A short story

This week, we are presenting a short story to you for the Mind Stayed series. Sara Oyela is, again, the originator of the piece. (She will continue to be the originator of the pieces shared here, until mid-June, as previously explained in the introductory post to the series.) Of this piece she says the following: “I am really nervous to share this piece because, first of all, I have not been much of a story writer. And secondly, this is kind of the first story that I’ve written fully with some sense of it being complete. The story reflects my experiences with raising children.”

---

Deven’s eyes fluttered open straight away as the sunlight peeped through the edges of the blinds. He jerked his head to look at the clock. 7:36. His parents made him go to bed at 8 the night before, even though it was summer break and it was still light outside. The sun’s up now, and now’s definitely the time to be awake!

He flung his blanket off his body. With wide eyes and a sneaky smile on his face, he stretched the slumber out of his limbs, pivoted on his butt, stood up with a slight bounce, and with light steps, made his way to the kitchen. At the fridge, he grabbed a cheese stick and an apple, and then went out the back door.

Behind the house was one-and-a-half acres of yard that Deven had turned into a jungle. He had been hunting in it since the second day of summer break…