Oliver’s 1st Case: The Puzzling Mystery Of the Missing Lucky Pencil

The Case of the Missing Lucky Pencil

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I needed my first case and I needed it quick. Being a detective or an undercover spy has always been my thing. Be it Sherlock Holmes or Alex Rider, there is never a movie or a book in the mystery genre that I have not heard of. But in today’s world, wishing to be a detective does not work out, at least not in my middle school. I must have figured out a lot about people in my school, be it the way they walk and talk, they still leave a trace or a scent just urging an avid detective like me to find.

But anyway. Hey there. The name’s Oliver. It was quite rude of me to not introduce myself. You might think I am pretty crazy but still I am pretty sure I am just say 14 years away from being a professional detective. I can only imagine the cases I would be able to solve.

I can already imagine the headlines on the daily newspapers:”Detective Oliver seamlessly captured the the gang who were outrageously selling military intelligence to other foreign powers.” Yes, I like the sound of that. But for now I am stuck trying to figure whether me scoring low marks in a class test is the working of an evil genius just awaiting for the downfall of the future Sherlock Holmes.

But I think it is best not to get too nosy about things that are happening in school especially after my last discovery that our English teacher has a snake for a pet. Uhhh!! But no matter how long I wait hardly does a case come my way in a classroom ruled by algebra and verbs. But that was only until the day something absurd happened.

Okay, absurd might be an understatement statement because Jack losing his favourite pencil on a boring school day discovering that Jack’s favourite pencil has gone missing is surely a lead I have been waiting for. Maybe it holds key to something that might be threat to the world. After it did seem that it was a lucky pencil especially after Jack fluked his math test with a perfect score. Ohh! I’m pretty sure that’s the thing a thief would want.

As soon as I heard him grumbling at his place, I took up the case. Jack did warn me he was quite forgetful and there’s a great chance that his pencil was still at his home. But I paid little to no heed to him and rummaged through his drawer and his bag. A juicy case was just the thing I needed to rejuvenate my mind but to my dismay I found none.

However, like Edmond Locard a French forensic scientist said, “Every contact leaves a trace”. And that trace was exactly what I needed to find. I figured it would not hurt to give u recess to start questioning my classmates even though my mom would most likely tell me off for skipping break. A lot of my peers remarked that I was such a pedantic. But still I needed their help for this investigation.

Alas no one budged and no one reported anything strange. Uhhh! This must be the hardest problem to solve on earth. I figured, I best sleep on it especially since nobody including Jack had forgotten all about the event.

Hence, after catching a good night’s sleep, I was energised and ready with all my detective juices in my brain up and running. I scurried to my classroom elated that today was the day that I might crack the case of the missing lucky pencil. I threw my bag onto my desk and began my search but that was when I began my investigation. I grabbed my pouch  rustling through its contents for my pencil. What was wrong with these pencils. They are always so obstinate be it broken nibs or needing to be sharpened. They are always a nuisance.

That was when I searched through my pockets and I felt for a long wooden stick pencil I always carried. But to exclamation, I found two of them. I grabbed mine as I removed it from my pocket on my first attempt. But the second object needed much more that just a simple tug. It was longer and after a lot of groaning and sore hands I got what I had all this time in my pocket.

Jack’s pencil… No, I could not be the thief. I sheepishly placed the pencil out of the classroom’s sight sight. Surely it would not be a good sight for them to see that I was the pencil thief. But I could not justify myself either. I scurried off to the lockers safe from the chaos unfolding in the class who were just too excited that the weekend was nearing. Yew! The lockers stuck badly of the weird metal smell. But right now that was not what needed my attention.

I tried reminiscing about the happenings in the past few day. Why on earth did I take somebody else’s pencil. Every detective self of me slowly left as I was ashamed of myself.

But that was when I remembered. The day before we had been playing hide and seek. Oh yes and then I saw a pencil that had fallen on the floor and I picked it up and placed in my pocket afraid that it would give me away. I had meant to return back to its rightful owner, but I just forgot about. I was disgusted. How dare I call myself a detective. Well there was a lot of explaining to do so I guess, There’s not time like the present to be handing out my apologies. But happiness creeped through me. I had solved my first case!!  

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Cover Image Credits: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/child-detective

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