Muffled Footsteps

• Imogen Graham, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

Mia was sitting at her wooden kitchen table, when the lights violently flickered. She looked out the window, thinking that maybe something was wrong with the power lines. Mia peered through the small gap in the curtains but she saw nothing but darkness. Mia's parents were out at a concert and they wouldn't be home until very late that night, so they wouldn't be able to help fix the lights. Mia picked up her mobile phone to inform her parents about the lights, but countless scam messages were shown on her phone. She started to become scared. What was happening? Was this all a dream? All these thoughts were rushing through her mind when suddenly the lights went out completely.
Mia stood in silence holding her phone in her hand, and turned on the torch. She heard the faint creak of a door, so she cautiously shone the light towards the sound. Mia looked around in panic and saw something swiftly move across the bright beam of light. Mia stood in silence, wondering what was lurking in the darkness of her house. Who was it? No, the dark shape did not belong do a who, what, was it?
Mia heard muffled footsteps, they were getting louder and louder. She was terrified, terrified of whatever it was that was coming towards her. She didn't know what to do. Thoughts of fear were rushing through her head at a million miles an hour. How was she supposed to get away from something she couldn't see? Run. Just run. That was the only thing that Mia could do to get out of this situation. But where to? Where could she run to that would be safe? As all these questions were going through her head, Mia heard the muffled footsteps become louder. It was coming for her, whatever it was. Then, the footsteps came to a stop. Within a second Mia felt a soft cold breath on the back of her neck, and a hand lightly stroke her back.
Mia rapidly sprinted towards her front door and frantically pulled at the silver door handle. It wouldn't open, so she hurried towards the back door, but Mia couldn't find it in the darkness. Mia froze by a wall of the dark living room, as a gush of wind blew into the house. Suddenly the back door blew open, and she saw the moonlight shine through the doorway. "This is my chance" she thought, and she ran.
Mia sprinted through the doorway and out the house. She ran as fast as she could down the street, and didn't stop. Mia ran until it felt like she was running for hours, all she wanted was to get as far away from the dark creature as possible. The sun eventually started to rise, and she felt safe.