Nothing

• Dana Main, Grade 6, Mt Barker Waldorf School
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Word Zone 2016' competition

The sun was what woke me that morning. It streamed in the window, and one of its bright beams fell across my face, glinting off my blonde hair and warming my skin. Birds sang in the trees, others flitted through the air chasing insects that were too small to see. Flowers sparkled with tiny droplets of dew, and a warm breeze rustled through the trees, swaying the sun-ripened heads of golden wheat in the fields.
I crawled out of bed. As I got dressed, though, I had a bad thought. No day could be absolutely perfect, could it? Something had to go wrong, like an elephant stampede, or a plane dropping out of the sky onto our house.
I shook my head. “No! I can’t think like that,” I said aloud. Mum stuck her head around the door.
“Can’t think like what?”
“Nothing,” I muttered.
Fully clothed, I stumbled downstairs to the kitchen and got myself some Weetbix for breakfast. I drank a big cup of tea. The caffeine cut through the fog of sleep that clouded my mind and I could think more clearly. It was going to be a hot day, I realized. If I wanted to take my dog Bella for a walk, I would have to do it now.
I wolfed down the rest of my Weetbix and whistle to Bella. “Walkie’s, Bella.”
She dashed off and came back with her lead. I clipped it onto her collar, picked up the bag of treats that I used to bribe her, and set off down the road.
That bad thought was still lingering at the edge of my mind, so I decided to think about something else.
“Sit,” I told Bella. I unclipped her lead and put her through her paces: stay, come, sit, speak, shake, lie down, and roll over. Each time she did exactly what I said, and each time I rewarded her with a treat.
I let her roam around for a while, then called her back. But when I put my hand under her neck, feeling for the clip on her collar, my poor Bella was trembling!
“What’s wrong Bella darling?” I looked around uneasily. Mum always said that dogs could sense supernatural presences long before humans could.
Suddenly, Bella began to howl. A shadow, a monstrous shadow, fell across the sun. I looked up and screamed in terror, for looming over me was…nothing. But the shadow was still there!
My instincts took charge of me. I scooped up Bella and ran. I ran all the way home, adrenaline pumping through my veins. Slamming the door behind me, I shut my eyes and leant against the door.
Surely whatever it was had seen me. I waited for the crash of the door breaking, the searing pain as a huge splinter of wood impale me. But none came. I looked out the window. Nothing. The shadow was gone.