“I am so going to win this competition!” I thought when my science teacher announced that there would be an science experiment competition throughout all the primary schools in Singapore and that the winner would get two thousand dollars for having the best science experiment done in the competition. Soon school was over and I pondered over what type of experiment I should do as I was on my way home. A chemical reaction experiment ? No, too difficult. An experiment on plants ? No way, it would be too boring. At that moment, as I was walking along the aisle of shops near my house, I saw a fish shop at the corner of my eye and saw many species of fishes on sale there. An idea struck me instantly. A type of growth experiment! Why did not I think of that?

Immediately, I rushed back home to get my piggy bank to get enough money to buy a few fishes for my experiment as my wallet did not have enough money. After taking enough money, I went to the fish shop to purchase my fishes for the experiment. Reaching the fish shop, I looked for the cheapest type of fish and decided to buy two of the same type. As I approached the counter to pay for the fishes, I spotted a blue bucket behind the man which had something floating in it. Curious, I strained my eyes to see what was inside. It was an baby octopus! Wow, I did not know that fish shops sold octopuses also! Or it was illegal? I was going to get that octopus, no matter what.

“Uncle, where did you get that octopus? Could you sell it to me?” I asked the owner of the shop who was counting how much I needed to pay for the two fishes I was going to buy. His face turned as white as a piece of paper and sweat rolled down his forehead. He told me that it was nothing but my imagination, but after countless times of asking, he finally told me that his friend caught it far out at sea while fishing and gave it to him. He also told me not to tell anyone if not he would be in deep trouble. I thought for a moment and then said that if he sold it to me I would not tell anybody about it. He agreed reluctantly and sold me the baby octopus at the price of the two fishes I was going to buy before. Now, all I needed was my special food formula for the baby octopus to grow much faster. How should I make the food?

I thought of an idea and headed towards the pets store just a few shops away and bought a small packet of premium dog food and a small packet of hamster food. After buying all the things I needed, I headed back home, thinking of a way to combine all the types of food together to make a special food formula. Reaching home, I first put the baby octopus into the aquarium I used for my fishes last time. I then got to work. I crushed some the dog food and some hamster food in to small pieces to allow it to dissolve faster, and then put them into a metal pot. I put it over the fire to boil the things together. After all the food had melted and almost dissolved, I added some chocolate to make the food sweeter and nicer for the baby octopus. Lastly, I poured the brown liquid from the things I had mixed in to the ice –cube tray and put it into to the fridge to solidify the mixture into the shape of an ice cube. All I had to do now was to wait for my mixture to take form .

Now, I had prepared everything and all I needed to do was to feed the baby octopus. I got my solidified mixture in the shape of a cube and dropped it into the aquarium. At the start, the octopus approached it warily but after nibbling a bit of the cube, it started to eat it slowly. It grew larger and larger each day quickly after eating the special food I made and I took a picture of it everyday. My teachers will be so proud of my experiment. I think. Soon, the octopus grew too big for my aquarium and it began more difficult for me to hide it away from my parents. I had no choice but to hide it in my room’s toilet.

One day, when my family was eating dinner together, the octopus went out of the toilet and my parents saw the enormous creature they did not even know was living under the same roof as us for days. They were horrified and my mother fainted. As for me, I stood rooted to the ground not knowing what to do. My father and I started to panic. He fished out his phone out from his pocket and punched the number pads ‘999’.He told the police to come immediately and told me to run away first. With no other choice, I did not listen to him and used a fish from the refrigerator as bait to lure the octopus away from my father.

Quickly, I lured it out of my house and to the open space where people could see. At that moment, the police arrived and captured the giant octopus using an enormous net. All the bystanders were shell shocked and could not believe their eyes. The next day, the headlines of the newspaper in the morning was ‘ENORMOUS Octopus Appearing Out Of Nowhere’ and it was written that the octopus was sent to another country for research. When my father asked if I knew why there was a giant octopus in our house I simply just shook my head and replied no. I just hoped that the owner of the fish shop would not tell anyone about this incident.