THE SEARCHERS

Alex Brosnan

5th Grade • King Arts

Finally, I don't have to care about what other people think of me, just the world of the book I'm reading. If you couldn’t tell already, I have major social anxiety. The only thing that can distract me from school and the real world is the library and the world within the books. This is where you could find me most of the time if I am not in school.

Right after school I go straight to the library to study, do my homework and best of all get stuck in a story for hours and hours. If I’m lucky enough the librarians let me stay after hours. I don't really talk to my parents, usually I come home and they are still at work, and in the mornings they are at work. So, usually I have to take care of me and my sister, Lola. I go by myself to therapy, and take the train to The Beacon School, which is the high school I go to. I don't really have that many friends besides Nick, who is the only person I can really talk openly to without getting nervous. He and I do a lot of things together and we have been best friends since 2nd grade. We aren’t the most popular which is fine by me. The less attention brought to me, the less people can judge me.

Today, Nick had a party and I was invited. I said maybe, but there is no way I am going. Of course, I didn’t go and went to the library instead. My favorite librarian, Mr. Brown, let me stay late like he usually does. It was getting really late and nobody was there except me. I thought I heard footsteps. I left the nook that

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I always read in, and took a look around. I didn't see anything so far, so I kept looking. I heard books fall upstairs, and I sprinted up the stairs to catch the intruder. It was a kid my age holding rare books, he was stepping into a tunnel. I had no clue what to say or what to do. Then out of nowhere, another kid hit me in the head and I went falling to the floor.

When I woke up, I was in bed. It turned out it was a dream or so I thought, but it wasn’t my bed. I looked out the window and I saw a whole village built on the sides of what looked like a huge cave. The is a trolley system weaving through the cave to shops and parks. I had no clue what this place was, but to me it looked like a city run by kids.

There was a knock at the door, I opened it and saw someone who looked like the same guy that kidnapped me. He told me where I was. ”Welcome to Run City, a city run by kids who feel they don’t belong, orphans and runaways. By the way my name is Darren,’’ he said.

“But I'm not a runaway, you kidnapped me,” I protested.

“Do you like your life, never having a family around to take care of you? Always being worried about what other people think? Here you don't have to think that. We all come from difficult backgrounds, such as abandoned at birth, always having felt like an outcast and runaways. So do you want to stay with us and be a Searcher and never have to worry again?” he said convincingly.

“What's a searcher?” I asked.

“A searcher is a kid who goes through tunnels to museums and libraries to steal valuable items and sell them for money to improve Run City,” Darren said.

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“What’s in it for me?,” I questioned.

“Everything, a home, a community and most importantly a family,” he responded.

I thought, what if my parents notice that I'm gone and who will be able to take care of Lola. My parents are never around, will they even care if I leave. “Won’t my parents notice that I’m gone,” I finally said.

“Have your parents ever noticed you?” he said opposingly.

Well, the last time my parents spent a lot of time with me was when we went to London which sparked my love of reading, and that was when I was 11. We went to England about 5 years ago. “Well does Run City have a library?” I asked.

“Of course we do, we steal books for a living,” he responded.

“It’s settled, I’m staying here,” I finally said. I thought to myself that this was the worst or best decision I ever made.

Darren said that this is the house I would live in and all the stuff I needed was right in the house. The best thing for me to do was to explore my new home.

The first place I needed to go was the library to get my mind off Run City. The first thing I noticed was that everybody was wearing an all black outfit. The one thing that I would need to get used was going to the library on an elevated trolly. At least I was able to hold onto the book that I was in the middle of. It took a little while to get in the rhythm, but finally I got into the story and was able to block out all the thoughts that had been weighing me down, and then they started floating away, just like the underground world around me. The heaviest thought I had was whether I made the right decision. I know life won’t be that

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different because I usually take care of myself. The difference is I always knew that my parents would be there if something happened.

After exploring for a while, I found little parks and nice cafes. While I was having some coffee and a scone, a kid in a bulletproof vest came up to me and told me that the mayor of Run City wanted to see me. After waiting for thirty minutes in City Hall, the same guy with the vest told me it was my time.

“Hello, Sam, I have been expecting you. You have decided to become a searcher,” said the mayor who looked like she was eighteen.

“Yep,” I said unsurely.

“Tonight will be your first search and it will be in the Met,” she said.

“How do they not notice that the pieces are missing?” I asked cautiously.

“We obviously take care of that, we have kids who specialize in replicas and research the pieces for each day. They then use the replicas to put in the place of the piece you take,” she said confidently. ”Isn’t that illegal?” I asked. “Well, they do get artwork by professionals anyways and can you find a better way to make money to sustain thousands of kids,” she said cunningly.

“Fine, is there anything I need to do before I leave?” I sighed.

“Yes, there is a black sweatshirt, black pants, black shoes, gloves and a bulletproof vest, put it all on and don’t worry about

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getting caught by security, we are the security,” she said lastly. The only thing I could think about after I left the mayor’s office, was that I was going to really steal priceless pieces of artwork.

Finally, it was time to go. We went by tunnel, which was not the most ideal, but at least it worked. It turned out that I was going with two kids, one named Julio, who was an orphan and was sixteen just like me. Also, there was Maddie, who ran away from her home when she was twelve and the mayor took her in, and she is now seventeen. It turned out that we were going to steal a Van Gogh, which is the stupidest thing I would do in my life. It was clear that I better get used to feeling guilty because if I was going to do this, I could not let feeling guilty bother him.

When we got into the museum, we found the painting which wasn’t hard because we were able to roam the halls without worrying, which is kind of ironic. As soon as we took the painting, I wanted to run and get out of there but we needed to put the fake back into place. Once we did, I left the painting and ran.

How will I ever live like this, stealing for a living? When I got to the house, I fell right asleep, letting all of my terrible problems fade away, while I drifted off. When I woke up I wasn’t sure that I was going to stay here in Run City, so I went to talk to the Mayor.

“Come in,” the Mayor said.

“I don't know about doing this instead of living with my family,” I sighed.

“OK, give it a couple more tries and then see how you feel. At first you might not care about anybody, but after you start

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connecting with other people you might want to stay or may not. Maybe you want to do research instead, since you like to read,” she said hopefully.

“I guess I will try it, but which museum do you want me to research?” I said with a slight bit of hope.

“Not a museum, a library, in fact the exact library you used to go to, Proskauer Rose Goetz Library,” she said.

“Why that one?,” I said.

“Well, you know a lot about it and also to test your knowledge. So, you will be in charge of that search, do you think you can do that?” she asked enthusiastically.

“I guess,” I said hesitantly. OK, I can do this, I know the place by heart, I thought.

“By the way, go on the bronze trolley to The Eastern Park and then go to the house next to the park. The kid in there will help you work on the plan,” she added lastly. So, I followed her instructions and ended up at the kid’s house. His name was Benny, and he came from Washington Heights. He was seventeen.

We decided to enter and come up from behind the front desk, and go to the Science section. We also thought it made the most sense for only one person to go because we did not think we should get too many books so it didn’t raise suspicion since we just went there for a search. At the end of the planning, I realized I had my first real friend, Benny, at Run City.

Once we finished, he invited me for dinner. He also invited a couple of his friends, it was nice. I knew one thing, I definitely had more friends today than yesterday. So far it was the best day in Run City, and I had to admit it’s not as bad as I thought.

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The next couple days were really good. A new store and new park opened. We sold the books from our search and I also planned a search at The Cloisters, where we got some historical pieces. I talked to the Mayor and she convinced me to try to go on a search again. She let me pick the place, and pick the person I was going with. Obviously, I chose Benny. The painting I chose to steal was a portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. That was a really good search, and the painting sold for $500,000, which could create a great new addition to Run City. The addition is a statue of the founder of Run City. On the statue there will be a plaque that has the story that you are now reading.

One Month Later:

After planning and going on many searches, I have realized that this is now my family and community. I have always felt like I never had a strong connection to my family. I never had anyone I felt safe sharing my feelings with, but here I feel differently because we have a connection that makes us family. I know I can talk about my feelings, and know that I will not be judged, no matter what, because together we are family.

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