---
tags: Kyle, Latest Story
---

# HS-TJ-1.7
### Theme
Courage

### Title
The Case of the Artifacts

### Stats
Setting: Aunt's house
Goal: Save Aunt Mary’s artifacts
Crisis: Vicky and Susan are stealing the artifacts
Change: Learns to stand up for herself

### Character
Ella

## Plot

### Scene 1

Ella is sleeping one night when her aunt comes into her room. She wakes her, and tells her she is leaving on another trip, and will be gone for a long time. Ella asks her not to go, but her aunt tells her it is very important, and not to worry because Vicky will watch her until she gets back. Her aunt leaves, and Ella falls back to sleep.

### Scene 2

A few weeks later, Ella is miserable. Her aunt is not back, and Vicky is very mean to her. What’s more, Vicky’s friend Susan is always hanging around, and Ella doesn’t trust Susan because she always snoops through things. She even sees her going into her aunt’s private office, and when she tells Vicky, Vicky says she should mind her own business. Annoyed, Ella decides she will have to do something about it herself.

### Scene 3

Ella sneaks up at night and goes into her Aunt’s office herself. She looks at all of the artifacts her aunt has collected for the museum that are in there, and makes a list of them. Then, she goes back to bed.

### Scene 4

The next day, Susan is over again. She goes into the office, and Ella tells her to stop. Susan laughs, and Vicky sends Ella to her room. Ella is mad, but knows there is nothing she can do at the moment.

### Scene 5

That night, Ella sneaks into her aunt’s office again. She is surprised to find several of the artifacts missing. Bewildered, she goes back to bed.

### Scene 6

The next morning, Ella tells Vicky about the missing items and says that Susan must be stealing things. She expects Vicky to do something about it, but instead Ella is punished for staying up at night. Susan comes over later in the day, and once again goes into the office. Just like before, Ella is sent to her room when she tries to protest.

### Scene 7

Frustrated, Ella tries to get in touch with her aunt over the phone, but is unable to reach her. As a last resort, Ella calls the police department. They are skeptical about talking with an eight-year-old, but she convinces them to put her through to a detective.

### Scene 8

Ella tells the detective who she is, and says that someone is stealing artifacts her aunt has brought back for her museum. She expects the detective to hang up on her, but instead he says that he knows exactly what she is talking about, and can stop it with her help.

### Scene 9

The next morning, Susan comes over again. Ella tries to stop her from going into the office, but Vicky orders her to go to her room instead. Before that can happen, there is a knock on the front door. Ella answers it, and invites two police officers into the house. She leads them to her aunt’s office, and they open the door against Vicky’s objections, finding Susan on the other side, filling a bag with artifacts.

### Scene 10

The police arrest Susan and Vicky. Ella’s aunt returns home from her trip, and they tell her that someone has been selling stolen artifacts on the black market for weeks, and they never would have caught the culprit without Ella’s help. Ella’s aunt apologizes to her, and says she will try to be away less often from now on-- and when she does go, she will be more careful about who she hires as a babysitter.