The Black Diamond

by Laura Meisel, from US

Hello, my name is Alex. Welcome to my prison cell. Let's go to the visiting room. Have you come to seem me? No? Well, sit down anyway. I have a story to tell you. No one has visited me in ten years. You haven't come to visit me? Well, listen anyway. This story occurred 11 years, 6 months, 3 weeks, and 1 day ago. "Two days Alex." Thanks, Frank. Two days. Well, my story goes like this...

The Sultan of Arabia had come to New York. He had brought with him a large diamond. He called it "the star." It was very beautiful and large and it shined like a star. But this diamond had a very bad past; there had been three murders, four robberies, and a suicide. I was a reporter and had been given the job of doing an article the Sultan and his diamond.

I was in front of a judge in court. The jury was whispering, deciding their verdict. They were accusing me of stealing the Sultan's diamond.

"I'm innocent," I told them. A man from the jury walked to the judge.

The judge brought down his mallet and declared, "Guilty!" The word echoed in my mind. I screamed and ran, trying to escape but two men grabbed me and pulled me through a big door.

I woke up with a start. I was sweating and breathing heavily. It was 12:00 PM. I had had the worst dream. But that was not the worst. Many bad things, horrible things were still to come.

I walked into the newspaper office that morning. The chief told me, "Alex, someone stole "the star" at around 12:00 PM last night. Did you see anyone hiding out there?"