Danger

• Annabel Lynch, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

Agonising screeches echoed through my head. Fear coursed through my veins, my hands held my head, my face scrunched together.My breaths became sharper and my heart pounded in my chest. My head shook and my fingers tensed, until a thunderous scream.
Feet roamed the hallways.I stared down at my wounded, scared body.I grasped the walls as my legs stumbled downstairs.My face peered through the gap in the walls.Talons scraped against the stone .The piercing scrape deafened my ears .My eyes gazed across the room, until they fell on blood oozing out of my mother’s body lying helplessly on the floor.I silently cried gazing across the room until my eyes met with my stepfathers.He swung a beer bottle at my face.My eyes lit up with terror.I dodged the glass but his rage grew by the second. He grinded his teeth, his eyes widened and he screamed,
‘NOW YOU LITTLE’ I blocked my ears. Anxious tears ran down my face.I swallowed my heart, my face turned distraught, he knelt down, his dirty hands wrapped around my neck, his fingers pressed against my lungs.I desperately gasped for air my feet dangling above the ground.His snarl turned into a grin as he flared his nostrils lighting up a cigarette enjoying my suffering .My face turned red, I couldn't hold my breath any longer.I could feel his hot beer breath on my face but suddenly he dropped me to the ground.
My eyes fluttered open,I stared at my stepfather snoring loudly on the teared couch.My vision blurred and I was unaware of my surroundings.A faint buzzing sound echoed through my head, constantly spinning.I stared down at my hands, covered in blood.I glanced beside me to see a familiar figure crouched down next to me.
‘Riley, Riley.’ It was my mother.
‘It's not safe for you here anymore.’ I heard her say as tears poured down her face.
‘I have to send you to the adoption centre.’ My mother whispered.I snapped back into reality and my eyes welled up with angry tears.
‘NO!’ I tried to scream but my mother shushed me, pointing at my stepfather laying on the couch.
‘I can't live without you-’ I screamed becoming out of control blinded by my anger,
‘This is because of him isn’t it-’ My eyes filled with fury.I leapt at my stepfather but before I could punch him, his snoring became faint and his eyes started to open.
‘We need to leave-now!’ My mother exclaimed in a panicked voice. As the house was swallowed into the fog, my mother pressed her head against mine ‘I will never forget you.’
We entered the adoption centre but suddenly a strong man covered in tattoos and long dreadlocked hair barged into the building. Cries erupted through the building as the man shouted my mother’s name.
‘MELISSA!’ It was my stepfather.