Eight

• Bianca Lanzliner, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2017

I push through the heavy door, soaking wet and ready to climb the 8 stores of stairs. Outside there is a hell of a storm blooming, causing the city to have a power out. I hear the old grandfather clock chime 8pm ringing through the quiet building. I drag my left foot over the first step followed by my right wishing the power would come back so I can take the elevator. I try to keep positive and think of the excise I will be getting but by the third floor I was only thinking about sleep. I drag my briefcase full of paperwork I need to review before 8am tomorrow. Each step I take echoes throughout the building and my feet fell heavier until I finally reach floor 8.
I fall through my door; I slip off my shoes trying not to fall over. I live in a small, cheap, inconsequential apartment where the bedroom, kitchen and lounge room are one room and a bathroom separate. The wall paper is old, worn out with tears in it and the celling is smoke stained. I plonk myself into my old armchair that sits in the middle of the room that faces over the city. I peak over the lifeless, rundown city like batman does with Gotham without the bad guys.
A flash of lighten here and there, followed but a deafening crackle trying to catch up. The rain continues to poor down like there is no tomorrow. The ducks would be loving all of this rain. The wind makes a ghost like sound as it sneaks through the cracks in the building. The moon is hidden by the dark, exasperate clouds. I start to doze off until a massive flash of lighten, strikes just near my apartment. It nearly blinds me but out of the corner of my eye I see something. I see out of the window a white, faceless person wearing a black suit. This thing had no hair or eyes or mouth or even a nose. The site of it sends shivers up my spine. My blood runs cold, all my hair sticks up and I have goose bumps on my goose bumps. But that is impossible for someone to be outside my window I am 8 floors up. I jump up, my legs felling jelly like and the thought of dying running through my head. If it had eyes it would be starting into my soul. Another flash follower by a crackle and it is gone. I slowly creep over to the window with my heart pounding out of my chest, expecting to see something. My breath fogs up the frozen glass, unrevealing a hidden message. I keep breathing on the glass until the word ‘RUN! LEAVE NOW OR DIE!” appears. I stumble back unknown what to do. Not looking where I was going to trip over a box sending me to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I hit my head. Everything goes black.