Summer Storm

• Oran Zammit, Grade 1, Mt Isa School of the Air
• Short Story
• 2017

Finalist in the 'Write Here Write Now 2017' competition

Last summer, my brother and I went for a fishing trip to the old forest cabin. We arrived early and started to set up for the weekend; we unpacked the car, tidied the cabin and started to collect firewood. Barney, our dog, was off following his sniffer, exploring all the new scents. He barked loudly once. We ran to see what was wrong. He had found a strange tree marked with a faded, red ribbon. We thought nothing of it and continued our search for firewood. The wind picked up and the light started to fade quickly. Suddenly, it started to pour and a loud clap of thunder boomed through the forest scattering every animal, including Barney. We sprinted to the house and Hank turned on the power and the lights lit up the cabin, lucky, because our firewood was soaked. We went to sit down with hot chocolate to ride out the storm. Lightning flashed and with a BANG the power went out. We heard Barney barking and Hank took the torch and told me to stay put while he goes to fetch Barney.
The room was pitch-black; I couldn’t even see my own hands. I remembered seeing another torch in the kitchen, so I slowly crept across the room reaching out in front of me. I nearly fell over the stand of fire pokers. My head snapped up as I heard a creak in the floorboards nearby and froze. My ears strained to pinpoint the sound over the screaming of the storm outside. In front of me I heard scraping of feet being dragged across the wood coming closer and closer.
I swallowed my fear with a gulp, and tried to speak. “Hank is that you?”
The sound that left my throat was a hoarse whisper. I picked up a fire poker, scanning the dark nervously. I spun as a scream started up on the other side of the room, the wind I thought, shrill and ear-splitting but my body exploded in goose bumps and every hair stood on end as the air froze around me; I swear I was breathing steam. Lightning flashed and the cabin lit up, I caught a glimpse of a man. It was not Hank.
I bolted to the bedroom and hid under the bed. Another flash and he was there already somehow, his bare feet and torn jeans right in front of my face. I covered my mouth to quiet my heavy breathing, but he heard. He reached a long, grey hand toward me, but I closed my eyes and swung blindly with the fire poker. He vanished, like the howling wind, leaving only a red ribbon behind. I scrambled out from under the bed, out of the bedroom and smacked into Hank!
I was shaking and panting and told him what happened and he said “Don’t be silly, ghosts don’t exist!” I could tell he was unsure. The wind slammed a door shut behind us and we both bailed out.