Short story about an orphan boy who learns a valuable lesson

1. Story: The Boy in the Hood
Group members:
 Umer Shahid
 Zain Ahmed
 Zohaib Naseer
 Haider Sikandar
 Faizan Sabir
Submitted to: Madam Anum Aziz
Class: Geophysics 2-A

2. It was around 12:00 am, a moonless night with darkness covering the whole city like a blanket. A
boy was standing in the street, wearing a baggy hood with cap on his head, smoking a cigarette,
lost in his memories. The sounds of gunshot in the neighborhood drew him out from his thoughts
and he whispered to himself, “Another soul is going to leave this world tonight.” And then again
he was lost in his thoughts.
A young boy in his early teens was going home after watching a movie with his parents. Boy was
very excited and sharing his reviews about the movie.
“It was such a wonderful movie and it really thrilled me...I loved David, the way he took his
vendetta.”
Marshal responded quickly, “It may look good to take revenge but it’s not the best option,
sometimes we have to let things go for the greater good. If everyone starts avenging people then
there will be no one left.” With this Marshal changed the subject as he could see the disappointed
face of the kid.
“Martha, I think he would be a good critic one day.”
Martha quickly responds, “Don’t know about that but he surely will be a renowned and successful
doctor of his time.”
“You women always plan for others without asking what they want,” Marshal taunts his wife with
a smile.
Martha throws her handkerchief at Marshal in a friendly manner and it covers his face, Marshal
removes the handkerchief and the car gets a little unstable but marshal controls it in time before it
collide with the pole.
Martha and kid burst into laughter. “It wasn’t funny at all,” says Marshal in an annoyed tone.
The car stops in front of the house. Marshal and Martha comes out of the car laughing, busy in
their conversation, suddenly they hear some noises from inside their house. They both look at each
other in a bewildered and slight terrified gaze. Leaving kid in the car, Martha and Marshal enters
the house (the front door was locked). As they move quietly watching their steps and focusing on
the sounds, they saw a man moving in the bedroom. He was wearing black long coat and black
mask covering his face. Martha grabs Marshal’s hand in fear.

3. “Who are you? What do you want?” said Marshal.
Shocked and infuriated at the sudden intrusion, the man in mask shouts in anger, “shut up or I’ll
blow yours heads up.”
Terrified Martha rushed towards the car to protect her kid but she was shot in mid-way by the man,
as he thought she was fleeing away.
Marshal quickly grabbed a vase from the shelf near him and threw it at the man. He ducked and
shot marshal right in the chest. The Kid was hiding in the car, he was very scared and wanted to
rush to his parents but he was told to stay in the car no matter what. He was anxiously gazing at
the front door… and when it opened instead of seeing the smiling faces of his parents, he saw a
man leaving the house with a mask in his hand and then he saw the most dreadful scene, the dead
bodies of his parents.
Next scene:
A car stops near the boy in the hood, a man peeps out of the window with a mask in his hand, “Yo
man! Get in the car, I have a job for us today.”
The boy sits in the car and asked, “So what is it? You are talking about, Danny!”
“I have found an easy target today… it is near the Packard gym,” says Danny with excitement.
“So did you bring my new mask as I have lost mine?” inquired the boy in hood.
“Yeah man I have made new one for you with my own hands,” said Danny.
“I hope it is not worse than last time,” said the boy in hood with a scorn.
The car comes to a halt at the end of the street. Its mid-night, the street is vacant and the lights of
the houses are turned off.
“This is the target I was talking about,” Says Danny pointing towards the house in front of them.
They broke the lock without any hurdles, inside the house a young lady was lying down with a
boy in his early teens. Seeing the mother and the child, Danny approached towards them with gun
in his hand followed by the boy in the hood.

4. “Hands up you two and don’t you dare make a sound,” Shouted Danny pointing the gun at the
lady.
The child screamed and from the other room running footsteps could be heard, at this the boy in
hood pointed the gun towards the door. The father reached at the entrance of the room and seeing
the gun men, he stopped and raised his hands, “Relax man, don’t shoot my family and take
whatever you want, just don’t hurt anyone please,” begged the father. And then he suddenly got
quiet as he looked in the eyes of the boy in the hood, which were staring him fixedly. The father
stood statue staring at the boy in hood and at last he said, “I remember these eyes…these are the
same eyes I saw in car that dark night.”
The boy in the hood was silent but his eyes were telling everything.
“You can take your revenge from me… but leave my family, I plead you of that,” said the father.
“You did not have any mercy on them,” the boy in hood said with shaking voice. “I have waited
all my life for this day to come. It is because of you that I’ve turned into this, a criminal…you
ruined my life and now you are asking for mercy! Now is the time I’ll take my revenge.”
The child, mother and Danny, all were confused at what both of them said.
“Hey man! What are you talking about?” asked Danny.
The boy in the hood did not answered anything. Suddenly the boy in the hood hit the husband with
back of the gun and he fell down. The wife and child started crying and wife begged, “Please don’t
hurt him, take whatever you want and leave us.”
“I’ll take what I wanted from last 11 years, my revenge,” Said the boy in the hood in rage.
“Hey man! What are you talking about? What revenge?” Asked the confused Danny.
“You all stay out, this matter is between me and him,” Said the boy in hood turning his head
towards them. When he pointed the gun at them, he saw something that recalled him of himself,
the same eyes, blank, fearful, depressed, agony and a hidden anger in them all at the same time.
The child was not saying anything, not even blinking his eyes, he was steadily looking at the boy
in the hood.

5. The boy in the hood was again lost in his own thoughts, the words of his father were echoing in
his mind, “It may look good to take revenge but it’s not the best option, sometimes we have to let
things go for the greater good. If everyone starts avenging people then there will be no one left.”
He jerked his head, to push away the sounds but the words echoed louder and louder when he
looked at the boy. He could no longer point his gun at them and then he looked at the man, who
had guilt and tears in his eyes, “Please forgive me, I have been waiting all my life for this day to
come…I knew you would come…please forgive me.” The boy in hood puts away his gun in his
belt, he looked down and said,
“Now I understand what he meant when he said that revenge is not the best option.”
“All my life I desperately wanted to kill you but now when I have a chance, I cannot.”
“I am letting you go, not because I don’t want to avenge them but because I don’t want another
child to be like me, with no life and family.”
“Let’s go, Danny, leave them alone.” Without a word Danny followed the boy in hood who was
already stepping out of the front door. Tears were filled in his eyes but there was a slight smile on
his lips and a light heart, as he knew his father will be proud of him.