Feathers

• Kate Burnett, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2010

Bang! Sophie sat upright in her bed and peered out onto the landing of the second floor. She saw Simon and Mitchell sticking their heads out of their rooms. “What was that?” asked Mitchell. “I don’t know but it came from the front door,” answered Simon edging onto the landing to get a better look. Bang! The sound made them all jump. “Open up it’s only me” a frustrated voice shouted over the roar of the traffic out side. “It could be a trick” said Sophie now standing beside Simon. “Well if it is a trick then it’s a good one” Simon answered, slowly moving towards the front door “because that voice I have known longer than you two put together”. By then Simon had reached the door and was in the process of opening the door. He had just finished undoing the last bolt when the door burst open and standing there was a girl about 12. The girl looked around the room and suddenly burst out at sight of him. “Simon I’ve been looking for you for ages!” “Everybody meet my younger sister Ebony” Simon explained.

There was a stunned silence in the house you could have heard a pin drop. Ebony shifted uncomfortably. “So tell us how you got here and escaped Mom and Dad” Simon said finally breaking the silence in the room. At that Ebony burst into tears and between sobs she said “Mom and Dad... are... dead there was a bombing and... they were too late to get into the shelter... they were crushed by bricks... as the house exploded.” The stunned silence returned. After a couple of agenizing minutes it was disturbed by a knock at the door. “I’ll get it” Mitchell said rushing to the door. At the door was a parcel directed to Simon.
“Simon parcel addressed to you and it’s pretty heavy” Simon left his sisters side and went to see what it was. Inside was a scarlet and silver suit. “Who’s it from?” Sophie said speaking finally. “I don’t know there’s no return address.” Simon answered clearly as puzzled as everyone else.

Half an hour later Simon had introduced Ebony to Sophie and Mitchell and shown her his room where they made a bed for her since she was going to be staying there for a while.

That night when Ebony had gone to bed she had very disturbed dreams and didn’t seem to be able to break free of them. She dreamed that she was flying. But as she was flying she was being rained on by bullets, only small ones but they stung. When she woke up she was covered in sweat and all around her bead were dark ebony coloured feathers. “Simon... what are all these feathers from?” she asked in a frightened voice. “Simon?” Simon was looking at her with fear in his eyes. She looked down and screamed, there were feathers all over her. Then she understood why. The feathers were coming from