Addison yawned as her younger brother, Jason, struggled to find where his puzzle piece went. She grabbed more popcorn and stuffed it in her mouth.

Finally, Jason found a fitting place for the puzzle piece. “I got it!” He yelled excitedly, a bit close to Addison’s ear.

Dad held up the popcorn bowl. “Looks like we’re out. I’ll go make some more, while you guys continue the game without me.”

Mom waved and picked up one of her pieces. After scanning a bit, she sighed. “This piece will have to wait until another gets in.”

The microwave beeping half-interrupted mom’s speech, and dad stepped into sight.

“Can you put some butter in it?” Jason asked with his special puppy eyes.

“Sure-” dad said, chuckling. “I can’t resist those eyes, really.”

“YAY! WE’RE HAVING BUTTER POPCORN!” Addison shouted gleefully across the house.

Jason snatched one of her pieces and connected it to his. Then he placed them onto a bigger part of the puzzle.

“You got it! Good job!” Mom said, boosting his ego a bit more.

Addison grumbled. “But he used my piece…”

Mom gave the don’t-you-dare look. “And he used it to finish even more of the puzzle.”

Suddenly, a popcorn bowl with butter all over the popcorn was lowered near Addison’s nose. Dad smiled, put the popcorn bowl down, and sat in his place.

His eyes scanned the pieces. “Is it my turn yet?”

Mom laughed nervously. “Yep, Jason just took his turn.”

“More like stolen…” Sylvia scoffed. “I was about to put my piece down myself when-”

She stopped because she realized no one was interested in her. Instead, they were busy putting in puzzle pieces faster than they had been doing before.

Addison figured she’d better start putting in some work too. And soon, the last piece was to be put down.

The problem was that the last puzzle piece was no where to be seen. Addison looked behind dad’s back to be sure no one was hiding anything.

“I didn’t do anything!” Her dad said, holding up his hands in fake defeat. Addison wasn’t amused, and sighed.

The whole family started turning the house upside down. Where could the piece be?

She eyed her brother. “Jason, do you have anything to do with it?”

Jason squirmed a bit. “Nooo…I’m pwetty sure it’s just missing…”

Addison sighed at the attempt of a baby voice. “Mooom? Wait, where are you-”

Mom poked her head out the pantry, holding up the puzzle box. “Just checking out what might be in here. I’ve been searching the box and the floor here…”

Dad was searching the kitchen, wondering whether had had accidentally brought a piece there. Jason was searching one side the of the living room, while Addison was doing the other.

Meanwhile, mom was almost everywhere else in the house. But everyone had come back with nothing. Well, Jason did have a lollipop, but that wasn’t what they were looking for.

Addison groaned. “No one has it?” She said as she scanned the room.

Her dad grinned. “This is puzzling!”

The rest of the family grimaced at dad’s joke. “Not helping…” Addison mumbled. Where was that piece!?

Suddenly, Jason spoke up. “Um, guys…” everyone turned to look at him. Jason pointed at the couch. “Did you look over there?”

Addison dug under the cushions. After a few seconds, she held up the missing piece. “How’d you know it was here?”

Jason blushed a bit. “I wanted to put in the last piece for myself, so I hid it…and I could’ve hid it in my pocket, but I didn’t think about that.”

Mom smiled. “Thank you for being so honest…I guess you can put the piece in.”

The family watched as Jason slid the piece into its place. He stood back with the others to admire the finished result of the mountain range.

“What would happen if Jason didn’t point out the piece” Addison wondered out loud.

“Now now, we don’t have time to unpack all of that!” dad said, as his head disappeared behind the wall.

☆☆☆

Hey guys! I started writing this story last week but I didn’t have much time to finish it…but now I do!

If you find any mistakes, please tell me!

I also won’t bother saying it anymore, sooo I made the cover myself on Ibis Paint X instead of using AI to make it. Will probably be the same with all the other stories I make.

~L3AH