The Boy Who Made the World Disappear Read online

  Stories are often about a good person who does a Bad Thing, and this is no exception.

  The hero of our story is Harrison, and I do mean ‘hero’. Because, before we begin, I want to make one thing clear: Harrison had a huge heart.

  He cared about the rainforest, regularly brought his mother breakfast in bed and always shared his toys with his younger sister, Lana (despite the fact that she would often break them, lose them, or try to flush them down the loo). Harrison was kind to other children at school, even Hector Broom, who was a bit of a bully and once pushed Harrison over on purpose and then told their teacher, Miss Balogun, that it was an accident.

  And Harrison was honest. If he broke a vase – for example, by accidentally knocking it off the shelf while pretending to be Bear Grylls – he would own up. He never stole from shops or cheated in Monopoly or snuck into the circus without paying. He tried every new food three times without complaint, always held a grown-up’s hand when crossing the road and sometimes even folded his clothes at night instead of just chucking them on the floor.

  Sometimes.

  So, I hear you ask, if Harrison was so good, what Bad Thing could he possibly have done?

  Well, you see, as kind and honest and good and big-hearted as he was, Harrison had a BIG flaw. He couldn’t control his temper.

  Most of the time, he was very well-behaved. But once in a while something would really annoy him. And then . . . well, then, he would Kick Off.

  ‘Euuurrgghhhhh!’ Harrison would groan, in pure frustration. His head would lower, like a bull about to charge. His cheeks would redden, his brow would furrow, his eyes would narrow and he would clamp his jaws so tight it was a wonder he didn’t snap a tooth.

  ‘Code Red!’ his father would cry, using his parents’ nickname for Harrison’s rages.

  ‘DON’T SAY THAT!’ Harrison would yell.

  ‘Yes, definitely a Code Red,’ his mother would agree, moving breakable objects to safety.

  ‘AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!’ Harrison would shout. ‘I HATE IT WHEN YOU SAY THAT!’

  From that point, there was very little anyone could do to calm Harrison down until he wore himself out.

  ‘EEUUURRRGH!’ he might exclaim, as he threw himself on the floor, kicking his legs, so that he went round and round in circles like a breakdancer.

  ‘WHY WON’T ANYONE LISTEN TO ME??!!’ he might bawl, as he ran off into the undergrowth, punching the bushes in fury.

  ‘I WANT A DIFFERENT FAMILY!!’ he might roar, as he slammed the door to his room and barricaded it with every single one of his toys.

  Now, usually Harrison’s rages happened not because he was really cross, but because he was worried about something, which meant that most of the time, the grown-ups around him – his parents, for example, or his teachers – sort of understood. They’d wait out Harrison’s meltdowns, then try to find out what he was really worried about so they could help him fix it. Then everything would go back to normal.

  This story is not about one of those times. It begins at a birthday party, and . . . well, I think I’d better just get started. Settle yourself down, because it’s a bit of a rollercoaster, and as you shall see, it changed Harrison’s life for ever.

  Harrison had been anxious about Hector Broom’s birthday party for weeks.

  Hector Broom was one of Harrison’s least favourite people. He was one of the biggest children in Harrison’s class, and always picking on him. For example, if Harrison made up a game in the playground, Hector would ask to join and then change the rules so Harrison couldn’t play. Or, if they were playing football, he would trip Harrison up or push him off the ball.

  But by far the worst thing was Hector’s elastic band.

  It was the perfect weapon: quick to use and easy to hide. When you were least expecting it, you’d feel the sharp sting of the elastic on your arm or your neck or your leg, and the next minute you’d be rolling around in pain.

  Just the thought of having to go to Hector’s party put Harrison on edge. But the whole class was going, and Harrison didn’t want to be left out when everyone was talking about the party on Monday, so he had no choice.

  The only thing that made going to Hector Broom’s birthday remotely bearable was the theme: space. Because Harrison loved anything to do with stars and planets. Plus, Hector had been bragging all week that his parents had booked a real life astronaut as the entertainment. The astronaut’s name was Shelley. She was staying with her grandmother, the school lollipop lady, for a special visit, so the Brooms had booked her immediately for their precious son’s party.

  Harrison couldn’t wait to meet her. After all, she had actually been to space!

  The party started happily enough. There were space decorations all over the village hall and Hector’s mother and father had ordered a big birthday cake topped with a silver spaceship crashing into a red planet, next to a green alien with four eyes.

  Everyone had come in fancy dress. Harrison was a spaceman, Persephone Brinkwater was an alien, Charlie Nwosu had come as a shooting star, Marcus Down as a rocket and Carl Ng was a man from Mission Control. Katie Broad was an angel, but no one said anything, even though angels aren’t the sort of thing you see in space.

  Hector Broom had, predictably, chosen to dress as the Sun, because he wanted to come as the most important thing in our solar system.

  Once the guests had arrived, Hector’s parents ushered all the children to the centre of the room, and soon everyone was sitting on cushions on the floor, waiting impatiently for the main event.

  Harrison could feel his excitement growing as the moment he would meet a real life astronaut grew closer.

  Then a menacing voice whispered in his ear: ‘Just wait until my parents are gone, I’m going to get you.’ Harrison turned to see Hector Broom, flexing his dreaded elastic band, an evil glint in his eye. ‘And when we start the games you’d better watch out!’

  Harrison gulped. Perhaps he should have stayed at home after all.

  The lights dimmed and a voice called out, ‘Lift-off in T minus

  All the children began to join in.

  Hector’s mother and father backed off towards the door. Harrison felt all his muscles go tense. Once they had gone, who was going to protect him from Hector?

  ‘Ignition! BLAST OFF!’ yelled a woman, bursting out of the kitchen door.

  She had bright pink hair and was wearing the most brilliant outfit, just like the ones the astronauts wear on the International Space Station. Despite his nerves, Harrison was really impressed.

  ‘Hello, children! I’m Shelley, we’re going to have so much fun together! Now, who wants to go up into space with me?’ she asked, looking around.

  ‘Me, me, me!’ everyone shouted.

  Hector’s parents smiled at one another and closed the door. As soon as they had gone, Hector flashed Harrison an evil grin.

  ‘Not me!’ blurted Harrison.

  ‘Excuse me?’ asked Shelley, staring at Harrison in surprise.

  ‘I want to go home!’ Harrison cried, his panic at being pinged by Hector’s elastic band growing.

  ‘But, Harrison,’ said Marcus Down, ‘you love space.’

  ‘No, I don’t!’ shouted Harrison. ‘It’s boring!’

  Of course he didn’t mean that at all, he was just scared of Hector. But Shelley didn’t know that.

  ‘Space isn’t boring,’ she replied firmly, with a frown. ‘In fact, you have no idea how lucky you are. When I was a little girl, I would have loved to go to a party like this.’ She turned away from Harrison and addressed everyone else. ‘Okay, children, lie down and close your eyes.’

  Everyone did as they were told and, trying to ignore his worri
es, Harrison did the same.

  With his eyes shut, he heard Shelley drawing the curtains and turning off the lights. There was a click, followed by a humming sound . . .

  ‘Open your eyes!’ Shelley instructed.

  Harrison did, and suddenly it was as if they were all floating in space! There were stars everywhere! Swirling on the ceiling, covering the walls and falling to the ground.

  ‘Who knows what a constellation is?’Shelley asked. Harrison put his hand up, but Shelley picked Persephone Brinkwater instead.

  ‘Stars that make a shape,’ said Persephone.

  ‘Very good,’ said Shelley. ‘Now, everyone look up and meet the Great Bear.’ She directed a laser pointer at the ceiling so that a bright red dot circled several stars which – it had to be said – looked nothing like a bear.

  ‘There’s its head,’ explained Shelley, as the dot danced above them. ‘There are its paws, there’s its body and those are its legs.’

  ‘If you say so,’ said Carl Ng, and several of the children giggled.

  ‘Can anyone guess what this constellation is?’ said Shelley, sounding slightly irritated. Her laser moved to another cluster of stars.

  Yet again, Harrison put his hand up.

  Shelley pointed to Charlie Nwosu.

  ‘Is it a bat?’ asked Charlie.

  ‘Not quite,’ replied Shelley. ‘Though it does have wings. This is Cygnus, the swan. It’s one of my favourites. Can any of you guess why?’

  ‘Because it has a very bright star in it?’ asked Hector Broom, without even putting his hand up.

  ‘Really good guess, Hector,’ said Shelley. ‘What a clever boy you are. And it is a very bright star. It’s called Deneb, which means tail in Arabic, because it’s in the tail of the swan. But the reason Cygnus is one my favourite constellations is right here . . .’ She took the laser pointer, and squiggled it in a dark bit right in the middle of the swan. ‘It’s a black hole. Does anyone know what one of those is?’

  Harrison, who knew all about black holes, sat up in excitement and waved both arms. ‘I do!’ he said. ‘I do!’

  ‘No one?’ said Shelley, pretending not to hear. After his outburst, she had decided that Harrison was a spoilt boy who needed to be taught a lesson. ‘Well, it’s basically a hole in the universe. It’s completely black, so you’d never know it was there. But if you get too close, it will suck you inside and you will disappear for ever.’

  As she spoke, she switched off the laser pointer and the little point of red light on the ceiling suddenly vanished.

  There was a pause. The children stared at the little patch of sky where the black hole was lurking, feeling slightly freaked out.

  ‘Right!’ said Shelley, climbing to her feet. ‘Shall we play some games?’ She flicked a row of switches on the wall, and the lights came back on.

  ‘No!’ shouted Harrison. The other children had all stood up, but he was still lying on the floor.

  ‘Excuse me?’ said Shelley.

  ‘I don’t want to play games!’ he cried. Suddenly, the only thing he could think about was Hector’s elastic band.

  ‘But they’re space games,’ said Shelley, taken aback. ‘You’ll love them. We’ve got Accrete the Neutron Star, that’s like Pass the Parcel. Sleeping Supernovas, which is a bit like Sleeping Lions—’

  ‘I love Sleeping Lions!’ cried Katie Broad.

  ‘AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!’ cried Harrison. ‘Why isn’t anyone listening to me?!’

  ‘Harrison,’ said Shelley, a note of warning in her voice. ‘I think you need to calm down.’

  ‘I want to see the stars again!’ he yelled.

  ‘We’re finished with the stars,’ said Shelley firmly. ‘Now we’re going to play games. Shall we start with a round of Pin the Satellite into Low Earth Orbit? Hector, you can go first.’

  Hector stepped forward and, unnoticed by Shelley, he pulled his rubber band out of his pocket and aimed a menacing smirk at Harrison.

  Which was when Harrison really flew into a rage.

  ‘THIS IS THE WORST PARTY EVER!’ he hullaballooed, running around the room, kicking the cushions like footballs. ‘AND YOU’RE A RUBBISH ASTRONAUT!’

  ‘Now wait a minute,’ said Shelley, getting increasingly cross herself.

  ‘I HATE YOU!’ Harrison barked. ‘I WISH I COULD PUT YOU IN THE BLACK HOLE! I WISH I COULD PUT EVERYTHING INTO A BLACK HOLE!’

  ‘LIKE I CARE!’ bellowed Shelley at the top of her voice.

  Harrison was so surprised to be yelled at that he stopped in his tracks.

  ‘YOU THINK I WANT TO DO THIS?’ howled Shelley. ‘YOU THINK I WANT TO BE A PRETEND ASTRONAUT? I WANT TO BE AN ASTRONOMER, NOT A CHILDREN’S ENTERTAINER!’

  Silence fell in the room, as the children sat with open mouths. Shelley wasn’t acting like grown-ups were supposed to at all!

  ‘You’re not a real astronaut?’ asked Marcus Down.

  ‘OF COURSE I’M NOT!’ cried Shelley. ‘JUST LIKE YOU’RE NOT REAL ROCKETS, PLANETS, STARS OR . . . ANGELS!’

  Katie Broad started to cry.

  ‘Okay! Okay!’ said Shelley, realising that the situation was growing out of control. ‘I’m sorry. Just . . . I’ve been through a lot recently.’

  Persephone Brinkwater put her arm round Katie Broad, who was still wailing.

  Shelley took a deep breath and started again. ‘Come on, let’s play some fun games,’ she said, acting as if nothing had happened at all. ‘And … then we can all have some delicious birthday cake.’

  Of course the party never really recovered. They did play Pin the Satellite into Low Earth Orbit, but Harrison punctured the International Space Station and got disqualified. Then they played Accrete the Neutron Star and everyone won a toy except for Harrison. Finally they played Sleeping Supernovas and Shelley caught Harrison scratching his eczema rather than lying still so she exploded him and he had to sit out for the rest of the game.

  All the while, Hector Broom snapped his rubber band with a threatening glare.

  By the time they were ready for their food, Harrison was in a Very Bad Mood. And then things went from worse to disastrous.

  ‘Harrison! I’m sorry, but you can’t have any,’ called Shelley, as all the kids grabbed a slice of birthday cake.

  ‘Why not?’ said Harrison, watching the others tuck into the delicious-looking cake.

  ‘Katie says you’re allergic to dairy,’ Shelley said. ‘And this cake isn’t dairy-free so no cake for you.’

  ‘Well, I’m eating it!’ said Harrison, grabbing a chunk of cake.

  ‘No, you’re not!’ said Shelley. ‘Step away from the cake!’

  ‘OWWW!’ cried Harrison. His neck was suddenly red hot! He spun round to see Hector. He had pinged Harrison with his elastic band!

  ‘Is everything okay in here?’ said Hector’s mum, interrupting the scene. Harrison looked up to see Hector’s parents standing at the door. Through the window, Harrison could see the other parents arriving too.

  ‘Oh, yes, fine. Everything’s fine, isn’t it, children?’ said Shelley. Her cheeks bloomed red, but Hector’s mum didn’t seem to notice.

  ‘Did you enjoy the party?’ Harrison’s mother asked him as she walked over.

  Harrison looked at Shelley, then at Hector Broom, then back at his parents. Should he tell, or not?

  ‘Yes, I did,’ he nodded, crossing his fingers behind his back.

  Hector’s mother clapped her hands. ‘Thank you all for coming to celebrate our dear little angel’s birthday. I’m afraid it’s time for everyone to go home now, but I think we might have some very special balloons for everyone to take with them, and a party bag too! Shelley?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Shelley.

  One by one, Shelley gave each child a party bag and a beautiful, shiny helium balloon in the shape of a planet. There was a stripy brown and yellow Jupiter for Hector Broom and a purple Venus for Persephone Brinkwater. Charlie Nwosu got a sky-blue Neptune, Marcus Down an orange Saturn with pink rings and
Carl Ng a bluey-green Uranus. Katie Broad got a silvery Mercury, which was very lucky because it matched her angel costume.

  Finally, it was Harrison’s turn.

  ‘Have you got a balloon for Harrison?’ his mother asked Shelley.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Shelley. Something flickered in her eyes. ‘I’ve got a very special balloon for Harrison. Just wait here one minute.’

  She disappeared into the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

  ‘What was your favourite bit of the party?’ asked Harrison’s father.

  ‘When we saw the black hole,’ said Harrison.

  The sound of banging came from the kitchen.

  ‘What’s a black hole?’ asked his mother.

  ‘It’s a hole in the universe,’ said Harrison. ‘They’re very dangerous, because if you fall inside one, you’ll never get out.’

  ‘What do they look like?’

  ‘Like a hole,’ said Harrison. ‘That’s black.’

  There was a whizzing sound from the kitchen, as if something was being put in a blender. Then . . .

  BANG!

  The kitchen door blew clean off its hinges, sailed across the hall, slammed against the opposite wall and clattered onto the floor.

  There, framed in the doorway, was Shelley. Her space suit was covered in soot and all her pink hair was on end. In her right hand was a piece of string, and floating at the end of it was a weird black circle.

  ‘Um . . . are you okay?’ asked Harrison’s father.

  ‘Here’s your balloon, Harrison,’ said Shelley, tying the string to his wrist.

  ‘That’s very kind of you,’ said Harrison’s mother.

  ‘My pleasure’ said Shelley. ‘He deserves it.’

  Harrison reached out his hand, took hold of the string and pulled the balloon towards him. It was pitch black, like a piece had been cut out of the universe. He blew at it, to see if it bobbed backwards like a balloon should, but instead it loomed ever so slightly closer.

  ‘I wouldn’t do that, if I were you,’ Shelley warned. ‘In fact, best not to touch it.’

  Harrison’s father gave her a quizzical look.

  ‘In case it pops,’ said Shelley, smiling a big, innocent smile.