Illusions

• Melanie Dikschei, Grade 8, Boronia K-12 College - Rangeview Campus
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Word Zone 2016' competition

One dark night, a girl named Ashley walked through the street, every house had their lights off and the doors locked very tightly, there was a lot of fog so it was hard to see where she was going. It was silent the only thing she felt was the wind though her hair.
As she walks, she thinks about her life, but as she walked she could hear a faint noise in the distance of something or someone coming closer. Ashley’s eyes shot up, but all her eyes met with was fog. She blinked a few times to check if what she saw was real, the noise just got louder and it was sounded like it was becoming footsteps.
Ashley tried to turn and flee but her legs wouldn’t move, she was paralysed with fear. Panicking she watched the approaching with fear, she believed that with every step the man took the quicker his pace got.
After impatient seconds of panicking her legs finally released her from the state of shock, the impact almost made her stumble to the ground. Without a second glance she turned and ran from the fast – paced man, dodging the drains with the loose lids on the way.
Through all the fog blocking her vision her house finally came into view, she felt relieved to see her old house for once. Ashley opens the door then slams it shut, through the hole in the door she could see the man approaching and it made her heart skip a beat.
Ashley ran upstairs to her room, there she saw the newspaper she was reading before but when she went over to it, her eyes went wide to see that instead of articles, there were pictures of the man that she’d just encountered coming towards the camera. She turned on the TV to see for any news there but on every channel, there were the same pictures.
Ashley ran back down the stairs when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the front door, suddenly everything went quiet. Ashley reached for the door handle but when she did, the door flung open by a violent wind, which sent her flying back against a wall.
She felt dizzy, but as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she looked up and when she did she saw the man staring back down at her. She blinked and when she did, she realised that the strange man was actually her father coming home late from work. Ashley let out a sigh of relief and said goodnight to her father then went upstairs to her room.
Once she got to her room, she checked the newspaper and TV, they seemed to have gone back to normal and had what they had on them before. As she slipped into bed, she decided that they were just illusions from being terrified, with that thought in mind, she fell into a deep sleep.