Going Against the Law

Kidnapped

The day blossomed like a bright and lovely flower. The air was fresh and crisp. Warm rays of the sun filtered through the canopy of leaves, embracing the glistening dewdrops and bidding them farewell. Lucas had woken up especially early and decided to walk to school.

Everything seemed so ordinary. The birds were soaring freely in the sky. The flowers were still blooming prettily in the bushes. Lucas was humming a cheery tune in his mind and thought merrily to himself, “Nothing could possible happen on such a superb day, could it?”

Suddenly, a van screeched to a halt beside Lucas. Two men dressed in black leaped out of the vehicle with great agility. Before a befuddled Lucas could utter a single word, one of them gagged him while the other tossed a gunny sack over him. Being a large boy, Lucas put up a tough struggle but he was no match for the pair of burly arms that encased him. Lucas was lifted like a sack of flour and hurled into the van. Fear gripped the pits of his stomach. He was being kidnapped!  

The journey was treacherously long and bumpy. Lucas had to concentrate on getting enough oxygen through the musty sack. Approximately forty-five minutes later, the vehicle finally came to a stop. After rough handling by his captors, they finally removed the sack. They could not have timed it a minute earlier as Lucas felt he was turning blue in his face already. The poor boy was ashen-faced as he gasped for air. Lucas slowly regained his orientation. It dawned upon him that he was locked in a dilapidated old room. Old paint was flaking from the walls and a malodorous stench of garbage permeated the air. Lucas shuddered at the thought of all sorts of creepy crawlers swarming around the room.

In the next room, Lucas could hear the kidnappers calling his parents. “If you want your child back, it’ll be fifty thousand dollars and not a cent less!” they threatened malevolently and slammed down the phone, chuckling in glee at their imminent windfall. Lucas knew that he had to try to escape. However, all the windows and doors were bolted tight. All he could do was to wait for someone to rescue him. Fatigue finally overwhelmed Lucas and he drifted off into a restless slumber.

Suddenly Lucas jolted awake by the sound of a tumultuous commotion outside the room. He cowered in a corner praying that all would be fine. There was a series of gunshots and then uncanny silence. Slowly, the door to his room inched open. “Lucas?” It was a police officer! He was untied and saved! Lucas ran frantically out of the room knowing that justice had finally been served to the kidnappers.

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	day blossomed like a bright and lovely flower	day awakened beautifully
2	warm rays of the sun filtered through the canopy of leaves	sunshine shone through gaps in between trees’ branches
3	embracing	hugging
4	bidding them farewell	saying goodbye
5	screeched to a halt	came to a sudden stop
6	leaped out of the vehicle with great agility	jumped out with acute swiftness
7	befuddled	felt confused
8	utter a single word	say a word / make a sound
9	put up a tough struggle	moved violently fighting against someone
10	pair of burly arms that encased him	strong arms that grabbed him
11	fear gripped the pits of his stomach	felt frightened
12	journey was treacherously long and bumpy	a difficult journey
13	rough handling	being treated forcefully
14	turning blue in his face	face changed colour due to lack of air
15	ashen-faced	looking pale
16	slowly regained his orientation	gained one’s sense of directions
17	dawned upon	realised
18	a dilapidated old room	a room that is old and run-down
19	malodorous stench of garbage permeated the air	foul smell filled the air
20	shuddered at the thought	trembled at a fearful thought
21	creepy crawlers swarming	pests and insects in an infested place
22	threatened malevolently	gave warnings nastily
23	chuckling in glee at their imminent windfall	laughing happily over their impending wealth
24	fatigue finally overwhelmed	totally exhausted
25	jolted awake	awoken with shock
26	tumultuous commotion	a chaotic and noisy situation
27	uncanny silence	unnatural silence
28	ran frantically	ran with passion
29	justice had finally been served	justice was being upheld

Hello, Stranger...

The silence of the night was a surprising welcome from the bustling activities of the evening. I could finally sit down at my desk and start on my preparation for the examinations which were just around the corner. My parents had gone to attend a wedding dinner. A huge grin split across my face when I realised that the entire house was at my disposal. Wanting to make the most of the time before my parents return home, I dived into my work.  

The chiming of the doorbell broke my concentration. “Who could that be?” I muttered in frustration. I was on the verge of solving the torturous problem sums that my devious mathematics teacher had concocted. Marching to the door, I flung it open. Standing outside was a stranger dressed to the nines. In his arms was a huge hamper.   

“I’m your mother’s friend. I came to deliver a present,” the charming man spoke in a pleasant and melodious voice. I was quite certain that my mother did not mention him. Just as I was about to slam the door in his face, I spied a box of my favourite Godiva chocolates in the hamper. All thoughts of problem sums, as well as my mother’s ingrained warnings of the dangers of strangers, flew out of my mind. I unlocked the gate and welcomed the man in.

“Who are you?” my father’s voice boomed from the lift landing. Upon seeing my father, the man turned ghastly pale. Then everything happened in a flash. The man stuttered and stammered for an answer, all the while trying to avoid my father’s penetrating gaze. With a shrug of his shoulders, he dumped the hamper into my arms and took to his heels.

Needless to say, the man was not my mother’s friend. The police were notified of the incident. Apparently, the con man had been going round using the same tactic to break into unsuspecting homes. I was fortunate that my father had come home in time. My parents gave me a dressing down for disobeying them and grounded me for a week after that incident. I promised to be more cautious in future and never to open the door to strangers ever again.  

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	bustling activities	excited and noisy activities
2	around the corner	about to happen
3	a huge grin split across my face	smiled broadly
4	at my disposal	available for use
5	broke my concentration	interrupted my thoughts
6	muttered in frustration	felt annoyed and complained under one’s breath
7	on the verge	on the edge
8	torturous	causing extreme mental pain
9	devious	scheming
10	concocted	invented
11	dressed to the nines	very fashionable
12	charming	attractive
13	pleasant and melodious voice	pleasing and musical voice
14	ingrained	firmly established
15	flew out of my mind	totally forgot about the issue
16	boomed	roared
17	ghastly pale	deathly pale
18	in a flash	without any delay
19	stuttered and stammered	fumbled over the words
20	penetrating gaze	piercing look
21	a shrug of his shoulders	a gesture of raising the shoulders
22	took to his heels	ran away
23	needless to say	obviously
24	apparently	seems that
25	con man	a person who is out to trick others
26	tactic	method
27	unsuspecting	having no idea what was happening
28	dressing down	a scolding

The Robbery

“Oh! Where is my diamond necklace?” Mrs Ling mumbled irately to herself while rummaging in her dresser drawers. She was getting ready to go for a wedding dinner. “I need to wear it to Mary’s wedding and impress all our relatives and friends!” she exclaimed frenetically and almost literally ripping her drawer apart.

After an arduous search, Mrs Ling finally managed to find her priceless diamond necklace. She hurriedly put it around her neck, coupled with a string of alluring earrings and bracelets. Finally after a critical perusal of her appearance in front of the arrays of mirrors, she sauntered into the living room where her edgy husband was waiting.

“I just don’t see why you have to wear that necklace. Now, we are going to be really late for the wedding!” Mr Ling kept muttering like a broken radio as they made their way to the car parked in the multi-storey carpark. Just then, three men appeared out of the blue. They had balaclavas over their faces. One of them threatened with baleful intent, “Hand over all your valuables or else!” Mr and Mrs Ling were petrified. They stood rooted to the ground, their mouths agape in shock. “It’s your fault...” the livid Mr Ling turned towards his wide and started berating. “If you did not deck yourself like a Christmas tree to catch the fancy of people, this would not be happening!”

Wham! Mr Ling fell to the ground in a dead faint. Mrs Ling stared blankly at the bat that one of the robbers had used on her husband. Before Mrs Ling could even register all that had just transpired, the two irritated robbers dashed over and snatched her handbag and jewellery. In that instant, a dam of emotions seemed to burst within Mrs Ling. An ear-splitting shriek escaped from her lips and pierced through the silence of the night. “Stop or I’ll kill you!” one of the robbers placed a shiny knife at her throat. However, Mrs Ling simply could not control her emotions. She screamed and screamed devastatingly, losing track of everything around her.

Not wanting to be discovered, the flustered robbers had little choice but to make their escape. Only then did Mrs Ling rush to her husband’s side. Cradling his head in her lap, she crooned and smoothed his hair trying to staunch the flow of blood pooling ceaselessly onto the ground. “Please don’t die... Arthur, I’m sorry. Please don’t die...” her pleas echoed into the still night air.

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	mumbled irately	spoke quietly in an irritated manner
2	rummaging	searching thoroughly
3	exclaimed frenetically	spoke loudly in a frantic manner
4	literally ripping	actually tearing things apart
5	an arduous search	a tough search
6	priceless	extremely valuable
7	coupled	matched
8	alluring	beautifully charming
9	critical perusal	an important check
10	arrays of mirrors	a range of mirrors all lined together
11	sauntered	walked with confidence
12	edgy	irritated and angry
13	muttering like a broken radio	nagging
14	balaclavas	a close-fitted knitted covering for the head
15	threatened with baleful intent	issued demands with an evil motive
16	mouths agape in shock	mouths wide open in shock
17	livid	extremely angry
18	berating	scolding angrily
19	deck yourself like a christmas tree	to decorate and adorn
20	to catch the fancy of people	to attract others attention
21	fell to the ground in a dead faint	fell to the ground after losing consciousness
22	register all that had just transpired	to realise what had happened
23	a dam of emotions	a rush of feelings in the heart
24	ear-splitting shriek	a very loud and sharp scream
25	pierced through the silence of the night	broke the quietness of the night
26	screamed and screamed devastatingly	shouted heartbrokenly
27	losing track of everything	totally unaware of one’s surroundings
28	flustered	anxious
29	cradling	holding something gently in one’s arms
30	crooned	spoke in a soft low voice
31	staunch the flow of blood pooling ceaselessly	stop a persistent bleeding
32	pleas echoed into the still night air	made an emotional request on a quiet night

A Bank Robbery

“Robbery! Stand still!” I bellowed. My accomplice and I stormed into the bank. The bank was peaceful before our appearance. The customers were seated and waiting keenly for their queue number to be called. Impatient frowns creased their foreheads as the glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. Our sudden invasion flustered them! My accomplice and I were quivering in trepidation and were in cold sweat as that was the first time we were robbing.

Both of us carried a weapon. I was armed with a gun, while Ah-Heng carried a knife. Everyone in the bank was panic-stricken. Tension hung in the air. Ah-Heng lashed out threats at the customers as he brandished his knife, “Hand over all your valuables now! If you refuse, you’ll be sorry!” All the customers were shuddering in fear. They handed in all that they had. Ah-Heng had all the hostages put up their hands well above their heads and huddle in a corner.

I drew my gun and worked the tellers at the counter in a demanding manner, “Put all the money in the bags now! There are really bullets in this gun! Don’t make me shoot! Quickly, I want money in the bags NOW!” My eyes widened in awe when I saw the stacks of cold hard cash filling up the bags. Excitement bubbled inside me when I finally got the feel of the chimney of money.

My moment of jubilation was burst by the shrill sound of the alarm. One of the tellers had managed to press the emergency alarm! We had to run! Had to run fast! Ah-Heng and I grabbed as many bags as we could manage and made a dash for the back exits.

All was too late. Guns were pointing at us the minute we swung open the doors. We surrendered and gave ourselves up. Everything happened in a blurry, policemen rushing in on us and I felt the chill in my bones when my hands were taken into the handcuffs. The weight of repentance hung over my heart but it was too late. Ah-Heng and I were both charged and sentenced to jail for our crime.

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What the words and phrases mean…

1	bellowed	shouted
2	stormed into the bank	rushed violently into the bank
3	impatient frowns creased their foreheads	to look edgy
4	glanced	a quick look
5	for the umpteenth time	numerous times
6	flustered	upset
7	accomplice	a person who aids you in wrongdoing
8	quivering in trepidation	trembling in nervousness
9	panic-stricken	terrified
10	tension hung in the air	feeling of anxiety filled the atmosphere
11	lashed out threats	attacked verbally
12	brandished his knife	waved knife menacingly
13	shuddering in fear	shivering due to being afraid
14	huddle in a corner	gather close together
15	worked the tellers	asserted pressure on the tellers
16	eyes widened in awe	eyes enlarged because of wonder
17	excitement bubbled inside me	felt increased sense of joy
18	chimney of money	stack of money
19	moment of jubilation	an instant of happiness
20	made a dash	ran quickly for
21	all was too late	hopeless situation
22	gave ourselves up	surrendered
23	everything happened in a blurry	things happened so quickly that everything was unclear
24	chill in my bones	a sudden numbing fear
25	weight of repentance	to feel a deep sense of sorrow and shame