I heard my mother's voice, high pitched and fearful, as she called out, "Who's there? Show yourself, or I will call for the nightwatch!"
Although terrified of the unknown intruder, she still managed to stand tall, and he voice, whilst it contained fear it still managed to hold a substantial amount of authority.
Crouched in the shadows, my back pressed against the frigid stone wall, I closed my eyes in nervous anticipation as I waited with baited breath.
I sensed movement close to my face and my eyes suddenly snapped open only to find a large black spider dangling millimetres from my freckled nose.
I panicked as the evil eight - legged beast swung precariously close to my face. Fate seemed to be laughing at me as for such a small creature was threatening my freedom.
The spider made one last desperate leap and latched onto the front of my shirt, scuttling along the embroidered neckline. A trembling hand reached out to brush the spider away, but in doing so, one of the apples balanced so carefully in my arms was dislodged. Seemingly driven by an invisible force, the unassuming slightly over - ripe apple rolled across the uneven floor and stopped mere inches from my mother's bare feet.
My breath hitched and I shook with fear as she slowly bent down to retrieve the apple.
Hunched over as she was, with the apple clutched tight between her skeletal fingers, ghostly white nightgown dragging on the floor, my mother looked like a wicked witch from a fairy tale.
Using her momentary distraction, I fled from the house, my mother's heartbroken screams as she realized the identity of the intruder ringing in my ears.
About half way to the hideout, I leant against a brick wall to catch my breath.
"She went this way!" I heard the familiar deep gravelly voice of the head nightwatchman carrying through the deserted streets.
I had never ran so fast before in my entire life as I did that night. I tore though the streets, my boots tapping on the cobblestones and my heart threatening to burst from my chest.
The nightwatchmen eventually gave up on the chase, but still I did not stop until I had reach Sparrow.
I grabbed his hand and together we ran through the forest, until we could run no further, collapsing on the forest floor, exhausted from our eventful escape.
XXX
Author's note: I'm back! Shell island was amazing and I almost have a tan! Also I plan on updating this story more regularly (twice a week) and making my chapters longer :-) don't forget to comment & vote! It will give me motivation - I'm feeling unloved here :-( also any ideas would be much appreciated as nine year old sisters can only give you so much imput ;-) xxx
IDidn'tKnowIWasLost: Thank you! You are the first ever person to leave a review! And your stories are amazing! If anyone is reading this, go and check out Shadows On The Frontier! :-)
Rachel: Thanks :-) and I will try to make the chapters longer - this is the longest piece of writing I have ever done so far, but I'm up for the challenge ;-)