Student Essay 17: Friday the 13th by Julia Choi Won Ji

Friday the 13th by Julia Choi Won Ji, Year 6, Sayfol

I had a best friend called Faith. I first met her in kindergarten. She had long hair and she was very fair. She was tall and also very kind. We did everything together. We were in the same class until Year 6. We were so close that sometimes our friends asked us, “Are you twins?”
That year, her birthday was on Friday the 13th. Her house was not far from mine, so I usually walked to her house. I could even get there with my eyes closed because I’d been there so many times. I heard many stories about Friday the 13th but I didn’t believe any of them and just went out of my house as usual that night. Faith was having a birthday party that night and I was going there at nine o’clock. Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me.

It was a soft sound. If I wasn’t a sensitive girl, perhaps I wouldn’t have heard the sound. I was in a panic. Was somebody following me? I turned round. “Who’s there?” I asked. But there was no one behind me. There was not a single sound. It was strange, very strange. After about five minutes, I felt something moving very fast near me. “Is it just an animal, another pedestrian or a kidnapper?” I was frightened. “I shouldn’t go to Faith party tonight,” I thought. Then I saw a big, dark shadow. It was very large.

I screamed, “Yaaaa!” Suddenly, I could feel something soundless around my face. It grabbed me to a place with many trees. I tried to scream again but my voice didn’t come out of my mouth. I put my hands into my pocket to look for my phone but it wasn’t there. I tried to remember where I put it. Then I remembered that I had left it at home. I was sure that my face had changed colour. A man put tape on my mouth and brought me to his house. He tied my hands and legs together with a piece of rope. I struggled but he was too strong. He held his phone to his ear and called my mother. I had no idea how he knew my mother’s phone number.
‘Your daughter is here with me. If you give me $100,000, I will return your child.” I could hear my mother saying something but I could not hear her properly. Then the man went outside. I tried to find something to cut myself free. I hopped to all the drawers and finally found a pair of scissors. How stupid he was! Why hadn’t he hidden them? I cut the rope and looked for a key to the door but I couldn’t find one.

I thought carefully. “How can I get out of this house?” I looked at the window. I saw the duvet on the bed. I wrapped myself in it and jumped out of the window from the third floor! My legs were injured but I didn’t care. I couldn’t feel any pain. I only thought about running away. I ran home as fast as I could. It was morning. My mother was so surprised, relieved and happy to see me. I told her everything that had happened. We went to the police station and told the police the address of the kidnapper. Fortunately, they caught the man. I sighed. I felt sorry to Faith because I couldn’t attend her birthday party. However, she understood. I invited her to my house the next day and she was happy. I gave Faith a pen for her birthday. She said she was very worried because I was late to her party.

Finally, everything was over. I told myself that I would take good care of myself from then on. I would never make my mother worry about me again. That incident made me realize how much she loved me. I told myself that I would never go outside and walk on my own after seven o’clock at night ever again. Thank you, God, for having saved my life!