A Winter Night
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Sarah Sun, Grade 6, Hillarys Primary School
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Short Story
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2011
Excellence Award in the 'Step Write Up 2011' competition
A total lunar came to Canada a few years ago on a cold evening in winter.
I was in my room when it happened and I watched it with a pair of binoculars. The sky was unusually dark. Millions of stars glistened and formed constellations. The moon was barely visible.
I stared at the stars for a long time, not knowing what next to do. As I stared, a bright light appeared in the sky. I rubbed my eyes but the light was still there.
As it became brighter, I began to make out the outlines of the object. It had an ellipse shape and was actually a silvery colour.
I tore my eyes away with great effort and went to the closet. I pulled out thick clothes and dressed. Then, I flew through the door and outside into the thigh deep snow.
I looked up; millions of stars still blazed in the dark sky but the object was no longer there. Disappointment flooded me and I turned to leave, but my eyes caught the faint silhouette of a round object.
I moved towards it, my heart pounding quickly. I do not know how to describe it. It was like a patch of something; a something that the nature of which no human words could describe. As I watched, a figure stepped out of it. It looked like a human and was about 140 centimetres tall.
It walked towards me and just then the eclipse ended. A bright patch of moonlight shone onto the creature and I gasped. There was a mouth, a nose and eyes. It was grey in colour and had a mass of dark hair.
It seemed to be staring at me . Then it was holding an object which looked like a remote control. I saw it lift the remote with difficulty then point it at me. His mouth opened to make a rasping sound.
Every instinct in my body told me to move, but I could not. Fascination, fear and horror welled up inside of me. I tried to scream but the sound stuck in my throat.
The creature repeated what he had said and a green light flashed above my head. A branch of the tree behind me broke off. I turned toward the door and ran.
The next morning in the daily newspapers there was a picture of a blurry object near the almost invisible moon. I wanted to tell them about it but I knew no one would ever listen to an eight year old kid.
The thought angered me. I went outside into the fresh morning air. Thick snow covered the ground. I glanced up, away from the weak sun and into the dimly lit sky. I knew that above us was not just stars, planets and nebulae. There was life.