“Stolen Art”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “Delicious pancake art is stolen.” — suggested by Mary

“WHERE IS IT?!”

Tyra’s screech echoed through the hallways, jolting Max awake. Seconds later, Tyra ran into his bedroom and started tearing his desk and closet apart.

“Woah, what are you doing?” he asked, his words still slightly slurred from sleep.

“It’s gone!” She continued throwing clothes out of his wardrobe, flinging them carelessly around the room. “Where did you put it?”

“Put what?”

“MY PANCAKE!”

Max couldn’t tell if he was just sleep deprived or if Tyra had finally snapped. “What are you talking about?”

“My pancake art! I’m supposed to enter the competition today, but it’s gone!”

“Oh! Okay.”

Max had never understood Tyra’s obsession with pancake art, but one thing he did understand was competition. His awards lined the wall, thankfully still untouched by Tyra’s frantic search. But by the way she was making her way around his room, Max was fairly certain that it was just a matter of time before she destroyed that shelf too.

“Hey,” he pushed himself out of bed and caught Tyra’s thrashing arms, “calm down. I’ll help you look, okay? Just stop trashing my room. I just cleaned it yesterday too.”

“So you didn’t take it?”

“Of course not!” Max stared at his roommate in shock. “Did you really think that I’d take your pancake art?”

Tyra sighed. “Well, no, not really. Sorry, I’m just panicking. It took me days to finally get it right and the competition’s in a few hours. I thought I might finally have a shot at beating Beatrice this year.”

“Hey, we’ll find it,” Max reassured her, rubbing her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go get the others. Maybe Rudy or Eva know where it is.”

Max led Tyra back to the main area. Neither of them noticed the edge of a pancake sticking out of the mouse hole beside Max’s bed.

Final Comments: I had a lot of fun writing this one. I think that I’m finally starting to get more comfortable writing in third person.

Overall Rating: 😀