Next In Line

• Karina Chin, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2012

It’s a dark and stormy night on the first night of the school holidays. Four friends- Alex, Blake, Connor and Dean are out camping in a forest. Suddenly the thunder wakes them all up. They quickly pack up their gear and head off to find better shelter from the storm. Through the fog, they can just make out an old mansion.

They run to the mansion and knock a few times on the door. The door creaks open and there stands an old man with a hunchback.

“Come in,” he insists.

The old man tells them that his name is Mr Fry and that he is the butler of the mansion. He takes them upstairs and shows them some rooms they can stay in. Within minutes, the boys fall asleep.

In the morning only Alex, Connor and Dean are outside in the hallway where they said they would meet at 8am. They wait a few more minutes for Blake but Mr Fry turns up.

“The other boy told me to tell you he went back home,” informs Mr Fry.

The three boys are shocked at the news. Why would their best mate desert them?

“Thanks for the accommodation Mr Fry. We better get going too,” Alex says.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. There’s thick fog out there, you’ll have trouble finding your way around,” cautions Mr Fry.

“Okay we’ll stay for one more day,” Connor says.

Mr Fry nods and goes back downstairs.

“There is something strange about that man; I just don’t know what it is. He seems so suspicious to me,” Dean whispers.

The next day only Connor and Dean are in the hallway. They wait for ten minutes but Alex doesn’t show up. So they search the house for him but instead they find Mr Fry with more news for them.

“I saw the boy leaving early this morning. He told me the fog had disappeared and wanted to go home before there was any more bad weather,” Mr Fry explains. “He’s lucky he left early, the storm has returned.”

Connor and Dean are even more shocked. Alex had said only yesterday that a true friend would never desert each other. So where has Alex gone?

“I think we should stay one more day, until the storm goes away,” Dean says grimly.

At 8am the next day, Dean stands alone in the hallway. After five minutes, he searches the house for Connor but once again finds Mr Fry.

“The boy didn’t want to wait any longer for the storm to go, so he just left,” Mr Fry says. “I suggest you stay another day until the storm clears up,”

In the middle of the night, Dean tosses and turns in his bed. His bedroom door quietly creaks open. Dean opens his eyes and sees the shadow of a hunchback figure approaching him with a knife. He doesn’t even have time to scream before everything goes black.