A Night to Remember
"What the…", Sarah sat bolt upright in her bed, desperately trying to listen out for that strange noise.
"What - was - that", Sarah mumbled to herself, "It… It sounded like it someone is at the backdoor…", she continued listening, as she did she began very slowly to creep out from under the covers of her duvet and more towards the bedroom door, slowly, very slowly, trying not to make any sound as the duvet folded under her knees and making sure the bed spring didn't creak under the weight.
Outside it was raining, and not any normal kind of rain, oh no, this was more of the horror movie kind of downpour, the kind that would cause you to crash your car if you failed to realise that it would be better if you pulled over. This was making matters worse, as the rain hammered ferociously on the windows of her room Sarah pressed her head against the wall in a glee attempt to find out whether a burglar had infiltrated her home. She couldn't believe the bad luck she was having, this was the first time she had been allowed to stay home alone whilst her parents went away on Holiday and it appeared that the house was being burgled.
A second crash echoed violently through the house, Sarah leapt away from the wall and landed with a thud on her bum, she very nearly cried out but was just able to restrain herself, she had to remain silent, her life could well be in danger. She moved backwards quickly and silently into the far corner of the room never taking her eyes off the door praying that nobody heard her fall.
As the rain subsided, a mumbling voice could be heard coming from downstairs, "There is someone there…", Sarah said in her head, she already knew that there was but she needed to hear it herself, she pushed ever tighter into the corner, perhaps in some vein attempt to move swiftly through the wall outside to escape but her efforts were fruitless.
A crack of thunder and lightning illuminated eerie shadows in Sarah's room, harmless dolls propped up against a lamp flashed onto the wall a shape resembling a woodsman carrying a large axe. The thunder clap made Sarah jump and her heart jumped a gear, the pounding grew louder and louder in her ears and she was sure that if the burglar approached the door he was certain to hear it.
The rain continued, Sarah realised that she had three choices, she could stay put and hope that the burglar would stay downstairs and would not locate her, or, she could attempt to get to the phone in the hall but that would mean going down the stairs to the hall, finally, she could attempt to arm herself and confront the intruder.
"Yeah right", she thought, "I'd never be able to sneak up on someone and then knock them out", and she was probably right, Sarah was an 18 year old girl with a small build, she stood a mere 4 feet 2 inches and weighed a meagre 7 stones. Her P.E. teacher had told her that she should think about taking up some sort of exercise regime in order to build up some upper body strength.
"Just in case", her P.E. teacher would say, but what did that mean, in case of what; the comment just made Sarah more nervous of being attacked and now the 'just in case' seemed like a very good idea.
"Ok, I'm going to have to try and get to the phone, or in failing that the front door", it sounded like a plan but Sarah would still need to hear it again, it was difficult to concentrate when her heart was in her mouth. Sarah cautiously stood and tip-toed across her room and pickup her dressing-gown and slippers, at least the slippers would muffle any sounds that she may make.
Slowly Sarah approached the bedroom door, the handle was cold to the touch and moved downwards with a very subtle clicking sound, it took almost a minute for Sarah to gather enough courage to pull the door open, at first she was expecting to be attacked as soon as the door began to move but was reassured by the continuing noise of shuffling feet coming from downstairs even after she was able to peer out and on to the landing.
Sarah crouched careful just outside of her room as she pulled the door ajar; from the landing Sarah had a clear view of the lounge and the stairs, although at this time there was no one in the lounge, this was actually quite handy, if the burgular was in the kitchen or even better the study then the path to Sarahs' parents room was clear.
Crawling across the floor, Sarah never took her eyes away from the lounge, praying that the intruder wouldn't hear here or enter the lounge. Another crack of thunder violently shook the house and the suceeding lightning cast what looked like prison bars over the lounge carpet, the trees outside were now bashing against the windows in some vein attempt to get out of the rain. Sarah continued. It felt like an eternity before she finally reached the door to her parents bedroom but it had only been a matter of minutes. Once more she nervously climbed to her feet and opened the door and moved inside. Her parents bedroom was quite large and the full length dressing mirrors gave the impression that the room was much bigger than it was. The phone was on a side table on the opposite side of the room, before moving across the carpet she closed the door concerned that she would be heard as she spoke to the Police.
Courage began to fill her mind allowing her to move swiftly across the room to the phone.
"Please be working", she said to herself as she raised the phone to her ear, it was. Quickly she dialled 999 and a voice answered promptly.
"Which service do you require?"
"Erh, Police, theres someone in my house", whispered Sarah.
"We'll send someone out immediately, whats your address?"
"Its… fifteen Eden Road… Sevenoaks… Kent"
"Ok, stay calm, a Police officer is on his way"
Sarah returned the phone to its receiver and sat down on the bed. Suddenly the landing light flickered on illuminating the carpet under the door. Sarah gasped.
"This is it" she thought, "He's climbing the stairs"
She knew that the Police would never arrive in time and it was up to her to either defend herself or hide. Carefully but quickly she slid open the mirrored wardrobe and moved inside hiding between her mothers dresses. The bedroom door opened and what sounded like two sets of footsteps walked in.
"Oh, my god, there's two of them"
The light switch was flicked on and the two outside began to talk.
"Mummph… terrible… mulmph… kill…Mmmph.. her", the clothes were muffling the conversation and Sarah could only pick out a few words of what was being said but that was enough to chill her to the bone. She heard another bang which sounded like a bag or suitcase being thrown on to the bed. Under the gap in the runner of the wardrobe door she could see the shadows of someones feet, this was it. The door slid open quickly and Sarah paniced and in a last ditch effort to escape she let out a deafening scream and lunged forward hoping to topple one of the intruders before making for the door. The man was caught unawares and fell onto the bed, however a woman was blocking the bedroom door. Sarah couldn't see clear, tears had flooded from her eyes and everything was blurry. She ran into the woman by the door and still screaming began to bang her fists against her chest.
"Sarah", shouted the woman, "Whats the matter"
The sudden realisation knocked Sarah out of her dilusion, her tears subsiding.
"Mum?", Sarah questioned, "What… What are you doing here?"
"We came back early, the rain has flooded the roads and we were turned back by the Police", Sarahs mum moved away from her daughter and helped her husband back to his feet.
"Police, oh, erm, I called the Police, their on there way"
"What's going on Sarah", asked her father
"I woke with a start, there was a crash in the kitchen and I thought we were being burgled, I hid in here and called the Police"
"Hmm, your father managed to kick over the bin", illuminated Sarahs mother, "but everything is alright, we'd better wait up for the Police"
Sarah's mother lead her out of the room and downstairs to the lounge.
"Lets get you a nice cup of warm milk"
"Thanks Mum"
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