.
Unbeknownst to me, the irritation had stirred the evil magnifying glass I was still holding. I did the same to my father and my younger brother.
A moment later, I was sitting on the sofa, pensive and full of confusion. I am sad that my mother, father, and younger brother also disappeared.
I'm afraid to live alone in this world. Oh God, what should I do.
Meanwhile, outside there was the sound of a helicopter roaring, accompanied by the voice of the police chief from the megaphone calling for me to get out of the house immediately.
The police chief's voice gradually became familiar to me, and felt more and more familiar. The voice began to approach my ears, and began to sound similar to Mrs. Margareth's voice, until a small slap against the walls of my cheeks.
"Are you all right, Frederick?" Mrs. Margareth's face with her butterfly glasses is now right above my forehead while behind her the other students look curious.
"Mrs. Margareth???" I sound like a daze.
"Thank God," said Mrs. Margareth.
"Katty found you lying in the corner of the lab."
""Yeah*, Frederickenstein, thanks because I just saved you from the monster zombie," Katty suddenly appeared with a face full of pimples and curly hair.
I don't know what happened, but honestly I'm glad to be reunited with my friends, even Katty included. The girl looks cute too over time.
"You remember what just happened, Frederick?" asked Mrs. Margareth.
"I don't remember," I replied.
"However-"
"What?" Mrs. Margareth insisted.
"Yeah, what is it, Frederickenstein?"
"I had a dream just now that I was holding a magnifying glass that could shrink things until they all disappeared—"
After saying that, everyone seemed to be speechless, but I could tell that they were holding the laughter that was being held in their pressed lips. They were looking at me with a strange look.
"Oh yes, Frederickenstein, we understand how a magnifying glass works as a magnifying glass, right kids?" now Mrs. Margareth's felt like she was provoking the atmosphere.
"I think you're still under the influence of the spider monster, Frederickenstein," this is the worst, Katty's words just made the students burst out laughing.
I immediately freaked out. In my heart I wanted to shoot that demonic magnifying glass at them until they all disappeared, however, I immediately remembered that I had to make sure my mother, father, and younger brother were still there.
However, when I was about to go home, I realized that I was currently in a special orphanage for children who were victims of war. Didn't my mother, father, and younger brother no longer exist in this world since my country was attacked and everything changed in an instant?
Lost and found then lost again. You cleverly take us on a journey of a "troubled" boy's wildest dreams and imaginations, to the point where we can't tell exactly what was true and what was in his mind, just like Frederick couldn't.
Thank you for sharing this story with us. We appreciate that you support other writers by engaging with them.
Thank you. I wrote it with no direction. Hopefully the story is still worth reading. There were many things I wanted to bring up in the story, but a small idea rushed me to finish it
Impressive! I was hooked throughout the story. The resolution was a bit surprising to me though.
Are we safe to assume that his issues come from some sort of PTSD then?
I have to say though, kudos for writing about "bullying" without writing about it, and for practically doing a "mass murder" without doing it. That was very clever 😁
Well done @mosin-nagant!
@yaziris, I never led to PTSD, yet you have paved the way for the story that leads to that place. Yes, I think Frederick did.
For your compliments, I am very grateful. I hope I am blessed with the desire to continue learning to write.
Regards
Well deserved compliments aside, I can provide some "different" feedback if you want.
I saw it as a nice flow of ideas, gripping, but yet slightly disconnected especially towards the end, it can get confusing and puts a lot of pressure on the reader's immagination.First, I was led to understand that some spider bit him while he was reaching for the lens behind the cupboard in the lab. Possibly because of what Katty said "because I just saved you from the spider monster hypnosis" (I didn't really get that).
But then when the revelation about his family and orphanage comes, the PTSD idea became more dominant, and could explain somewhat his internal feelings and thoughts about making people disappear, his longing for his family, and many of his other issues.
I hope I'm making sense?
Either way, I enjoyed reading your story @mosin-nagant.
Yes, of course. That makes a lot of sense, and thank you so much. I think that can improve the blandness of the story I wrote. Thank you very much for your input. I really appreciate it.
It's nice to study in this place with you. I am serious when I say that I would love to be awarded the desire to learn. Sometimes, after writing a few times, I feel like I can write, even though it's very devastating. Thank you very much ☺️
Your content has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
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@ecency | Thank you so much for your continued support in every situation.
gripping and yes I'm a little confused :))
Thank you very much for reading. I will try and learn to write better in the future.
writing skills improve as you write :) keep writing :))
Thank you :)
This is the moment when I too came back from the dream.
I loved the twists you have given to us, especially the last one.
Well written.
Thank you so much for supporting behind the many flaws and mistakes in the story.
I like
Thank you...
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STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Oh, NO ... poor child. His dreams reflect the devilry that has overcome his nation, and those of the children around him, along with the anger that would come with the trauma of losing his family. So many children in the world -- we think of Ukraine, but there are so many conflicts in the world, and even in the streets here in the United States -- go through things like this. We need the reminder to look out for the children ... thank you.
Thanks for catching the message. We hope that everyone can get through these difficult times at this time. Prayers for all of us, for everyone.