Short Stories for Kids: Back Home
One fine day, Reyansh was camping with his family when he heard some sounds coming from the forest. He tugged on his daddy’s pants and pointed towards the forest, “Daddy, do you hear that?”
“Hear what, Reyansh?” His daddy replied.
“The sounds, daddy. It’s coming from there” he said pointing towards the forest again, “Listen”
“I don’t hear anything, Reyansh” his daddy said, trying to listen to the sounds for a minute.
“Can we once please go and check, daddy?” he asked
“Sure”, his daddy took Reyansh near the entrance of the forest and looked inside but they saw nothing.
The day was spent laughing, playing, eating and being together. It was midnight and everyone was fast asleep in their tents when Reyansh heard the sounds again. He got up and poked his face outside the tent. He saw nothing and was about to go back to sleep when he heard the sounds again. He came out of the tent and started looking around.
He moved near the entrance of the forest and saw a tiny dinosaur hiding behind the bushes. Just as he opened his mouth to scream, the baby T-Rex jumped on him and closed his mouth with paws. He looked around and whispered, “Don’t scream. I won’t harm you. I need your help.”
Reyansh nodded and baby T-Rex let go of him. They moved to sit near the campfire where Baby T-Rex introduced himself as, ‘Ty’ and started telling about how he wanted to see humans and ran away from the cave they are living in, one night, in hopes of a good adventure. But when he accidentally came in front of humans, they were scared of him and started screaming. He ran from there and didn’t look back and along the way lost his way back home.
After listening to his story, Reyansh decided he would help him. They started planning on how to get there. Reyansh got the map from his daddy’s tent and slowly they mapped out the path with the help of the things Ty remembered. Before starting the journey, Reyansh took his backpack and stuffed some sandwiches and water bottle, and a flashlight in it.
They both were eager to start the journey and so they did. Just as they entered the forest, a ‘thud’ sounded and they turned to look at what the sound was. Rindha, Reyansh’s little sister who was sneakily following her brother stumbled upon a fallen tree branch and fell. Before she could cry, Reyansh picked her up and hugged her trying to comfort her.
After she calmed down, he told her to go back to mom and dad, “I will be back soon, chelli. Wait for me with mom and dad.” He tried to convince her.
She refused to go back, hell bent on following her brother wherever he is going. In the end, Reyansh sighed and held her hand, navigating her carefully around the forest ground.
As they kept walking, the trees got thicker and darker. Rey held the flashlight in one hand and Rindha’s hand in another. All of them were scared but together they managed to keep moving forward.
After walking some more, Rindha declared that she was tired and cannot walk any more. Agreeing with her, Ty suggested they rest somewhere for some time. But it was too dark and they couldn’t find a place to rest so they kept walking, dragging their feet.
After taking a few more steps, they found a tiny cave. Happy, they rushed towards it but a lion was already sleeping inside it. Halting a few feet away, they fell silent. Quietly they sneaked past the lion’s cave and ran away from there.
They saw another cave at a distance but were hesitant to go there. Braving up, they slowly walked up to the cave and found it empty. Joyful, they went inside and sat down. Just then a pair of squirrels came inside too and said that the cave belongs to them and they want them to leave the cave.
“But we don’t have anywhere else to go. Please let us stay here for some time”, Ty requested.
“But we need a place too so you will have to go”, Squirrel 1 said.
“Yes, leave” ordered Squirrel2.
“But, there’s enough space for us all and we can even share the sandwiches that I have in my bag”. Said Reyansh.
The squirrels looked thoughtful and finally agreed to let them stay in the cave. After eating the sandwiches, they all slept huddled together using Ty as a pillow.
When they woke up, it was light. Bidding goodbye to the squirrels, they restarted their journey to the mountain home of dinosaurs.
They kept walking, jumping over the fallen branches, sliding under the too low branches, crossing rivers when they finally came to a clearing where everything was green and the wind was playing current shock with them, letting them walk a minute and making them halt their steps at another. They all held each other tightly and passed the clearing to a beautiful waterfall surrounded by greenery.
Seeing the waterfall, Ty exclaimed, “It was the first stop I made when I ran from home. My home should be somewhere there” he said pointing towards the waterfall.
There were so many birds flying and singing as they started walking through it. Just as the greenery ended, the snow covered mountains started. As soon as Ty saw the mountains, he started running in that direction and Reyansh and Rindha ran after him.
Ty finally stopped in front of a mountain cave and said, “This is my home, guys”.
Hearing him, Mommy dino and Daddy Dino came out of the mountain and realizing he is really back, they hugged him. Introductions were made and after spending some time with the dino family, Reyansh and rindha started back for the camp site.
“How will you guys go back?” asked Daddy Dino.
Reyansh and Ty looked at each other and shouted at the same time, “We didn’t think about it!”
“May be you can use the map to go back?” Ty suggested. But before any other suggestions could be discussed, Reyansh’s mom and dad came.
“Daddy!” exclaimed Rindha and ran towards him and Reyansh ran over to his mom.
“How did you know we were here, Mom?” asked Reyansh
“Oh honey, we have been following you since you started from the camp.
Shocked, Reyansh asked, “But then why didn’t you stop us?”
“Because it was your journey, your decisions. We were there only to catch your fall.” Dad said
“I didn’t understand, Daddy.” Reyansh said
“One day you will, son.” Daddy said just as Rindha yawned and nodded off on daddy’s shoulder.
“But Daddy, we are lost. How are we gonna go back now?” asked Reyansh.
“The same way we came here” Mom said, “We have marked the trees so we can know where we came from.
“Ohh”
“Let's go back home?” asked daddy just as they started walking back but he was met with silence. Both the kids had fallen asleep after their short and sweet adventure. Smiling, daddy held Rindha in one arm and mom’s hand in another towards their home.
Moral of the Story:
This is a beautiful short story for kids that lays emphasis on helping others and how the world will help us if we help others. In this case the kids parents were so amazed at the kids kindness that they helped the kids find the way back home
Why short stories for kids?
Short stories for kids are great conversation starters. At Ekdali, we belive child development happens best when they are off the screen, spending their time reading and conversing with adults and playing with other children. Our posters, maps and flashcards are some screen free way for kids to build knowledge and have conversations
About the Author of this Short Story:
Manisha Sanghi - A lively mom to a witty toddler who loves baking not only stories but also cookies and cakes
