A Servant Of Death

• Sibi Packirisamy, Grade 8, North Sydney Boys High School
• Short Story
• 2013

2nd in the 'Dream Big 2013' competition

The pitter patter of my tiny feet sounds like thunder to me as I hastily scurry across the wooden floorboards toward the kitchen. I am fleeing from a servant of death and the only way to stop it is to find its greatest nemesis. As I near the corner, I smell the pungent reek of human and freeze, in an attempt to avoid their gaze. Clenching my eyes shut, I wait for the human to pass, when I suddenly feel an intense pain in the lower part of my tail. Fighting all the urges in my body to squeak out in pain, I turn my head to see a colossal brown boot stepping on my tail. Just as quickly as it had come, the boot soon vanishes, but my tail is red and throbbing like an angry worm. I massage it with my two front paws and lick it in order to sooth the pain. I wait for a few seconds and then continue my journey into the belly of the beast. In order to be quieter, I assume my stealth mode and begin stalking quietly across the kitchen, pressed against the marble walls.
Suddenly a delicious overpowering scent flows over me and I turn my head to see a soaring tower with a ring of thin plastic on the top. I begin to scale the hard black surface but stop, remembering why I was in this hell filled with mouse traps and enchanting poisonous baits. Reluctantly, I twist my flexible body back on course and head towards the big shiny doors that lie ahead. Picking up my pace, I race to the massive doors and stand up on my hind legs to open it, but to no avail. So I decide to wait for the humans to open it for me. Sensing there was not much else I could do, I gathered myself in a dark corner near the door, and fell into a light nap, all the while fearing that the servant of death may kill me in my sleep.
Surprisingly I didn’t hear the human; instead I heard the creak of the doors opening. Snapped to my senses, I jump up and half leap into the cupboard, careful not to let myself be seen by the human. I land in a heap and hit something hard. Fortunately my scotopia kicks in and I see that I had hit an aluminium can. I pick myself up and look around to see if I’m in the right cupboard. I am and in the darkest corner, I spot my saviour; Food. I tackle the lump of stale bread and in a few minutes I find that I have vanquished the demon called Hunger. But I know that in a few hours’ time he'll be back, quite possibly stronger than before.