The Kid Detective 
It was a brisk October morning at the daycare. It’s been two days since the limited edition CAPTAIN SMASH lunchbox was mysteriously stolen from a fellow classmate by the name of Jeremy. At the beginning of lunch, he had it, but by the end it had disappeared. I naturally took it upon myself to find this lost lunchbox and triumphantly return it to its rightful owner because I’m the Kid Detective. Plus he might give me a snack.
The day the lunchbox went missing, Jeremy slowly walked into my dark office (under the desks) with tears in his eyes. He knew I was the only one who could solve this case, so he asked me if I could get the job done. With a smirk on my face, I guaranteed I’d get his most prized possession back to him within the week’s end. As a proud Captain Smash fan, it was my duty and my honor to find this beautiful lunchbox.
So, I began my case like I always do…investigating. As I walked out of my office, I saw Lisa talking to Ron, so I went up to them and asked them what they were talking about. They ignored me with ugly looks, probably because I wear a trench coat and fedora everyday to school and because I think I’m a detective, but I like to think it’s because they’re jealous of my advanced intellect. Anyway, I decided to try my second strategy...eavesdropping. I crawled behind a corner which was just within earshot of Ron and Lisa. I heard Lisa bragging about how she was the biggest Captain Smash fan in the world (I doubt it) then Ron started exclaiming how he was more of a fan. But before I got any more intel, Lisa noticed me and yelled at me in her shrill voice. I quickly put on my dark shades and acted like I was looking at something in the opposite direction. After about seven minutes, she stopped because the teacher got annoyed and sent her to timeout (she deserved it). As I spied on other classmates throughout the day, I noticed only five more kids in the classroom were fans of Captain Smash, not including me, Ron, and Jeremy. I quickly scribbled this down into my detective journal.
Later, I decided to go talk to the hall monitors and see if they have encountered any unusual crimes lately that could lead me closer to the lunchbox. It was hard to get any info out of them because our kinds don’t typically associate with each other. We don’t protrude on each other’s domain either. They patrol the halls and I guard the classroom. Anyway, after a few minutes of bickering about who is better, the chief monitor, Chester, eventually told me something they encountered a few days ago.
“While me and the boys were on patrol, we witnessed three hooded individuals taking rope and candles from the Janitor’s closet,” I scribbled madly in my notebook as the story was told, “but they got back to the classroom before we could identify them and we never figured out who it was.”
“Why would anyone want to steal rope and candles?” I responded.
“How should we know. Now get back to class before I arrest you for not having a hall pass!”
I tried to show them my detective badge to excuse the absence of my hall pass, but they said it wasn’t real and started yelling at me. So, I put my shades on and walked away with my head held high.
Towards the end of the day, I realized I wasn’t getting any more useful info than I already had. I went back to my office and tallied up my clues, but none of them pointed me in an obvious direction. How do ropes and candles relate to my case at all? The trail had gone cold. Frustrated, I chucked my journal to the ground. But as I went to pick it up, I noticed an anonymous note sitting next to it.
It read, “meet me at the time out corner in one hour.”
The timeout corner was the roughest and dirtiest place in class. This was where the meanest and baddest kids hung out. Everybody calls it the dark side because it’s dark there 24/7. Going there could get you sent the nurse or worse. These bullies cared about nothing but trouble. This was a risk, it might even be a trap, but it was my duty as a detective to solve this mystery using every means necessary. So, I bravely strung my slingshot and put it in my belt. Then I put on my shades and walked into the dark side.
The timeout corner is more than a corner, it’s more like a large rectangle at the back of the classroom where everything is dirty and broken. It was as dark as night here because the long ceiling lights were cracked and broken. As I walked in, a bunch of kids started scowling at me and pointing random fingers at me for no reason. Everybody in the class already didn’t like me, but here I was feeling twice the hatred. As I walked past them with cool confidence on my face, I started to look around for the author of the note. Stepping on old broken toys and torn up books for what seemed like hours, I finally made it the back wall, which was actually only about ten feet from where I started. I then turned around to see a large gang of kids surrounding me like a pack of dogs. They were all armed with jagged pencil shanks, but I had my own weapon. I quickly whipped out my rock loaded slingshot and pointed it at them with fury. They backed up for a few moments, but then they quickly realized that they could overwhelm me. I realized this too and knew this was the end, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.
As they slowly marched forward, a red blur of light jumped in the middle of us. It then blinded the group of savages with a bright light. They all hissed and scattered like rats.
“They hate light,” said a kid in a red hoodie with a flashlight in his hand.
I saw his face and quickly recognized him, “Ron! What are you doing here?”
“I’m the one that sent you the note, I think I might have a clue to where Jeremy’s lunchbox is”
“Wait, why are you helping me?” I confusingly responded.
“I don’t want to, but I have to in order to take away their most prized possession, so I can be the biggest Captain Smash fan.”
“What? Who is they and what prized possession,” I asked.
“Shhhhh, I’ve said too much! They could be listening! Just make sure you pay attention who’s on a mat, and who’s not, at nap time tomorrow.”
“Ok, I will,” I said.
“I must go now, you’re on your own. Watch out for those crazy kids on your way back to the light side. See ya.”
Ron then left me in a flash and I was back alone in the darkness, but at least I was back on the trail. Then, I ran out of there as fast as I could. I sprinted straight to my office to record what I recently heard in my journal. Now, I just had to play the waiting game.
The next day, I had a gut feeling that something big was going to go down today. If I could solve this case, I could finally prove to everyone that I’m not that weird and I’m actually a good detective just like my father before me. By the time I got to school, I was filled with excitement, but also anxiety for what would happen at nap time.
Later, at nap time, as I laid down on my mat, I looked at how many kids weren’t on their mat like Ron told me to do. I eventually noticed that five mats were empty and the kids missing  were the same ones that liked Spongebob. I then noticed a flickering light coming from a closet on the far wall. Shadows were dancing through the crack under the door and could swear I could hear a faint noise coming from it. A very eerie noise. So, I decided to go investigate just like a real detective. On my way there, I noticed another strange thing: Ron and Jeremy were also missing from their mat.
I crawled to the door like a stealthy panther stalking its prey. And as I got closer, the creepy noise got louder and louder, it almost sounded like some sort of chant. Now, I was sure that something weird was happening. The crack under the door was bright with light. As I stood in front of it, I knew that this was my chance to solve this mystery and be a hero. This was my big break as a junior detective. So, I opened the door a crack and witnessed my worst nightmare.
I looked around the small, dim lit room with terror in my eyes. There was the prized lunchbox right in the middle of the room. There were three lit candles in the shape of a triangle sitting around it; definitely the ones that were stolen. Around that were five of my classmates all wearing hoods and bowing down to it. They were all singing a chant simultaneously like a choir. The theme song sounded vaguely like the theme song to the Captain Smash show, but slower and more sinister. They were singing it in the tune that a Catholic priest would sing mass. And behind them all, leading the chant with his arms raised was Jeremy himself! Talk about a plot twist. I almost passed out from witnessing this strange event; who knew toddlers could be so disturbing. After a while of this worshipping, Jeremy stopped the ceremony and went to the back of the closet for a moment. What he brought out was even more terrifying than this whole event. He brought out a rolling chair with Ron tied to it with the stolen rope, and his mouth was covered with duct tape.
He then raised his arms and said, “Fellow Captain Smash worshippers! I gather you here today to not only show respect to our great master, but to also punish those who don’t! This is Ron, he shall be punished for high treason to the the Great Smash Council! He will pay for his crimes by death and his blood will be sacrificed to our great lord!”
“Hoooray! For Captain Smash!” screamed the worshippers.
As I watched this with horror, all I wanted to do was go back and lie on my mat and act like none of this was happening. But, deep down inside, I knew I had to save Ron because that’s what a real detective would do. So I took my slingshot off my belt and braced myself.
Jeremy then raised his jagged pencil and said, “Let the sacrifice commence!”
At that moment, I busted in with my slingshotl in hand and screamed, “Not on my watch!”
Everybody in the tiny closet froze and stared at me for what seemed like days. Then Jeremy just started laughing for no reason.
He pointed at me and said, “Look everybody, it’s the kid detective,” while making quotations with his fingers.
Then, they all started laughing and pointing and pointing at me. Even Ron.
“Wait, I thought your lunchbox was stolen!” I exclaimed.
In between laughs, Jeremy mumbled, “I didn’t lose it! I only told you that so that you wouldn’t expect me doing this and snitch on us! Like anyone would ever ask you to solve a case! You’re not a detective, you’re a chump, Francis!”
As he muttered those last words, the world was collapsing around me, I was tricked. I was played for a fool and most embarrassing of all; he called me by my first name! Rage bubbled up inside me like a boiling cauldron and I knew there was only one thing to do.
“My name is not Francis! I’m the Kid Detective!” I screamed with rage
I shot Jeremy in the face, which sent him staggering backwards, then I jumped over the worshippers and grabbed a candle and the lunchbox. I ran out of the closet and then lit the lunchbox on fire as I chucked it out the window. It was the world’s problem now.
Then, I grabbed the hall monitors and showed them the strange ceremony that was going on in the closet and how Ron was tied up and about to be sacrificed. They dealt with them thoroughly. They were going to time-out for a long time.
In the end, I might not have solved a normal case like I wanted to, but at least I solved one. After this week, I learned that day care isn’t just milk and cookies, it’s a life and death battle that only real men will thrive from. You may get emotionally and mentally scarred every once in awhile, but that’s a characteristic that true detectives need.