Waking The Night Birds
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Jenny Cha, Grade 9
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Short Story
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2012
Surviving the risk of sleeping outside
A man was shouting at the top of his voice, outraged. Heart racing, I sneaked toward the back of the house, where I could hear a woman trying to calm him down. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it was enough to make my skin tremble and I knew it meant trouble for me!
I pulled on my blue sweater, trying to hide my bright yellow top. Alert, I scrambled under the windowsill to the shed behind the castle, where the secret key was. If the key was lost, I was dead. I had to find it!
All of a sudden, the shouting stopped and a window opened. The man was scanning the backyard for me.
As soon as it was safe from the devilish eyes of that man, I quickly sprinted out of my hiding place to the shed. I felt across the old wooden wall that hid the key, thinking that in a moment I would be safe and sound in my bedroom. But when I opened the secret place, the key wasn’t there! For a moment I was dumbfounded, rooted to the ground. Then, something tapped me from behind.
It was Doris the cat. She meowed, and tapped me again. Phew! I wiped a bead of sweat off my face and slowly picked the cat up. I rubbed her under her chin, and she purred, enjoying the affection.
She jumped out and strolled off to the bushes. I set on to find the key. I carefully walked out of the shed. Remembering that my second hiding place was behind the water tank inside a fake rock, I crept quietly to the venue. I rummaged through the rocks, trying to find the fake one. But I could not find the key.
Where was it?
I searched frantically, going from hiding places to hiding places, from the bird cage to the dog house, then the dog house to the man’s ash tray. I was looking under leaves, the rubbish, inside the doll house, and considering rather seriously whether I should dive into the pool or not to my 14th hiding place! Finally, when I reached my 15th, I found it!
It was glistening in the few strands of moonlight that managed to crawl through the thick grey cloud, under the old KFC box from 3 months ago.
Thrilled, I tiptoed to the back door, my usual entrance, and put the secret key into the secret keyhole. No-one in my family can find the keyhole. They are too dumb. I turned the key, and quietly opened the door. Turning the light switch on, I was astonished to find the man standing right in front of me.
"D-Dad! How did you know?" The man, being turned into a giant, now confronted me with his crinkled brows, ready to give me an earful. Moments later, a roar shook the sleeping town, and I am pretty sure that everyone, even the night birds that were flying, knew it was my dad yelling at me for coming home at midnight again.