ONE NIGHT SLEEPOVER
The embers of the fireplace glowed,
We were all alone in the forest
spending a family vacation
surrounded by big, shadowy trees
and a river that never flowed.
At first, I acted as though
I wasn’t scared at all,
For I know my parents
will drive back after all.
We sat and played board game
in front of the fireplace,
Which for days I’ve never touched nor carry,
rather than to think of raise.
The wind outside had grown
stronger and was whistling
around the house,
Blowing through the little cracks
in the walls of our tent
and climbing us to the bone.
I started to shiver,
although I don’t think it was
from the cold alone.
Suddenly, the idea of where we were ,
just all alone,
started to prey on my mind,
causing fear.
I looked out of the window,
now,
I could see the limbs of trees flapping in the wind
like ghostly arms.
I remembered how far down the road
into the forest was,
We had traveled without even
seeing another house.
‘I think am scared,’ I told myself,
Curiosity and fear started churning
my imagination into terrible thoughts.
I remembered when I was younger,
I used to be really afraid,
Especially after kids from school
told me scary stories about what lurks out
in the forest in the dark.
‘Let’s go to sleep,’
I told my little sister with a shaking voice.
I turned off the lights, and settled into the thick
goose-down comforters of the loft floor.
Looking through the
small window beside us,
I could see the tall trees of the forest,
The full moon hanged in the sky like a silvery disk.
I slept in silence for a while,
When suddenly,
I heard something that made me rise
my head with wide open eyes.
It was the sound of footsteps,
a heavy footstep outside
the timbers of our tent.
Panic clogged my mind,
I was too scared to say something.
I sat and waited
for the sound to come again,
But I heard nothing,
Nothing but the moaning
of the wind through the trees.
The sound of the footsteps came again,
But this time it was another
side of the house.
I started to feel even sicker,
Every muscle in my body jumped
when I heard the front door opened.
My blood ran cold,
and I was suddenly afraid to move.
The footsteps were moving across
the passage toward were
my little sister and I were lying.
The room was filled with horrible silence,
Just the sound of the footsteps
getting closer and closer,
I couldn’t say a word, neither my little sister,
I just scrunched down further under the comforter.
In my mind, I saw the scary man
of an extraordinary size,
coming toward us through the dark.
I began to shake so hard,
when I heard the footsteps on the floor
entering the room where we were.
I huddled my sister and I against the wall,
And I could hear the breathing of the beast,
coming closer and closer to my skin,
I could feel its nearness.
The heat from his nostril
made my skin feel feverish.
But suddenly, there was a light
through the window of our tent,
It shone like a spot light,
And I could feel the heavy
breathing quickly reversing.
The lights were from my father’s bus,
He had just saved us just in time.
I’m almost back to normal,
No more of the taunting of an animal.
Except at night,
During the full moon,
When I hear the sounds in the house,
I tried not to think about of what it would do when it caught me.
Then finally I found out when I woke up,
It was just a dream…