One evening I was coming home from work and I took a short cut through the park. the sky was overcast and dark clouds were gathering. Soon it would be dark. 

    As I walk along the path, something caught my attention. I heard faint murmurs coming from behind the trees. Among the bushes, I saw an old man who had fallen out of his wheelchair. I was about to go and help him but something stopped me. I was frightened. 

    Just then, I saw a teenage boy running up to him. As I watched, the boy  quickly helped the man back into his wheelchair. The old man smiled and took the boy’s arm. 

    “Thank you” - he said. “I’m very grateful. For this good deed you deserved a reward”. 

    When I heard him say that it made me feel guilty. Why did I hesitate? Why didn’t I rush over to help him? I was also little jealous that the boy was going to get a reward. That could have been me. I started walking again  but when I looked back I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. The old man was standing up. he was grabbing the boy’s arm while his other hand was clamped over the boy’s mouth to stifle his cries. I wanted to run up there, but I was frozen to the spot. My legs wouldn’t move. I was scary. It was as if I was rooted to the ground. 

    I watched in horror... ( by polish team ; Maja, Laura, Zosia and Amekla)

I couldn’t stand it anymore and I ran to them. When the old man saw me running towards them, he got distracted and the boy escaped from his hand. The old man got angry, he looked at me and ‘’You will get the reward after all.’’ he said. I didn’t know what this reward was but I felt scared. Out of nowhere I felt a twinge of pain in my head and I lost my consciousness.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a cottage. I was in a small room and lying on the ground, my whole body was tied with rope. I felt frightened. There was a small cabinet in the room and a desk. There were two windows but they were covered with battens. I got desperate and started to think that I will die here soon.

Then, the door was opened. The old man was standing in front of the door. ‘’Good, you are awake’’ he said. He walked towards me and I walked backwards. ‘’Are you afraid of me?’’ he asked. ‘’You were about to kill that boy of course I am afraid of you. What do you want from me? Why did you bring me here?’’ I asked. ‘’You are a smart boy. If I wanted to kill you, I would do it so far. I want to talk with you.’’ he said. I started to think that maybe he was right. I had no choice, if I wanted to live, I had to get along with him. ‘’OK, let’s talk then.’’ I said. The old man was about to say something, but we heard a big explosion… (by Turkish team)

Lightning struck a tree next to the cottage. The tree fell down and started to burn. The fire spread quickly to the cottage. I saw the flames. The fire grew bigger and bigger. I was tied with a rope, but I managed to untie my hands. I untied my legs quickly and ran out of the cottage. But the old man stayed behind. 

Once I was outside, I started to wonder what the old man wanted from me, but I couldn’t figure it out. I decided to go back and save him. I called him and looked everywhere, but the old man was gone. So, I decided to call the fire brigade. After the fire was out, the police arrived to investigate it. 

I told them what happened and reported the old man missing. They looked everywhere in the burnt cottage. However, they found nothing. So, they announced a search for the old man. They asked me to come to the police station in the afternoon and left.