Okay everyone, here is something new... I had to write something for school, and i thought id put it up here and see what you all thought of it... give me your honest opinions!
Val sat on the recliner, her feet up in the air, and her head leaning back against the chairs soft, plush cushion. The television chatted away in front of her, and the popcorn in the bowl sitting beside her smelled strongly of buttery delight. Val reached over to the end table sitting next to the recliner Her fingers felt around the wooden surface searching for her glass of cold lemonade that she had just mixed. Finding it, she brought the cold glass up to her lips.
Val was sitting alone in the large colonial home that her parents had bought the past year. They had moved out into the countryside after her dad had been in the hospital for a heart attack. The doctors had told the family that they needed to get away form the hustle of the inner city, so her parents had decided to move them all away form the only life that they had ever known, and bring Val and her little brother and sister out into the vast open countryside.
The house that they had bought was set about a half mile off the road, with a long winding driveway through the trees. Val didn't like being so far away for everything, and she also didn't liken how small the town was that they had moved to. It consisted of about four hundred people and the only place to hand out was to local Duncan donuts, and the town park. There wasn't even a grocery store for about twenty miles.
The house was old. It had been built in 1756 by a rich merchant as a second home for when he and his large family visited the colonies form England. Being so old, the whole house was made of wood, and the doors and walls were thin and the doors had no locks, but old fashioned latches. The only part of the house that had been refurbished were the outer doors, that had been replaced. Everything in the house creaked and moaned. Many of the floor boards were creepy, and Not all of the rooms had electricity running through the walls.
Val disliked all of the creaks in the house but she had gotten used to the creaks over the last couple of months. Staying there alone, however, especially at night, as it was now, still made Val a little bit nervous.
The rest of the family had gone to The shopping center, an hour's drive away, to shop for outfits for the Easter party that the family had been invited to. Val however, had already picked out a dress last week when she had gone shopping with her friends. So instead of going and tagging along and being board the whole time, Val had decided that she would rather stay home and get some of her work done that she needed to do around the house. Once she had finished that it was nearly eight o'clock, so she had settled onto the armchair to relax and watch some TV until her parents got home.
Relishing in the peace and quiet not usually found in a house that contained a toddler and a pre teenager, Val laid her head back against the cushions, and closed her eyes. The house was being unusually noisy today, the pipes letting of rattles form thawing water, and the wood creaking from the wind rattling against it outside.
As Val started to drift off into unconsciousness, she thought she heard the faint sound of a door being opened form somewhere on the floor below her. Listening hard for another minute, Val decided that she had just heard something form the television. So she closed her eyes again, after looking at the clock. 9:40. Her family had been gone for over five hours. Maybe I should get up and call them, she thought fleetingly, but then she closed her eyes, and sleep started to claim her again.
The next second, Val shot up from the chair. That was definitely the sound of a door closing. But she didn't hear her siblings rushing around in the kitchen downstairs.
"Hello?" Val called cautiously, her eyes darting to the window that faced the driveway. Wouldn't she have seen the car lights pull into the driveway? Hearing no reply form her call, she cautiously made her way over to the window. Looking down, she didn't see any cars parked in the driveway in the glow of the floodlight.
Wait, she thought. If the floodlight is on then it must have detected some kind of motion on our porch.
Listening carefully, straining her ears, Val crept across the room over to the fireplace along the back wall. Thump. Thump. Thump. A quiet sound of footsteps was coming from the room below her.
Grabbing the fire poker from the rack beside the place, Val's breathing started to come in rapid succession. That was definitely not one of her family members in the house.
Phone. Thought Val desperately. I need a phone. However the only phone that she remembered seeing last was sitting down the hall to the right on the table in the hallway. She had put it there after she had gotten off the phone with her friend.
The sound of footsteps coming up through the floor stopped suddenly and Val could hear the sound of drawers being open and shut.
Deciding there was nothing else to do, Val crept as quietly as she could out of the den. She had lived here long enough to know most of the floor boards that squeaked. Trying to avoid as many as she could, Val made her way slowly through the dark hallway. Then, without warning, Val's socked foot slipped on the hardwood floor, and she had to catch the wall to stop herself from falling. But she had made a banging noise against the wall, and her foot had made a creaking sound in the floor.
Val held her breath and strained her ears once again for the sound out footsteps form below. She noticed that the sound of drawers had stopped, and to her utter horror, she heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the foot of the stairs.
Her heart beating like a drum in her chest, and her breathing coming in short gasps, Val decided there was nothing else to do but try to get to the phone as quickly and quietly as she could. She took off in a quick walk across the hall, Still trying to avoid making any sounds, but knowing that she needed to get the phone and try to hide as quickly as possible. Sound s of footsteps quickly ascending the stairs cared Val out of her wits as she rushed over and scooped the phone off of the table. Making up her mind, Val opened the latch to the door of her brother's room, the door to her left, and slipped inside of it. She could ear the steps at the top of the stairs now, and thought that she could hear the sound of someone muttering under his.
Val quickly surveyed the room around her. Since Brent was still a toddler, There was nothing much in his room. A small kiddy bed in the shape of a racecar, and a couple of toys thrown here and there, but nothing that would be able to hide Val from the intruder. Looking to her left, Val spotted the closet that was covered by a cloth sheet.
Rushing over to this place, Val tried to put herself as far into the closet as she could wedge herself. She sunk down to the floor, behind a thin layer of clothes, clutching the phone, and lying the fire poker on the ground next to her.
She pushed the on button with sweaty hands, and dialed 911. Putting the phone up o her ear, Val's heart stopped. The phone call wasn't going through. The lines must have been cut!
The intruder's footsteps had gone into the room down the hall. Val could hear the person opening the doors, and looking around the rooms. Deciding that eventually the man would make his way into Brent's room and start searching, The only thing that Val could do was try to get downstairs and outside before he noticed her. Climbing out of the closet, Val crept over to the door and put her ear to it. A door opened at the end of the hall, and Val could hear the person opening the closet door as well. Deciding that this might be her last chance to get out, Val opened the door quickly and dashed out of the room towards the stairs.
Reaching the top, and starting to rush down the stairs, Val's foot landed on the second stair form the top with a loud noise. Val stopped dead in her tracks. The sound of footsteps rapidly coming towards the stairs jerked her back into motion. She raced down the stairs, and through the hall that lay at the bottom. She could hear her pursuer rushing down the stairs after her. Dashing through the hall, Val raced into the kitchen and towards the side door, which stood open in a glow of moon light.
Val threw the door open and pushed out of the screen door and down the steps onto the grass below. Behind her, the door again crashed open, and the sound of the screen slamming.
Not caring that she was in bare feet, Val flew across the lawn towards the woods. The sound of a breathe behind her made Val turn around for a split second. She saw a man running behind her, although he didn't look as though he was running very hard, yet he was still gaining on her. Looking back in front of her, Val saw that she had made it to the woods. Darting around trees, Val's eyes shot around her, trying to see in the darkness.
Finally, Val saw what she was looking for. A bunch of sticks piled up against a tree. To someone who did not know it, they would just think that it was a pile of brush. But Val knew better. Last weekend, Val had built a teepee made out of sticks with her siblings while she was babysitting them. Val dived into the opening. She didn't move once she hit the ground.
Waiting with her breath held, Val watched as the man behind her slowed down to a walk, and started to look around as he moved through the trees. However, Val had hidden herself well, and the man passed right on by her.
After about a minute or so, When Val could not hear the sound of the man anymore, she risked a look outside. The little bit of moonlight that sifted through the trees allowed her to see that there was nothing but trees around where she was hiding.
Slowly dragging her body out of the hut, Val stood slowly up. She kept to the shadows, but tried to make her way back to the edge of the woods. When she reached the bushes lining part of the yard, Val stopped to rest against the trunk of a tree in the shadow that the bush cast.
A twig snapped to her right, and Val felt a cold hand grab her neck, and another one snatch up her wrists, holding them together. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. She turned her head as she struggled, her lungs screaming for air. Above her the face of a man leered at her out of the darkness. For a moment, Val thought to herself that he was the most handsome man that she had ever seen in her life. But where had that thought come from?
A slight smirk seemed to cross the man's face, and he leaned down towards Val's neck. She didn't do anything to stop him, she couldn't move. His breathe tickled her neck, as he pulled her chin up to reveal her throat. She felt his lips on her skin, and something sharp press against her vein…
Val's eyes shot open with the lights of a car pulling into the driveway coming through the window. She sat up in the recliner, untangling the constricting blanket from around her upper body. She was breathing heavily as she looked at the clock. 9:51.
It had all been a dream.
She jumped up and rushed to the window in time to see her mom grabbing little Brent out of the backseat.
"Hello!" came her dad's voice from the downstairs.
"I'm up here!" she yelled back, clicking the TV off, and gathering the popcorn that she had spilt in the chair during her restless dream. Grabbing the bowl, and her half empty glass of lemonade, Val went out into the hallway, and quickly descended the steps.
Walking into the kitchen, she threw her bowl and cup into the sink and turned to look at her dad who was looking slightly puzzled.
"What's up?" Val asked, looking quizzically at her dad, and glancing over at the door to see her mom walk in. "Hi mom."
"Oh nothing, I just could have sworn that we shut and locked the door when we left. You didn't happen to go out did you?"
"No…" said Val slowly, a chill creeping up her spine.
"Oh well, no matter. I'll let your mother show you what we bought, I'm going to go get Brent ready for bed."
Val's gaze fell onto the side door, which her mom had shut on her way in. She walked slowly over to it, and turned the lock with a slight click, looking out the window into the moon lit yard. Dew glinted on the grass, and a wind shook the trees. Hold on... no it was nothing. Just a branch waving in the breeze. Reaching up to her neck, Val felt that her skin was completely smooth, nothing marred the surface. As Val turned around and walked out of the room to join her mother, she could almost feel eyes on her back from out the window.