Escape

• Heidi Sorensen, Grade 5, Boambee Public School -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

Panting, I woke up in a sweat. A cold, tingly chill crawled up my spine. Where am I? I froze when I laid eyes on the rusty astronaut helmet. Why was that there? I got up out of bed, my numb, trembling legs trailing behind me. A sudden shimmer caught my eye. My head jolted towards the light, and my heart sank. It was space. The stars glistened brightly. A sudden noise startled me. Red, flashing lights flickered as an alarm started. I covered my ears and looked towards the ceiling. A black, wide, screen spread across the roof. Bold white letters flickered on and off. Thankfully, the alarm stopped and I could finally see what it read. “10…hours? What does that mean?” A deep, gruff voice came over the speakers. I quivered. ``10 hours to escape.” The voice muttered coldly. The rusty iron bars fell open with a creak. My trembling legs carried me out into the modern hallway. All of a sudden, my hands leapt onto my throat. I started to gasp for air, panting and looking around frantically. Suddenly, I remembered, and I scrambled towards the ancient astronaut helmet. Hands shaking, I grabbed the helmet, sighing with relief once I had put it on. I cautiously approached the hallway once again. I peeked my head out the doorway and looked both ways. As I walked down one of the long, silver hallways, my head started to spin uncontrollably with thoughts. How was I planning to escape this spaceship? Am I alone or is-THUD. A sudden noise startled me, and I turned around quickly. Nothing there. I was about to turn back around but something stopped me. I couldn’t help but feel that something, or someone, was watching me. Shadows lurked. I turned around and walked faster. I could feel something strange, like the eyes were staring harder-if there were any. I couldn’t do it, I just had to look behind. My heart felt as if it had stopped beating, dropped and shattered on the ground. A massive eye was looking at me. I turned around and sprinted. I didn’t dare to look back. Hours passed, and I was starting to become tired. “4 hours.” The gruff voice muttered. I was starting to lose hope. “1 hour.” The voice grumbled again. What was I supposed to do? I turned left, then right, then left again. “10 minutes.” The voice called. I was losing more and more hope by the minute. I turned right, just to see the end of the massive hallway, a door placed right in the middle. “I did it!” I screamed. I ran as fast as I could towards the door, my heart pounding with joy. I swung open the shiny, glistening door, just to see emptiness. “10 seconds.” I looked down, just to see pitch black darkness. It was like space was swallowing me whole. And that’s when it hit me, the worst thought of all. I was stuck. There was no escape.