Bars Surround Her

• Caris Horton, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2012

‘You’re fired!’
‘I’m leaving you, Julia.’

A job ended and a marriage crumbled all at once. She became scared of her own surroundings. Anyone else could have bounced back from that but Julia was defeated. The building blocks of her life were torn down by the wrecking ball of fear and anxiety. An agoraphobic at just 24. She should have been partying or studying hard but she was home. Just at home and nothing else.

Months she had been there. Nowadays she couldn’t even look at the door. Trying to get her mail was a struggle. There was always someone looking in like she was some attraction at a carnival. Their peeping eyes evident through the panes. This place was starting to strangle her with its comfort and routine. The walls were her bars. It was the fear keeping her in. That fear could ruin someone, you know.

There were noises. Constant noises. The washing machine roared. The fridge growled. What’s that? The wind. What’s that?! The phone falling off the couch. She saw the shadows too. The ones trying to creep into her home. Those prowling shapes of darkness. She could hear the house around her turning into something living. Moving. Breathing. She was inside the cage with the animal. The animal of fear was playing with her like a cat with a mouse. She tiptoed around the house fearful of awaking the beast. Of course, she had let it in.

Smash!

That was it! The beast must be ready to pounce. Julia held onto the couch, closing her eyes tightly, waiting for the panic to set in.

‘Can I have my ball back?’

Julia opened one eye to see a ball rolling towards her. The attack seemed to subside.

‘For now,’ she thought.

She stared at this strange object that had invaded. Her eyes widened as she looked at the hole in the window. Was this her chance to escape? This boy had disrupted the cage. She had to get out. Trembling hands reached to pick up the ball. Lithe footsteps approached. Her heart began a jungle beat. Nervous intakes of breathe in and out.

She wrung her hands together and her eyes flickered from the window, to the ball, to him. She picked it up as her hands shook violently. Julia managed to throw it to the boy but then he spoke.

‘Is that your cat outside? It looks a little like a stray’


A stray animal. Cold. Alone. Scared. Just like her. Julia had to get out and escape the fear for good. She just knew it. Running to the door she knew she had to escape before the beast took her out for good. This was it.

She laid her hand on the cool metal of the door.

Turning… turning.

The blinding sun hit her square in the eyes, nothing like the lamps and candles she was used to. She squinted and then she saw. The creature was tamed.