The Mystery of the Missing Playground

(This story was submitted to Write for Read UK competition, under fiction category for 5-11 year olds. The word limit was 1500 words, and this particular piece was in short story format. The themes were around going back to school in September 2020 after the lockdown, with this one being "How you felt when you went back to school" )

*The Mystery Of The Missing Playground*

It was a gorgeous, exclusive morning. The radiant sun shone out, and the sweet hummingbirds sang melodiously, as crowds of school kids congregated to go through the gate. It was International Day that day, so everyone was extra excited.

 

“I’m wearing my Indian dress, to represent India! What are you wearing, Val?” asked Parvati. 

“Hey, you know, Par. I’m representing Switzerland,” answered Valentina. 

“Oh, right,” said Parvati. “Wait a minute. Look at the playground. It’s vanished!” 

Everyone began to feel appalled after hearing this from Parvati. They went to their headteacher’s office,  and Headmaster Senz. 

“Hi, headmaster. The playground has disappeared,” said Valentina. 

“Alright, I know. We’re trying to solve it,” replied Senz. 

“Val, he knows!” whispered Parvati. 

“Par, what if they didn’t?!” mumbled Valentina. 

“Huh, we’ll see, Val,” murmured Parvati. 

“Okay, okay students. Chop chop! Settle down and relax. I am calling the Police, so no need to panic,” announced Senz. The children started to calm down now, and abate their panic. 

Half an hour later, the Inspector and the policemen came. 

“The playground’s disappeared, you say?” asked the Inspector. 

“Yes, the playground’s not here,” answered Senz. 

“Hmm ok. C’mon boys, let’s solve this issue,” said the Inspector. The policemen came, and checked all around the place where the playground used to be. 

“The only suspect is that this incident has been planned covertly. We know that because we saw a note on the floor saying ‘SECRET PLAN’,” reported the Inspector.

 

“Thank you. Thank you very much. For a charming favour, can you please try figure out what’s wrong?” pleaded Senz. 

“We’ll try our best to find out,” responded the Inspector. 

“Okay,” nodded Senz. 

Parvati and Valentina glared at this discussion, and blinked hard. They tried to comfort the other students, by asking them about what country they represented.

 

“Hey, Sal! What country are you representing?” asked Parvati. 

“Don’t call me ‘Sal’, Parvati. Call me Sally. Oh, and by the way, I’m representing Spain and I know Valentina is asking Mond, and he is representing Italy,” answered Sally. 

“Right, okay Sal,” 

“Sally,” corrected Sally. 

“Oh fine, Sally,” said Parvati, walking away. 

“What did Sal say, Par?” asked Valentina, later. 

“Val, Sal told me not to call her ‘Sal’, and she said that she was representing Spain, and that Mo was representing Italy,” replied Parvati. 

“Sal doesn’t like people calling her short names. Even she calls Mond, Mond, whilst we call him Mo. It’s nicer,” explained Valentina. 

“Your explanation agreed,” agreed Parvati, giving a thumbs up. “Anyway. Let’s go check on Headmaster Senz,” The two girls went to the headtecher, and asked them if it was going well. 

“It isn’t going well. They’re not finding any more clues, looks like a dead end,” answered Senz. Parvati and Valentina gave a gasp, in amazement. 

“No matter what you say, we’re going to help figure out what happened,” said Parvati, determined. 

“Alright. As long as you do whatever you want to save the playground, I’m fine,” agreed Senz. The two girls bounced about in jubilance, and set off. 

“A dead end? A dead end?” questioned Valentina. “That’s crazy, Par!” 

“I know. Police these days!! Not using their brains, Val,” stated Parvati. 

They looked for the Inspector to see if they can learn anything from them. 

“Hello, girls. What are you doing here?” asked a police. 

“We wanted to help,” answered Parvati. 

“Oh! Well, I’ll bet that you’d be an amazing help! You see, this note, it says, SECRET PLAN. You see? Now, there was a tiny map rolled under it, and it lead to this dead end. Now whoever caused the issue, is here. It’s a very new clue, I haven’t told Senz because I want our solving to be a secret, then we can tell him after,” reported the Inspector. 

Parvati and Valentina’s eyes widened, and they searched around the place, to see what they could find. They searched and searched. 

“Hey purple hearts, look what I found, Par!” cried Valentina.  

“Huh? An alleyway! Good job, Val,” exclaimed Parvati, pointing to the narrow alleyway that Valentina had found. 

“Let’s tell the Inspector about this, Par,” said Valentina. 

“Uh-huh, Val,” nodded Parvati. Both rushed to the Inspector, and told him. 

“Narrow alleyway? Narrow alleyway? Why didn’t I think of that?” said the Inspector. 

“Well you just have to be as smart as the legendary Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger,” said Parvati.

 

“N’alright,” agreed the Inspector. “Let’s go there, boys, to Narrow Alleyway!” 

“It’s not called Narrow Alleyway, the real name of the alley is Burton Sanc Alley,” corrected Valentina. 

“Burton Sanc Alley? Burton Sanc Alley? That is a ridiculous name!” cried the Inspector. 

“Yes, Burton Sanc Alley,” said Parvati. 

“I really can’t believe how bizarre this is going,” said the Inspector. 

“Anyway, boys, get your guns out, incase some bad people are hiding in the alley. And be aware,” 

“And be aware,” repeated a policeman. “Beware,” The troop entered the alleyway, followed by Valentina and Parvati. 

“Why have we found nothing?” fumed the Inspector. 

“Be patient. Patient is the right thing to be,” reminded Valentina. 

“Alright. Patient is the right thing to be,” mimicked the Inspector. “Come on boys. Let’s be patient,” 

Valentina and Parvati didn’t actually know that the Inspector could get really irritated when something peculiar happens. 

“Geez, Par! Didn’t know they could get so angry!” cried Valentina. 

“Yes, Val,” agreed Parvati. “Agreed!” 

“BOYS! C’mon!” shouted the Inspector. The other policemen hesitated, and followed this furious Inspector’s commands. 

In the alleyway, they found the playground, right next to a scary, monstrous gallantly white figure. 

“Com’ere, you thief! Apologize for taking this school’s playground!” screamed the Inspector, holding out his gun, ready. 

“Ha ha ha!” cackled the figure, demoniacally. “I’m Icetartica, the Evil Ice Queen of Antartica. I come here and take all sorts of fun away! You may not stop me! I take everything that makes kiddies’ life fun, and freeze them with ice!” 

The Inspector immediately shot his gun at her, but the bullets were futile on Icetartica. 

“Kiddies! Go away! This is only for police!” warned the Inspector. Parvati and Valentina were obstinate, and stayed. 

“NO, Inspector. We’re staying,” said Parvati. “Right, Val?” 

“Yes, Par. We’ll be standing here, but give us a shout if you need help with this DEVILISH ice witch, because we can’t abide her!” 

“You’re definitely NOT staying here, you foolish kiddies!” said the Inspector. 

“Yes we are,” argued Valentina, obstinately. 

“Oh, FINE!” fumed the Inspector. Valentina and Parvati stood behind the troops, ready in case they got badly injured. 

“Beat me now, kiddies!” shouted Icetartica. 

Valentina snatched one of the policemen’s guns, and shot it at Icetartica’s heart. Now that injured Icetartica, but she was still pending to be fully destroyed. She sent a sea of ice to crash on the Inspector, but they ran away before it could reach them. Icetartica then used her strongest spells. 

“You definitely can’t tolerate this!” she exclaimed, confidently. She sent ice sparks raining from the sky. Each ice spark would kill someone. 

Each and every single one of the police and the two school girls, in Indian and Swiss dresses, dashed around, watching out for the sparks. The two elegant girls struggled to watch out, because of their long, glorious gowns. Poor them, they didn’t know International Day was going to be so eventful! 

“I’ve got a plan. Let’s shoot all the guns at her heart lots of times, then as she’s trying to heal herself, we tie her with a rope. Then with the tied Icetartica, we can pour sticky mud over here and water, to get her killed. See how that works,” suggested the Inspector.

“Aye aye sir,” said the policemen. 

All policemen got out their guns, and shot Icetartica at her heart. She groaned. While she groaned, some of the plucky troops tied her with a rope. Then they grabbed sticky mud from the garden, and they splattered it over her face. And last but not least, they spilled water over here. Once the water dried up, they saw Icetartica lying, dead. 

“Hooray!” they cheered. 

They restored the playground to the right location.

The next day, all the school kids had their International Day jubilant and victorious. This news about Icetartica the Evil Ice Queen of Antartica came up on TV, newspapers, ads, posters, BBC and signs on the road. Everyone and everything was now safe and tranquil. 

“Good one, Par. I finally want to let my world-saving friends call me whatever they want,” said Sally. 

“Thank you, Sal,” smiled Parvati, merrily.