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Welcome to the Heist!

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“Eric, wake up.”

There was a soft groan as Eric felt himself being shaken. He opened his eyes and stared at the silhouette standing right next to his bed. “What do you want Jasper?” He asked grumpily, he was annoyed that he was woken up in the middle of the night.

“I needed to talk to you,” Jasper whispered in Eric's ear. He was practically bouncing up and down, clearly excited about something. “It's really important.”

Eric sighed irritably, “do you have any idea what time it is?” He questioned, not taking his bleary eyes off the boy. “What if matron heard you?”

Jasper scoffed at Eric's questions, “it's only midnight.” He responded dismissively completely ignoring the scowl that Eric was giving him. “Matron is probably sound asleep. She only does a patrol once and that's way before midnight.”

Eric let out a huff, he just wanted Jasper to get to the point so he could go back to sleep. He didn't utter a word, instead he waited for Jasper to explain why he woke him up in the middle of the night.

“Remember those cookies in the kitchen?” Jasper asked Eric as he sat down on the edge of Eric's bed. “The ones Matron said we couldn't have because they were cooling.”

Eric frowned at Jasper, why was he sitting on his bed? Why couldn't he just go to sleep? “I remember,” Eric murmured as he kicked at Jasper to get him off his bed but he couldn’t quite reach. “Are you planning on taking them?”

“We are going to take them.” Jasper corrected as he leaned in closer to Eric's face. He was so close that their noses were almost touching. Eric gritted his teeth as he tried to resist the urge to push Jasper away. He saw the Cheshire cat grin and it made him uncomfortable. “And we're going to do it tonight.”

Eric blinked once, then twice as he stared at Jasper without uttering a word. Was he out of his mind? What made him think that he could steal cookies late at night without waking anyone up? Jasper looked at Eric expectantly, he wanted an answer and Jasper wasn’t going to leave him alone until he got one. “Goodnight Jasper.” Eric responded quickly and bluntly as he turned on his side away from Jasper. Hopefully that would send a clear message.

Jasper frowned at his friend's response. It wasn't like Eric to turn him down like that. This would not do, he needed to rectify the situation. He needed to get Eric back on side. He leapt off the bed to the side where Eric was facing and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. Eric groaned at the sudden light shining in his face and quickly sat upright shielding his eyes with his arm. “Why?!” He cried out suddenly causing the other boys in the room to wake up glaring at them.

“It's fine, Eric just had a bad dream.” Jasper explained to the annoyed boys in the room. “I'm taking care of it.” The boys grumbled under their breaths, calling Eric a crybaby before they lay back down and went to sleep.

Jasper heaved a sigh of relief but Eric wasn't amused. “I was having a bad dream, really?” He hissed at the other boy, he wasn’t happy about being thrown under the bus like that. “Those guys already think that I'm the worst and you say that?”

Jasper smiled sheepishly at Eric, “it was the first thing that popped into my head.” Jasper explained as Eric shook his head and rolled his eyes at him. “So are you in?”

“It's not like I have a choice,” Eric remarked as he climbed out of bed. “You wouldn't leave me alone unless I said yes.”

“Am I really that bad?” Jasper questioned. He only received a nod in response. “Whatever,” Jasper scoffed as he crept towards the door. “Let's go.”

Eric followed him, Jasper reached into his bag and pulled out a torch. He switched it on and opened the door, shining the light into the dark hallway. The torchlight wasn't particularly bright but it was enough to allow him to see. He looked left first towards the bathroom and staff bedrooms and saw nothing. He then looked right towards the girls’ room and the stairs. It was all clear there too.

“It's clear,” he whispered to Eric. They pushed the door open wider and walked through before quietly closing the door behind them. They didn't want anyone to get suspicious.

Jasper stepped forward holding the torch out in front of him so he could see where he was going. Eric was close behind him, he looked around nervously. It was the same hallway that he walked through every day. Except in the pitch darkness with a torch as the only light made the place seem eerie. “This place is really spooky at night.” Eric whispered in Jasper’s ear.

“Come on Eric, it's not that bad,” Jasper remarked as he tried to sound as encouraging as possible. “No one's around except us and the monsters have gone away.”

“If you say so,” Eric muttered as the two kept walking towards the stairs. They were cautious with each step they took out of fear that they may step on a creaky floorboard and wake everyone up. With each step they took they held their breath then released it with each successful step. Once their feet touched the coarse carpet at the bottom they looked around to make sure no one else was downstairs.

They didn’t hear any footsteps or see any other light source so they made their way to the kitchen. Eric stayed close to Jasper, the strange shadows frightened him. “How much further to the kitchen?” He whispered as he glanced around at the overstretched shadows of the hallside table and lamp. He wanted to turn the lamp on to give them more light but that could potentially wake everyone up.

“Not much further,” Jasper whispered back as the two continued to tip toe down the hall. They soon came to a stop at a door that was slightly ajar. Jasper carefully pushed it open and even in the dim torchlight he could see that the room was the kitchen. He looked around and he saw the cookie jar resting on top of the fridge. “There it is!” Jasper exclaimed though not loud enough to wake anyone up. He nudged Eric’s arm and pointed towards the cookie jar.

“It looks really high up, beyond our reach.” Eric uttered as he started to walk away. “I’m going back to bed.”

“Wait, don’t go.” Jasper grabbed Eric’s arm and pulled him back. “We made it this far, we can make it all the way. We just need to walk into the kitchen, grab a chair and use it to get to the jar on top of the fridge. It’s really that easy.”

Eric frowned at Jasper as he tried to stifle a yawn. He just wanted to get back to bed, he wasn’t even in the mood for cookies. “I’m starting to think I need a better friend.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Alright, let’s go, we’ll go together on the count of three. One, two, three.” They both took a step into the kitchen and froze looking around to make sure they didn’t somehow wake everyone up. But when they didn’t hear anything they started to walk towards the kitchen table.

As they walked Eric stopped, “something doesn’t feel right.” He uttered as Jasper turned to face him.

“It’s probably just you being paranoid,” Jasper remarked dismissively as he took another step. “Come on.”

Eric groaned but he continued to follow Jasper. Though with each step they took their vision started to blur. “I really don’t feel right.” Eric spoke up once more as he rubbed his eyes, but that didn’t do much to clear his vision.

“Yeah, me too. I feel dizzy.” Jasper murmured as he almost lost his balance. “What’s happening?”

Eric didn’t say a word, everything around him was spinning and he started to feel sick. He fell to his knees wanting to cry. “I want to go back to bed.” He whispered as he closed his eyes tightly.

“We can get through this,” Jasper reassured him though he wasn’t entirely sure himself. It couldn’t have been something they ate, they would’ve felt sick much sooner. Was it something in the kitchen? “We just need to wait a moment and we’ll be fine.”

Eric opened his eyes and his vision seemed to clear but then everything started to appear bigger. “Jasper, I think everything has grown bigger.”

Jasper looked around and everything did seem to be growing. Then he looked down at his feet and gasped. “Eric, I don’t think everything’s growing bigger.” He uttered, there was a hint of concern in his voice for the first time that evening. “I think we’re getting smaller.”

Eric looked down and let out a cry, although it sounded more like a squeak. “You’re right! We’ve shrunk! Now what do we do?!”

“Let’s not panic here,” Jasper responded as he tried to keep calm though he was finding it increasingly difficult. “This is just a little setback that’s all.”

“A little setback!” Eric yelled as he glared at Jasper through tired eyes. “We’re no bigger than mice! How are we supposed to get to the cookies now?!

“We’ll find a way, stop yelling at me,” Jasper moaned as he looked around. “Let’s get to the top of the table.”

“How do we do that?”

“We climb, duh?”

Eric scowled at him before he walked over to the nearest chair. It wasn’t anything special, just a standard wooden chair that could be found in any kitchen. It was a little worn but with their size they should be able to climb it without issue. Eric turned to look back at Jasper. “Give me a boost.”

Jasper blinked at him. “I was going to ask you that.”

“I’m not asking, I'm telling.”

“Since when did you become so bossy?”

“Since you woke me late at night and dragged me into your little scheme. I’m not going to repeat myself, Jasper.”

Jasper sighed and walked over to Eric, “fine, but just so you know I’m not used to someone else calling the shots.”

“I know,” Eric retorted with an amused smile spread across his face. Jasper cupped his hands and held them out for Eric. He winced as Eric placed his foot onto his hands but he was able to boost Eric up enough for him to reach the rung on the chair.

Eric gripped it tightly to stablise himself. He looked down for a second and instantly regretted it. It was much higher than he had anticipated. “You don’t look so good Eric!” Jasper called out to him. “Want to swap and I can climb?!”

Eric shook his head, “not a chance!” He called down to Jasper he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction especially after everything he did so far. He took a deep breath and started to pull himself towards the front chair leg. He examined it as he got close. It was thick enough to support the chair, but not too thick that he couldn’t use it to climb further up.

He reached out for the leg and wrapped his arms and legs around it and carefully climbed up the chair leg to the seat. When he was safely on the seat he let out a relieved sigh and carefully peeked over the edge. He couldn’t see Jasper clearly anymore and he quickly stepped back feeling dizzy. He would never see the kitchen table the same again. He looked at the back of the chair and saw the wooden pillars that gave the back its shape. The gaps were wide enough that he could climb them.

Eric climbed up the columns and pulled himself up to the top of the chair. Fortunately the table wasn’t too far away and he was able to ease himself on to it. He looked around the top of the table, there was a bowl of fruit on there, not really unusual and what looked like a knitting kit with multi-coloured balls of yarn. He smiled at that, the yarn would be useful. He walked over to the nearest one, it was a ball of royal blue yarn. On closer inspection he saw the end of the yarn sticking out. That meant it had been used recently, good, he could use it as a rope for Jasper to climb up. He grabbed the end of the thread and pulled on it to extend it, he walked with it to the end of the table. He placed it down and went back to the ball of yarn and pushed a notebook in front of it. That way it wouldn’t be dragged down by Jasper climbing on the yarn.

Jasper was pacing round the bottom of the table, he paused to look up to see where Eric had gotten to before he resumed pacing. “What’s taking him so long?” He muttered as he tapped his foot impatiently. “He must’ve reached the top by now.” His eyes widened as he saw the blue yarn drop down and land next to him. He smiled as he approached the yarn and grabbed hold of it.

As he started to climb he wasn’t aware of a large shadow looming towards him. He smiled as he saw Eric peering over the edge of the table. However, Eric didn’t smile back. His eyes were wide as he stared at something approaching Jasper. “Behind you Jasper!” He called out as he pointed a shaky finger.

Jasper turned around confused only to duck down just as paw swiped at him. Jasper stared wide eyed at a large tabby cat crouched at the table. “No Archie! Go away!” Jasper called out to it. The cat simply stared up at Jasper licking its lips before it swiped its paw at him again. “Eric! Pull me up!”

Eric ran over to the hanging yarn and began to frantically pull it up. Jasper clung on for dear life as he was slowly but surely being pulled up to safety. Archie didn’t give up so easily though. He kept jumping up with his claws outstretched trying to catch Jasper. Eric pulled on the yarn faster and faster until Jasper had reached the top of the table. Jasper panted as he tried to steady his rapidly beating heart. He couldn’t believe that the orphanage cat had tried to catch him and eat him.

Jasper and Eric peered over the table to see Archie staring up at them meowing and hissing. The cat turned its head and saw the chair, he crouched down and prepared to jump on to the chair. Eric and Jasper quickly pushed the ball of yarn off the table and it rolled passed Archie. The cat’s eyes widened as he chased after the ball of yarn instead as it rolled out of the kitchen. Jasper and Eric sighed with relief. “That should keep him busy for a while.” Eric remarked as Jasper murmured in agreement. Eric looked at Jasper confused. “Why was Archie trying to catch you?”

“Probably mistook me for a mouse,” Jasper answered. It was the only explanation he had and it was the only one that made sense. They were no bigger than mice and to a cat like Archie it wouldn’t make a difference. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

Eric frowned as he heard those words. “Oh so NOW you think it was a bad idea?!” He scolded Jasper, he was tired, frustrated and small. He wanted to go back to bed but he couldn’t until they figured out a way to return to their regular size.

“I didn’t know this would happen,” Jasper protested as he tried not to shrink back from Eric’s fury. It was rare but when he did lose his temper everyone knew it. “We’ll figure it out and then we can get the cookies.”

Eric let out a sigh, “or we could just go back to bed.”

“It’s too late for that now!” Jasper exclaimed as he recovered from the trauma of the cat attack. “The cookies are just there,” he pointed towards the cookie jar still resting on the fridge. “We just need to get to the other side.”

“How are we supposed to do that?”

Jasper’s heart sank as they looked over at the other side. There was a large gap between the table and the counter and there was a great distance to the ground. If they fell, Jasper didn’t even want to think about it. He turned his attention to the middle of the table to look for anything they could use to bridge the gap. He spotted the knitting needles but they wouldn’t help much. A small pile of books but they would’ve been too big and heavy to move. There was the sugar bowl with a spoon still inside it.

Jasper stared at it for a moment and wondered. He looked over at Eric, “I think I have an idea.”

Eric blinked at Jasper and kept a neutral expression. “Words I don’t think I ever want to hear from you again.”

“Just come and help me.

“Fine.”

Eric ran over to Jasper and looked at the spoon in the sugar bowl. “That’s your plan?”

“Help me get the spoon out of the bowl.” Jasper spoke as he crouched down so Eric could climb on to his shoulders. He reached up to grab the handle of the teaspoon and carefully pulled on it. The spoon flipped and landed on the table. Eric climbed down from Jasper’s shoulders and the two looked at it. It was definitely going to take both of them to move it. They pulled the spoon over to a paper weight in the middle of the table and carefully balanced it on top of the weight. Jasper looked around and he spotted something slightly sticking out of the rim of the overhead light.

“Is that a marble?” Eric asked as he looked up and saw that the object was a coloured ball.

“Yeah, it must’ve gotten stuck up there earlier. We just need to pull it down so that it’ll land on the spoon.”

Eric stared at the balanced spoon nervously, “I’m not sure I like this idea.” He uttered as Jasper ignored him and grabbed hold of some loose yarn and tied one of it into a loop. He and Eric then climbed up and sat in the bowl part of the spoon. Jasper spun the yarn round over his head before he launched it towards the marble. It missed and fell back down.

Jasper tried it again and missed a second time. He grew frustrated and swung it round much harder before launching it. He winced as he felt the yarn connect with something and tighten. He smirked as he pulled on the yarn pulling the marble down. It fell and landed on the other end of the spoon propelling it and the boys upwards and over the gap.

Eric screamed as he held on to Jasper for dear life while Jasper was laughing the whole time. That was what he called a plan. The two landed on top of a small pile of neatly folded tea towels. They regained their bearings and looked over at the table and Jasper cheered, “we did it! I knew my plan would work!”

“I don’t feel so good,” Eric groaned as he held his stomach.

Jasper laughed and patted Eric on the back, “oh come on you’ll be fine, just a little further.” Eric wretched as he threw up on the counter. “Eric, you gotta learn to hold it in.” Jasper muttered as he stared at Eric in disgust.

“I’ll bear that in mind the next time you want to throw me over a chasm.”

“Stop whining, we're almost there,” Jasper remarked as he pointed to the fridge.

“How are we supposed to get up there?!” Eric questioned as he looked up at the cookie jar. “That is way too high!”

“We just need to find things that we can use to climb.” Jasper responded as he patted Eric on the shoulder. “Just relax, it’ll be fine.”

“I’ll relax when we’re back to normal.”

Jasper shook his head and he looked around. He spotted a large bread bin and he and Eric pushed it up against the fridge. They found smaller containers and pushed them up against the bread bin to act as makeshift stairs. They found smaller items to pile on top of the bread bin. Onwards and upwards they climbed and added things until eventually they reached the top.

“We did it!” Jasper cried out as he pulled Eric into a one armed hug. “I knew we could!”

“I never doubted you for a second.” Eric muttered sarcastically.

“Don’t be such a sourpuss,” Jasper complained as he and Eric reached out to the cookie jar. As soon as they touched it they were met with the same dizzying sensation.

“My eyes have gone funny again!”

“Mine too!”

“Are we shrinking further?”

“No, I think we’re growing bigger!”

They sighed with relief as everything in the kitchen looked like normal again. They opened the jar and Jasper was about to take a cookie when they heard the sound of footsteps. They looked over as a middle aged woman wearing a dressing gown was standing in the doorway. “Put the cookie back.” She called out sternly as she approached them. Jasper obeyed and he put the jar back down.

“How did you know we were here?” Eric asked the woman.

“I heard a lot of commotion coming from down here. So I went to check on you all.” She explained as she frowned at the two of them. “I saw that your beds were empty and I knew that you would try something.”

“Fair, but why did we shrink?”

She smiled at hearing that, “so my spell did work. How was it being the size of a mouse?”

“Horrible,” Eric complained, “everything was so big and then Archie tried to catch us. Was he part of it too?”

The woman shook her head, “Archie was just behaving like cats do.” She answered as she reached out to both of them. “Let’s get you down from there.” She brought them both down from the fridge but she wasn’t done with them yet. “I had told you Jasper that you would have to wait until tomorrow for cookies but patience has never been your strong suit. I expected you to pull a stunt like this but you Eric.” She turned to look at him. “I expected better from you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t blame Eric, it was all me. I dragged him into it.” Jasper admitted. “If you want to punish me further then go ahead but for Eric being shrunk is punishment enough. Especially with all the things we had to do to get to the cookie jar and break the spell.”

She looked at them puzzled, “I didn’t put a spell on the cookie jar.” She told them, the whole point of it was to stop them from getting to it. “And if you’d have waited twenty minutes it would’ve worn off.”

“You’re kidding me!” Eric shouted as he glared at Jasper. “You had us do all of that and all we had to do was wait for it to wear off!?”

“How was I supposed to know?!”

“Boys please, you’ll wake the whole place up. Let’s get you to bed and we can discuss your punishment in the morning.” She spoke calmly as she began to usher them out of the kitchen.

“Can we at least have a cookie?” Jasper asked as she stared down at him.

“No, I’m not going to reward you for going against my orders.” She told him flat out as they entered the hallway. “Now get upstairs to bed, we’ll talk more in the morning.”

“Yes matron,” Eric and Jasper spoke at the same time as they walked up the stairs to their room. They were tired and annoyed that they didn’t get the cookies in the end but all they wanted was to go back to bed.

As soon as they went upstairs the matron walked back into the kitchen and had a look around. She had noticed that one of her balls of yarn was missing. Archie probably got hold of it. She would get it back from him later. She spotted the teaspoon lying at the edge of the table and everything stacked up on the counter at the side of the fridge. She couldn’t help but chuckle, despite their disobedience they had used what resources were at their disposal to reach their goal.

“Those boys really are something special.” She whispered to herself as she turned the kitchen light off and closed the door behind her.

The Adventure Continues

If you enjoyed the low stakes hijinks with Jasper and Eric then you will enjoy the higher emotional stakes in the Little Hamlin Chronicles book series. The boys' story is just beginning, and the world grows much larger from here.

Sirensong (Book 1)- Jasper is juggling magical training and school work. Eric is the only survivor of a shipwreck. Both boys are plagued by a mysterious nightly song. They reunite but things are tense between them.

Sirensong Encore (Book 2)- Eric disappears without a trace and Jasper must leave his comfort zone to find him. But in order to find him he must team up with a former friend who betrayed him in the past.

Bloodlust (Book 3)- Things take a darker turn as the sleepy town of Little Hamlin is terrorised by a nocturnal attacker leaving bite marks on the victims neck. Hushed rumours of a vampire spread through town. Things really kick off when supernatural investigator Fiona Crescent arrives on the island.

The Trial (Book 4)- The vampire has been captured and is due to stand trial for the attacks. Jasper is dealing with the magical and social fall out of the "Nocturnal Attacker" and his role in the whole thing. Tensions in Little Hamlin are high and Jasper learns how hard being in the middle truly is.

All four of my books are currently available on Amazon. Click on the button below to visit my Amazon page.