Danger In The Night

• Daniel Chadwick, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2015

He is in my house. He has been for the last ten minutes but I don’t think he knows of my presence yet. I don’t know if I can overpower him. I’ll have to take him by surprise. He won’t see me coming. I’ll jump onto him from the second story landing. I must wait till he is right below me; otherwise I might miss and land on the floor next to him. Then he’ll have the advantage. He’s coming. I can hear him trying to sneak down the corridor. He’ll be below me in a few seconds.
I stand up, ready to jump. I see his head cautiously emerge from under the landing. He looks around, but not up. When he comes out in full sight, I get the gist of how big this guy actually is. He would have to be at least twice my size, maybe more. This scares me because it means that I might not be able to overpower him, even if I jump on him by surprise.
I don’t have time to think about it anymore because he has turned around to face the landing. I duck down out of sight. I don’t know if he has seen me. I definitely saw his face, so he could have seen mine. He has unnatural jet black eyes with a long scar from his chin all the way up to his non-existent right ear. He looks like the kind of guy who would wrestle wild animals as a hobby. Maybe that’s where the scar and loss of his ear came from; wrestling a lion or tiger.
He’s moving towards the stairs so he’s probably seen me. If I don’t move he’ll see me for sure when he reaches the top. Silently, I crawl towards my bedroom and get through the door just before his head reaches the top of the stairs.
Now I have to make a choice. Use the phone to call for help and give away my location or jump out the window onto the lawn (or rose garden) ten meters below and possibly injure myself. I choose the window. At least then I have a greater chance of escape and I don’t have to face this guy.
I tip toe over to the window and open it as quietly (which isn’t very quiet at all).
I put my legs out and as I sit on the sill, I hear the doorknob squeak as it turns. I jump out the window as quick as I can, pushing away from the house so I land on the lawn not the roses. I land on the lawn and roll to lessen the impact a bit but I still think I’ll have a few bruises in the morning, if I can make it through the night.