We All Fall Down...

• Connor Gall, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2014

The lighting flash through the windows and the thunder roared across the cold, miserable graveyard, adjoining my home. Another terrifying scream from the sky revealed the frightened look in Kai's eyes. He look at me, his wide eyes looking up at me. He said to me with a shivering voice " I...I'm scared Locky" I could barely hear him through his scared stutter. " it's going to be ok " I said sounding strong and brave. A small drop of water landed at my feet followed by several more. The small raindrops formed a small puddle on the creaky floor panels. I looked up to see yet another hole in this worn out beaten up shack, the shack Kai and I call home. I told Kai to stay calm and listen to the radio while I fix the hole. I grab the stepladder from the closet, and grab the duck tape. While I put the last roll of duct tape over the hole I overhear the radio " people around the Brighton area should watch out for the insane psycho killer, who calls himself dead." Kai quickly changes the station probably scared. Once I finished the hole I came back down to Kai. " do you think we should be worried about that dead guy?" I say bravely, not trying alarm Kai. " yeah, I'm, I don't know " he says quickly changing the subject. Suddenly,before I could ask another question, the power turns off. Great, I think. " it's ok, I'll get it back on" There's no response. I look out the window and see a figure standing in the woods. Before I could get a closer look, a soft scary voice starts to sing. "Ring a ring a rosy, a pocket full of posie, a tissue a tissue" suddenly a sharp pain stings the back off my head, the singing slowly gets quieter as I fall unconscious.

I wake up in a dark room, unable to move. I try to think on what happened, but the last thing I can remember is seeing someone standing over me. The cold splintery floor becomes too painful. I lift myself off the ground ignoring the pain in my head. After some time walking around the tiny contained space, I sit down with my thoughts... my questions. Where am I? A torture room? Who was that? Maybe the figure from the woods? But the most troubling question, what has he done with Kai? I decide it's time to find out. My hand ran around the hard walls, until I hit another wall. This goes on for sometime until I find a cold metal sphere. The doorknob! I hesitate to open it, too frightened. I think back to my Mum and Dad. I can still remember my Mum's soft silky hair rolling down past her shoulders onto her chest. Her smile reminded me that it's going to be ok. It seems like a million years ago she went missing. I don't remember a lot about my Dad. He left to fight when I was little but Mum always said that he would do anything to protect us. I finally find the courage to open the door. Outside is still dark but I can now hear the thunder more clearly. A flash of lightning revels a candle with matches beside it. The candle only gives me a faint light but it's enough to show where I am... my own house! The two second hand chairs, the coffee table with the radio on it. I start walking towards the radio when suddenly the windows burst open with the wind blowing out my candle. In a split second I'm pushed to the floor, absolutely helpless. I knock the radio over the table. And the singing starts again. But it was too realistic for the radio... Too familiar. "ring a ring a rosy ". All of a sudden it adds up. "Pocket full of posie" who quickly change the radio station after the story on dead "a tissue" who wasn't there when the singing started. "a tissue". But it can't be. A flash of lightning revels my murderer, my end, my doom "Kai" I say. " I prefer dead" then he stabbed me. Kai looks up through the window strait into the eyes of the figure in the woods, who has been witnessing the entire event. "We all fall down.... Dead"