JAMES lived in one of the Caribbean Islands with his parents. One day his parents told him that they were going to the next island in their boat for some work and would be back by the evening.

“You will be alone in the house so if you want anything, you can ask your Uncle Woods,” his dad said. Theirs was a quiet little town by the seaside where everyone knew each other and were always ready to help.

James said goodbye to them and told them not to worry about him and after they left, he settled down in his bed with the book he was reading. After a couple of hours or so, James heard a storm coming. James quickly closed all the windows and doors and hoped that his parents were fine.

Late in the night, the doorbell rang. It was raining heavily outside and James, thinking his parents had returned, ran and opened the door. He saw the coastguard standing outside. “Are you Mr Smith’s son?”

James, too surprised to speak, just nodded his head.

“May we come in?”

James nodded again and they came in and sat down. “James we don’t want you to get worried but we have to tell you that we found your parents’ boat just a little distance away from the beach, but there was no one inside. When there is any news about them, we will tell you,” the coastguard said.

“What happened to my parents? Please look for them!”

“Yes, we are looking for them. In the meantime, do you have anyone you can stay with?”

James thought about what his father had said while leaving and informed the coastguards, “Well, there is Uncle Woods, he is my father’s business partner. Dad had said that I could contact him if I wanted anything, so I guess I can stay with him, if he lets me, until you find my patents,” James sadly spoke.

Uncle Woods lived alone and seemed always in a temper due to which James was afraid of him, but he still went there because his father had said so. Surprisingly, Uncle Woods was very welcoming and assured the coastguards that he would take care of James.

The days passed and there was no news of James’ parents. James was very worried but did not express it because Uncle Woods was very hard on him. He made James work around the house and did not let him play or go out to meet his friends. And whenever James asked Uncle Woods about the news of his parents, he had a weird way of saying that “Learn to live without them my boy, they aren’t coming!”

One day, Uncle Woods was away from the house and James knew he would be coming late so he decided to go to his house, which was a couple of miles away with some wooded area in between. There was also a haunted cottage there where no one lived and pirates were rumoured to come there sometimes.

James followed a path through the woods so that he would not been seen by anyone, Uncle Woods would not get to know that he had gone home.

On the way he got tired and sat down by a large tree. Suddenly his eyes fell on something ... it was his father’s cap! James had recently given his dad a Manchester United cap which he wore while leaving for that final trip with mum.

‘How can this cap be here? Dad was wearing it when he left! He shouldn’t have come this way if he was going to his boat because it was tied right across on the beach in front of our house. Did he come this way before leaving or did he drop it here on his return?’ James wondered and knew that if his dad passed here then there might be some other clue that may help him.

James quickly got up and started looking around. There was nothing out of ordinary to be seen. Then he noticed that there was a rough path, hardly visible between the overgrown grass and trees. James started to follow it and after about 10 minutes he came across a clearing. He peeped out and was surprised to find himself looking at the haunted cottage which no one visited.

James was a little afraid to go towards the cottage to investigate because people told strange stories about it. But the urge to look for his parents overtook him and, still hidden in the woods, he moved towards the side of the house which had no windows. Then he quickly crossed the clearing on the side and came up against the wall of the house, moving as quietly as he could, he went to the back. Then he heard some voices.

James looked inside from a window and almost screamed out aloud because he saw his parents in the room, tied to chairs and two other men inside. One of them was Uncle Woods and the other was Tom, whom he had seen with Uncle Woods.

‘It means Uncle Woods had captured my parents!’ James thought angrily. He knew he had to do something to save them. But what could he do?

Then he saw Uncle Woods gesturing angrily to his father and then leaving the room. James heard a door close with a loud bang and saw Uncle Woods going towards the path James had just come from. James counted till 500 as he waited to make sure Uncle Woods didn’t return. The guy who was guarding his parents now came out on the front porch with a cup of coffee and sat down on a rickety chair.

James saw his chance and tried to open the window, which opened easily as it had no lock. His parents turned in astonishment as James climbed inside. James quickly rushed to them and hugged them one by one and his father told him to look for a knife or something sharp in the next room and cut their ropes. James went to a room which was used as a kitchen. Taking a knife from there and James quickly cut the ropes his parents were tied to.

James’ father grabbed a plank and James took a smaller one. They hid on the side of the door and dad called out to Tom. The guy grumbled and came in. The moment he stepped in, both James and his father hit him with their planks and he was knocked unconscious in no time. They then tied him to one of the chairs and the three of them escaped as fast as they could.

On reaching the main road, they got a lift from a car and went straight to the police station to report Uncle Woods. It turned out that Uncle Woods wanted to get the share of James’ father in their business and had kidnapped him to make him sign on the documents transferring the business to Uncle Woods. He also threatened James’ father that he would harm James if he did not comply.

The police gave James an award for his bravery but his biggest award was the fact that his parents were safe and with him. James became famous in his town and everyone, especially children, would ask him to tell them the story of the heroic rescue of his parents.

James got tired of telling his story and decided to write it and he wrote the story that you are now reading.