A Terrifying Night
by Esther Lee Sze Chai 6H
A short story that started as scene writing exercise. Over the course of 3 weeks, Esther Lee connected herscenes, which she eventually turned into a story.
“Bye, Sweetie! We’re going to Aunt Lindsey’s house, be safe!” As the door closed behind Lucy’s mother, Miss Brooklyn’s cheerful voice, Lucy let out a long, suffering sigh. “Why me…..”
Lucy stormed off to her room after locking the doors, her expression screamed frustration. “I wanted to go too…adults always say, ‘Lucy! When adults tell you to do something, you must do it because we have more experience than you!’”
Lucy was sitting on her pastel wool carpet, drawing a sequel for a horror comic for fun: A Terrifying Night. She was too bored since her parents had to go to her favourite: Aunt Lindsey’s house, and she was the only child in the Brooklyn Family.
She kept working on the horror comic as she kept wondering : “Why am I the only child in this booooring family? It’s so dull in this family not having a friend except annoying and loud adults. The ones that bring candies are always busy.”
Wrekkkk… A mysterious sound caught Lucy’s attention. She wasn’t expecting anyone–or her parents to come home so early, especially when they went to the most talkative aunt: Aunt Lindsey' s house. The ominous sound came from the front door, and Lucy’s back went cold.
She suddenly remembered her story’s main storyline :
[A girl in her house alone, but a sudden sound caught her attention. It was a serial killer, Jack the executor. He always wears an innocent expression but his heart is not that innocent… The next day, the poor girl’s lifeless body was found in her room, splattered with blood. Her eyeballs got plucked out, still in fresh blood… ]
Lucy’s hair went straight as a ruler, “What if…I get the same fate as the girl?” Lucy shook her head, there’s no way it’s real, it’s just a coincidence, Right…?...R-Right……?
While faking that calm facade of hers, Lucy slipped out her cozy room and sneaked to the kitchen. She was holding a crooked broom as a blade and holding a soft pillow, which was supposed to be a shield and she took a peek at the eerily quiet hallway. Although she saw nothing but an empty hall, her posture was still stiffened and her face screamed anxious.
Lucy, still not entirely sure if she is in danger or not, snatched a small can of pepper spray from the supply shelf for protection. She held it up like it was a sacred treasure, and slipped it in her pocket. She took a look around her position, checking for potential dangers and dashed swiftly back to her room.
She opened the window, just in case a killer chases her to her room. The moon shone at her youthful and porcelain-like cheeks. Her grip on the broom tightened, she was trembling with fear. She knew that she needed to be brave like the warriors in the stories, but she just couldn't help it! If there was really a killer…she’d die…
A gust of cold wind blew across her cheek, snapping her back to the harsh reality, she needed to check the locks. She needed a more useful weapon than a crooked broom if there was really danger. A soft pillow couldn’t protect her from a sharp knife. What if the pepper spray runs out? And she can’t jump out of the window, it’s meters away from the solid ground. She’d die if she didn’t do something.
“I’ll just check the locks! A-and get a thick object, and a sharp object…and some ropes for exiting…and…I’ll get another pepper spray!” Lucy’s voice cracked as she blurted out panickedly with her inner thoughts. She was basically buzzing with fear and anxiety, she dashed under her wooden bed. Her fingers tremble as she clutches the crooked broom like a lifeline, it’s a miracle how it hasn’t broken from sheer pressure Lucy is giving it. She is basically sweating bullets now, this was way too different from the horror movies.
Tik…Tok…Tik…Tok… Time was running out. Lucy needed to decide. Will she risk and gain more supplies? Or will she keep hiding until her parents come back? Or… is there a third choice…?
Lucy, still under that “fortress” of hers, does anything a reasonable person would do. Finding her phone.
She popped her head out of the bed and reached for her messy desktop. Stationary is left everywhere on the desk in any spot, books are piled up like a tower, and her phone is nowhere to be found.
Lucy continued scrambling through the chaos of the desk and finally reached her phone. The phone was an ordinary phone in other’s eyes, but to Lucy? It was a device that could lend the poor girl some help.
She slid under the bed once more after locking her bedroom door, and dialed her mother’s number. Beep. Beep. The line connected.
“Hello? Lucy? Is something wrong?” Mom’s rosy voice spoke from the phone. “M-Mom…? Can you come home early?” Lucy’s mom sensed something was wrong in Lucy’s voice, but she didn’t dig further.
“Sure, Lucy. Anything else?” Lucy’s mom was already packing. Lucy could tell from the fabrics rustling and Aunt Lindsey’s confused voice. “Nothing else, Mom.”
Miss Brooklyn put on her heels and waved Aunt Lindsey goodbye before boarding a cab. The ride home was long, seconds were like minutes, and minutes were like hours. At last, she arrived.
Click.
The main entrance opened. Miss Brooklyn dashed towards her daughter’s room and knocked on the door frantically. Lucy unlocked the door while tears glistened in her eyes.
“MOM!” Lucy clung to her long-waited mother’s shirt in relief, “You’re HERE!”
Ms. Brooklyn returned the embrace so tight it almost hurt.
“Yes, I’m here…I am so, so sorry I left you here alone and afraid.” Tears fell from her hazel eyes, “...I will never leave you alone again.”
Lucy pulled back and looked up to her beloved mother with those wide, innocent eyes, “Promise..?”
And her mother replied…
“Promise.”
Then, Lucy noticed her mother’s tears falling from her eyes.
“Mom?”
“Yes…?”
“Are those happy tears?”
Ms. Brooklyn stopped her tears for a second and hummed softly. “What do you think?”
Lucy cracked a cheerful smile and exclaimed, “A happy one, I’m sure!!”