t’s a calm spring afternoon, the weather sunny and warm; birds chirp, and the neighborhood kids playing basketball in the street. There’s an expectancy in the air; kids sense parents will soon call them inside at any moment for dinner. The neighborhood kids played basketball almost every Friday evening after school. Andre heard a faint rumbling noise when suddenly massive, black SUVs pulled in front of two of the kids' houses barricading the front of the houses.

Kids stopped playing ball. The kids were scared, dogs were barking, and the birds had stopped singing their lovely tunes. Confusion and panic filled the neighborhood,

Some of the kids' parents came out of their houses to see what all the commotion was about. 

Tall men came out of the SUVs dressed in what appeared to be suits and  ties.  The kids thought they could’ve been police officers, but they didn’t seem to look like police officers at all. All the kids except for two retreated back to their homes. The two kids sat on the curb on the other side of the street waiting for the SUVs to leave so they could go back inside, little did they know it wouldn’t be that simple. 

(This section has such a cool, unique editorial voice to it; let’s see what you can do to develop it further and then I’ll read through to see if we need dialogue or more narrative.)

THREE DAYS EARLIER

Darwin and Andre grew up in the same neighborhood and spent their childhood playing together. Their lack of other friends didn’t occur to them until they were older, when kids become cruel to each other in an effort to move up the social ladder; these days, the Darwin and Andre eat together, sit together, play together, adventure around town together, shoot hoops together, pass long and boring summers together and while they understood they weren’t all that popular, it didn’t really matter as long as they had each other. 

The recess bell rang, all the kids started heading back to class. 

Once the boys got back to class, they sat down at their desks, which were conveniently right next to each other. 

The phone rang. The teacher answered the phone. It was about the boys. “Andre and Darwin, they need you down at the office, bring your things.” The boys were confused. Had they done something wrong? Was it about Darwin taking an extra chocolate milk at the lunch line yesterday? Maybe the teacher thought they cheated on the most recent math quiz. 

The boys reluctantly grabbed their bags and headed down to the office. 

Once they got to the office they saw Andre’s Mom waiting for them. She looked frazzled. 

“Come on boys, we need to go home” she said, sounding panicked. 

“Is everything okay Mom??” Andre said. 

“We shouldn’t talk about it right now hun, we need to go. Both of you.” 

Both of the boys were concerned, Andre’s Mom doesn’t usually act like this. They knew something was wrong.

The boys arrived at Andre’s house and went straight to his room. Darwin put his backpack on the floor and flopped onto Andre’s bed. Andre was pacing back and forth up and down the small bedroom. 

Andre knew something was wrong, it was unlike his mom to act like this.

 “Can you stop pacing up and down the room and just talk to me?! It’s getting annoying, your pants make an awful swishing sound.” said Darwin. 

Andre replied “No, it helps me think. Besides, my pants are the least you should be caring about right now.” 

Andre continued pacing. 

Darwin let out a hefty sigh. “Why was your mom being so weird anyways?” Darwin said. 

Andre replied “I don’t know, that's what I'm trying to figure out.”.

“What if we go outside and shoot hoops, that’ll give us something to do while we think,” said Darwin. 

Andre agreed. 

They grabbed the basketball from the garage and went out to the street to shoot hoops. Shooting hoops was one of the boys favorite activities. The boys would occasionally get all the other neighborhood kids to play with them and they would play full games. 

Darwin was dribbling up and down the street. He passed the ball to Andre, and Andre went for a freethrow. The ball bounced off the rim and rolled back towards their houses. The ball rolled up the driveway and hit Andre’s mom's car's exhaust pipe. 

Something fell out of the exhaust pipe. 

The boys walked over to grab the basketball when they noticed what came out of the exhaust pipe. 

It was a small black electronic device with wires wrapped around it. It had some buttons but the boys didn’t know what they did. Out of curiosity, Darwin picked up the strange device. 

“What even is this?” said Darwin. 

“I don’t even know what that is. Maybe you should put it back down.” Andre said. 

“What if it's evidence?” Darwin replied. 

“Evidence for what?” said Andre. 

“I don’t know, it could help us find out what's going on with your mom.” Darwin said. Darwin put it in his pocket, just in case it was important.

Andre woke up the next morning and started getting ready for the day like usual. 

He noticed his mom's car was not in the driveway like it usually is. He assumed she had to go into work early, she usually tells him the night before though. He made himself breakfast, which was a cherry poptart and a tall glass of milk. He ate his breakfast and put his shoes on. He walked out his door and started walking next door to Darwin's house so he could get a ride to school. 

Darwin’s dad’s car was gone, They must have already headed to school. 

Andre went back to his house and called his mom's work with the house phone. 

A young lady answered the phone, “This is Veridian Semiconductors, how may we help you?”. 

“Is Jasmine there today?” Andre said. 

The lady on the phone replied “Sorry, she hasn’t come into work yet. Would you like me to leave a message for her though?” 

Andre replied “N-no thank you though.” Andre hung up the phone. 

If his mom didn’t go into work early and she's not home, where could she be? Andre went into his living room and flopped onto the couch. He picked up the remote and tried turning on the TV. What else was he supposed to do all day? He clicked the power button but the TV didn’t turn on. 

He clicked it again. Nothing happened.
The batteries must be dead, Andre thought. 

He got up off the couch and went into the kitchen to rummage through the junk drawer for a screwdriver and batteries. He found a screwdriver and batteries. 

He grabbed the screwdriver and started unscrewing the screw that held the cover over the battery compartment. He pulled the cover off to reveal another small device where the batteries usually were. 

“Another one?!” Andre exclaimed. 

Andre realized it wasn’t just a piece for the car, but he didn’t know what else it would be. Maybe Darwin was right. 

Andre immediately started analyzing the device. He was looking for screw holes, some sort or branding, labels, anything that might help him track down and better understand what this strange device was. 

He noticed 2 small screws on the back of the device, he tried to unscrew them but didn’t have a small enough screwdriver. 

“Damnit.” Andre muttered under his breath. 

Andre needed to get this device opened, he needed to know what it was, if it had anything to do with his mom acting so strange. Andre knew exactly where he could find the right screwdriver:the hardware store. 

The problem was that he didn’t have any money. 

He went to his moms bedroom and started looking through her night stand for some loose change, how expensive would a screwdriver be anyways? He was able to gather up two one dollar bills and a handful of change. He went out to the garage and grabbed his bike, it was covered in mud from the last adventure he and Darwin went on.  Andre Arrived at the hardware store.

Hi, welcome in today,” an older man said. He stood behind the counter wearing an apron, a little weird for a hardware store but Andre guessed it was an old-fashioned way of keeping his nice shirt clean.

Andre pulled the device out of his pocket and set it heavily on the counter. “Do you have any screwdrivers that might fit this?”

“May I?” the clerk asked, motioning towards the hunk of metal. When Andre nodded, he methodically moved a pair of glasses that hung on a chain around his neck onto place on his nose. He scrunched his eyes as he examined the device closely. “What kind of gizmo do you have here?” 

The man took the small device to the back room and looked for a screwdriver that would fit. Andre waited patiently for the man to come back with the appropriate screwdriver. The man came back empty-handed. 

“Sorry kiddo, looks like we don’t have any screwdrivers small enough for your gizmo,” the man said as he handed the device back to Andre. 

Andre nodded, he put the device back in his pocket and walked outside. 

Andre felt so defeated. His mom was gone, he couldn’t go to school, he couldn't talk to Darwin until he came home, and he couldn't figure out what these strange devices were. 

Out of frustration, Andre threw the device on the ground as hard as he could. The front of the device popped off. It revealed what was inside of it, looks like he didn’t need the screwdriver anyways. He quickly put it in his pocket and started the journey home.

Once Andre arrived home, he pulled the device out of his pocket and sat it on the kitchen counter. Since the cover popped off the device when he had slammed it on the ground out of rage, he could now examine the insides of the device. Removing the cover revealed a whole bunch of random letters and numbers. 

Andre assumed they could be serial numbers. He had seen them on the inside of the TV remote before. Other than the serial numbers Andre noticed lots of small, organized wires. All of these wires were connected to a motherboard. Some elements that Andre was able to observe the wiring that was hooked up to the buttons in the front of the device, and what appeared to be a microphone and a speaker that wasn’t able to be seen without the cover taken off. 

Realization struck Andre: he recognized this as an audio recording device. He knew what they were because of the spy books that he used to read when he was in elementary school. In the books, the spies would put these devices around their targeted suspects to listen in on what they were saying, doing, and generally to get an insight into them. Andre swiftly grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the wires. He didn’t know for sure if it was a recording device, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He knew he had to tell Darwin as soon as he got home.

Andre waited impatiently for Darwin to come home from school. He sat on the couch in the living room so he could see when Darwin came home. He tried watching TV to make the time go by faster, but he was too paranoid. Darwin's dad's car finally pulled into their driveway.  Andre Immediately got up and ran outside to see Darwin. 

“Darwin, Darwin! We need to talk! It’s Urgent!” Andre shouted. 

“Okay, dude!” Darwin replied. 

Darwin's dad just chuckled and went inside. They clearly both didn’t understand the seriousness of this situation. 

“Wait actually, can we talk inside your house today?” Andre asked. 

Andre suspected that there could be more audio devices in his house and he didn’t want or need anyone else snooping around their business. Darwin nodded. The boys walked into Darwin's house and headed to his room. Andre pulled the device out of his pocket and slammed it down on Darwin's desk. 

“I found another one, Darwin,” Andre said.

 “I think they might be audio recording devices, like the ones they use in the spy books.” 

Darwin pulled the other strange device out of his pocket and put it on the desk to compare them. They were almost identical.

 “Where did you find it?” Darwin asked.

 “Inside the TV remote,” Andre replied. 

“Are you sure it's not just like a piece of the remote? What makes you so sure it's a spy device anyways?” Darwin asked.

 “Darwin, I’m one hundred percent sure that it’s not a piece of the TV remote. Look, there's a microphone inside of it. What TV remote would have a microphone in it?” Andre replied.

 Andre Grabbed the device that Darwin had been keeping in his pocket and slammed it on the floor. The cover popped off just like the one Andre found inside the TV remote. Andre picked up the device and sat it on the desk next to the other device. It had the same internals, same wiring, and same motherboard, just different serial numbers. Andre assumed they used the serial numbers to know which one is which. 

“Look,” Andre said.

 “It has the same guts as the one I found in the remote.” He added.

 “Okay, you convinced me,” Darwin said. 

“I think it has to do with my mom. She hasn’t been here all day. I thought she might have gone to work early, but I called and they said she didn’t show up yet.” Andre said. 

“Who would want to know anything about your mom anyways?” Darwin asked. 

Andre shrugged.

 “I know she works for an electronics company, She's kind of a big deal there. I mean she's like a genius and everything.” Andre said.

 “What if she knows something that they don’t want her to know? That could explain the audio devices in your house and why she's been so strange the past couple of days.” Darwin said.

 Andre let out a large sigh. 

Darwin’s dad knocked on the bedroom door and walked in.

 “You boys want me to order a pizza for dinner?” Darwin’s dad asked. 

“Yeah dad, that’ll be great. Can you order breadsticks too?” Darwin replied.

 “Sure thing kiddo. Let me know if you guys need anything, I’ll come to get you when the pizza arrives.”  Darwin's dad said.

 Andre was surprised that Darwin's dad didn’t see the devices on the desk.

 “We need to destroy these,” Andre said.

 “Why?” Darwin replied.

 “I don’t want them spying on us, they could sabotage us or something,” Andre said. 

“Let's go grab the baseball bat from the garage and smash them,” Darwin said. The boys grabbed the baseball bat from the garage and went out to the driveway to smash the devices. Andre put both of the devices on the ground. The boys were going to take turns smashing them. The boys were getting ready to smash the devices when the pizza delivery guy pulled up to the house. The boys sat down the bat and grabbed the pizza from the delivery guy. The boys went inside and set the pizza on the counter.

“You kiddos ready to eat?” said Darwin's dad. 

The boys didn’t want to leave the devices out there but, what's the worst that could happen? They were both really hungry anyway. 

“Yeah, I’m actually really hungry,” said Andre

They all grabbed a slice of pizza and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Thank you for the pizza Mr Sinclar,” Andre said

“Of course kiddo, you know you're welcome here anytime.” Darwin's dad replied

The boys finished eating their pizza and got up to put their plates in the dishwasher. The boys headed outside to finish what they had started. The devices were gone. 

“Where did they go?!” Andre exclaimed.

“Uh, I don’t know?! Look around!” Darwin replied frantically

Andre slumped down onto the ground. He felt so defeated. There was nothing he could do, and he knew his mom was in danger.

“We should just go inside and tell my dad about it.” Darwin said.

“No, he’ll think that we are crazy,” Andre said.

“Let's just go inside, they are gone so I doubt they are spying on us anyways,” Darwin said.

Andre woke up. He had spent the night at Darwin's house last night, his mom still wasn’t home. Both the boys ate breakfast and had Darwin's dad take them to school. Andre was ready to have a normal day, the devices had disappeared and he was back at school with his best friend. He was praying nothing bad would happen. The boys arrived at school and headed to class as usual. The first few periods of the day were normal, nothing out of the ordinary. Andre just had science notes to catch up on from the previous day he had missed. It was lunchtime, and the boys met up at their usual spot and got in line to get their food. It was Friday, on Fridays the lunch ladies would serve nachos and chocolate milk, and everyone loved that. The boys got their food and went outside to sit. They sat at the bench like usual, Andre was starting to think that today was going to be a good day. Andre noticed a large black car going up and down the street outside the school. He ignored it and didn’t tell Darwin, he just wanted to have a normal day. The bell rang, and the boys went back to their classroom. They only had 2 periods left. No way anything bad could happen Andre thought. Just like that, the school dayl was over. The boys were excited to play basketball with the rest of the neighborhood kids like they usually did after school on Fridays. The boys waited for Darwin's dad to pick them up like usual. He arrived and they headed home.  When the boys got home, Andre noticed that his mom’s car was parked in the driveway. 

“Hey Darwin, my mom's home. I’m gonna talk to her then I'll come over to hang out.” Andre said

“Okay, that works” Darwin replied 

Andre walked into his house.

“Mom! I’m home!” Andre said

“I’m in the kitchen” She responded 

Andre ran up to his mom and gave her a big hug.

“Where have you been mom?!” Andre said

“I’m so sorry hun, I went into work early yesterday and I didn’t come home till late last night. I called Darwin's dad and he said you were asleep at his house. Then this morning I went in early to finish a work project, I should have called you and told you” said Andre’s mom

“I’m sorry I've been so.. strange recently. I wish I could explain but not right now” she added

“It’s okay momma, I'm just happy you are home,” Andre said

“I’m gonna go play basketball with Darwin and the neighbors, is that okay mom?” Andre asked

“Yes, that sounds great. I’ll call you in for dinner when it’s ready” Andre’s mom said.

Andre put his backpack in his room and then ran out the door, he saw Darwin and the neighborhood kids hanging around the basketball hoop waiting for him. The neighborhood kids played basketball almost every Friday after school. All the other kids were younger than Andre and Darwin, so they didn’t go to the same school but it was still fun for the kids to have people to play with. 

“Is everyone ready to play!?” Yelled Darwin.

“Yeah!” All the kids exclaimed simultaneously

The kids evenly divided themselves into groups and started playing basketball. The kids played for about an hour until one of the kids' parents came out to tell them they would need to come eat dinner soon. 

“It’s already five o’clock?!” Darwin said

“I guess so” Andre replied

“I think we can squeeze in one more game before dinner,” Andre said

The kids continued their game, hoping they would have enough time before their parents made them come inside for dinner. Suddenly, the kids spot a fleet of large black SUVs pulling into the cul de sac. The SUVs stop at Andre and Darwin's house and barricaded the front of them, there must be at least 4 blocking the entrance. The commotion notified the parents, and all the kids are called into their homes.
“What is going on?!” Darwin shouts.

“I don’t know!” Andre Replies frantically

Tall men in black suits and ties come out of the SUV’s. The men head towards the boys' homes. They looked very sophisticated, the boys thought they could be government officials. 

“What is going on!?” Darwin said frantically.

“I think my mom is in trouble!” Andre exclaimed,

“We need to do something!” Andre added.

“I agree, but we need a plan. We can’t just rush inside” Darwin said

Andre nodded and took deep breaths to call himself down.

“Here, let's sit on the curb while we make our plan of attack...Or defense,” Darwin said.

“Good idea, we will have perfect visibility”  Andre added.

“So, what is our pla-” Andre was cut off by a large boom.

Smoke was coming out of the house, All the car alarms were going off, and there was an awful stench. 

“We need to go help my mom!” Andre shouted,

“But look at the smoke!” Darwin exclaimed

Andre completely ignored what Darwin had said and ran inside the house to find his mom.

“Mom!” Andre shouted,

“Where are you!” He added,

“I’m over here!” she said

Andre’s mom was laying on the floor of the kitchen covered in blood, with a massive burn on her side.

“Oh no! We need to call 911!” Andre shouted

He gave his mom a towel to put on the wound until the ambulance arrived. He picked up the phone and dialed 911.

“Please send help! My mom is hurt!” He shouted on the phone.

“Okay, stay put. We have an ambulance on its way.” The 911 dispatcher said.

THE NEXT DAY

Andre and Darwin were in the hospital room with Andre’s mom. She was lying on the bed with an IV connected to her arm and a massive bandage wrapped around her side. There were plenty of flowers and gifts on the table in the room. Plenty of family members and friends had come in to check on Andre’s mom. A news lady came into the hospital room with a cameraman. She was here to interview the boys and Andre’s mom about what had happened. 

“So, can you explain what happened? The whole town has heard about it and is concerned” The news lady said

“Yes Ma’am. Over the last week, I had been very busy at work and I was very close to discovering a massive breakthrough in my work, for everyone that may not know I work at Veridian Semiconductors. Anyway, I figured out how to reduce the size of the semiconductors by seventy percent of their current size, and this would result in everything with any sort of electronic in it would be able to be reduced in size. I notified the board about my discovery and showed them my tests and my scientific papers stating all this information. They didn’t like this because they had created a ‘Standard way of production’ for their semiconductors, but when I informed them I was going to publish my finding to the public they tried to silence me. They didn’t want any companies having better semiconductors than them, or even knowing how they worked so they saw this as a big threat. In return they had started putting trackers in my car, spying on me, threatening my job, my life, and even my child's wellbeing.” Andre’s mom said,

“Wow, that must have been tough to go through, I’m glad that there have been so many people donating and helping your cause, even the US government is getting involved with Veridian Corp.” The news lady said.

“You didn’t mention anything about the smoke and the explosions though, would you like to explain?” The news lady added

“Yes, so all the men in the black SUVs were working for Veridian Semiconductors, and they were trying to do harm to me. Luckily I was prepared for this. I knew precisely what time they would come into my house looking for me, and the previous night I had produced a substance that would instantly disintegrate things when it came in contact with human flesh. So, I kept it in a specific spray bottle in the kitchen and acted like I was doing the dishes, so this way I would be prepared when they came through the front door. As soon as they came through the door I had thrown the bottle onto the floor and it had splashed the substance all over, causing an eruption, which resulted in all the agents being disintegrated.” Andre’s mom said.

“That was not the ending I had expected, but I am happy you and Andre are safe now and making a full recovery,” The news lady said,

“It is to my knowledge that you have a security team from the state patrol with you at all time right now, correct?” She had added

“Yes, those were the people that you saw outside my door. As soon as I’m well enough I will be publishing my findings for everyone to see, I believe that knowledge should be shared so humanity as a whole can progress as a species.” Andre’s mom said.

“What an inspirational story.” the news lady sad

“Well, I wish you the best and I hope for the best of luck with your recovery.” The news lady said as she left the room.

Andre, Darwin, and Andre’s mom finally had some alone time after the chaotic week. Andre sat on the bed with his mom and snuggled in close to her. 

“I love you, mom, I’m so glad you are okay,” Andre said.

Shortly after that Andre and his mom had fallen asleep next to each other eager for what would unfold next.