Walls Closing In

• Ryhiannon Craven, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2014

It was all coming back to me; how I got here, how it happened. Walking up the stone pathway, I could feel the breeze getting colder as it went through my jeans. I could hear the dead leaves scraping on the ground. Looking up at my mum, I knew she was just as scared as I was. Like her, I was never a big fan of vast houses in the middle of nowhere. Ten seconds here and I already missed our old house and the warmth of my room. I missed waking up to the sunlight on my face, coming through the silk curtains. As we continued to walk up the stone pathway, I looked up at the house and instantly got shivers. It looked like an old symmetrical doll house that had seen much better days. When mum put the key in and opened the door, the creaking sound echoed through the whole house. Every step I took on the old stairs, they became more unstable. I opened the door to my new room and felt disappointed. It was just a big, empty, old room with no windows. I hated this place already and before I knew it, it was night time. No moonlight coming through the windows meant complete darkness for me tonight except for my flashlight. I heard a noise out in the hall and my adventurous got the best of me that night. There was nothing in the hall and I wanted to check the attic but it was locked from the inside so not even my mum could get in there. I stood still for a while but aborted that quckly after I felt breathing on my neck and whispering in my ear. Then that's when it happened, I fell through the floor! I was screaming but no-one could hear me. When you fall, you go lower, right? So, why was I in the attic? I was so confused, I couldn't breathe. I tried to get out but the locks were gone! It's like they had switched sides. I couldn't see very well but the moonlight coming through the laced-curtain window gave me enough light to see where I was going. When I turned around to look at the door again, it was open! It's like time had gone back years, I even felt younger. I ran downstairs and went for the door but when I walked through the front door, I had walked into my bedroom! I couldn't figure out what was going on so I stood still for a while again and agin, I felt the breathing on my neck and the whispering in my ear. I wasn't moving but the walls were getting closer to me. I yelled for help but there was no answer. I looked at the walls and saw my life right in front of me, like a movie. In my last moments of life, I shed a tear and sighed for all the memories. The walls closing in made no difference to my last breath.