Hey everyone :)
So, this is my first story... Make sure to r&r if you like it, and even if you don't, tell me why so I can improve my writing.
tomriddl
It was an unusually quiet night for the residents of the Knightsbridge Apartments. The floor above them normally had intoxicated teenagers filtering in and out, with heavy bass shaking the light fixture above Taylor's head as she lie in bed, trying to sleep. Taylor found this music soothing. Her parents, however, did not.
That night, however, there were no giggling teens shushing each other as they clanged down the metal staircase to leave. There was no obscenely loud dubstep. Taylor could hear her dog, Silas' soft breathing from the inky darkness beyond her sheets. She flipped onto her back, eyes opening slowly, examining the lazily circling ceiling fan above. She sighed.
A thwack coming from her window made her jump. She tried to settle her heart as she sat up, sliding her feet onto the icy panelled floor. She grabbed her lacrosse stick, and slid on her catcher's mask swiftly, as another thwack emitted from the window, a mere shadow infiltrating her blinds, but growing to enormous proportions on the wall opposite.
She slid open the blinds, tugging gently at the cord, her stick at the ready, as she lifted the catch on the window. Her lacrosse stick fell out of her hands as a heavy, winged thing caught her in the face, effectively scratching her cheek in the process. She banged into her bed trying to get the bird-thing off, but the more she pulled, the more it seemed to get caught in her hair. A final yank ensured that it came loose, yanking with its talons a lengthy piece of tangled blonde hair.
Taylor sat on the ground, awe-struck and slightly horrified. The bird, which she had identified to be an owl, gave her a dirty look and preened its crumpled feathers. Taylor noticed a creamy white spot in the surrounding darkness, close to the owl. She slowly inched forward, and snagged the letter with her foot, pulling it away from the offended bird (who was now pulling Taylor's hair out from between its claws) and picked it up. It was a crisp envelope with her full name on it, Taylor Anne Willows, and her exact address, the smallest bedroom, floor seven of Knightsbridge Apartments. How could someone know her address like that? This wasn't Harry Potter. It could only mean someone was stalking her again. First her uncle Barnaby, and now this? There was only one thing to do.
Taylor opened the envelope with shaking hands.
The parchment was thick and creamy, matching the envelope, and the ink rubbed off onto her hands where she touched it. In some places the parchment looked crumpled in places, and there were some rips along the sides. No doubt they were from her quarrel with the owl, who was now making itself at home among Taylor's various scarves.
'Yes, rip my scarves to shreds, why don't you?' Taylor whispered furiously.
The owl hooted, and Taylor huffed.
'Just shut up about it, will you? If I wake up my parents they'll ground me until I'm ninety! You realise animals are forbidden in apartments?'
The owl hooted again, and Taylor sighed, shaking her head and reading the paper.
It wasn't the owl which woke her parents three minutes and twenty six seconds later, it was Taylor, screaming like bloody murder. Hogwarts was real, and she had received her letter.