The Move

A flash of lightning suddenly lights up the dark and lifeless room. It’s quickly followed by the sound of thunder, which vibrates throughout the mundane walls. The solitary window seems impenetrable yet shutters at the gusts of wind which come with the brewing storm. A thin shy girl looks around the four plain walls in despair, wiping away a solitary tear as her long dark hair blows across her face. As if moving through cement she drags her feet closer to the slightly opened window and peers outside. The floor below seems thousands of feet away and she becomes mesmerized by the distance.

Suddenly as if out of nowhere a shadowy figure appears across the street below. She tries to swallow her fear, her feet unable to move away. The figure slowly looks up and smiles, its face lit up only by the flash of lightning. In a panic she grabs the window and slams it shut, almost shattering the window as she locks it! She shuts her eyes, trembling in fear!

She forces a happy memory to cross her mind and begins to reminisce on her home before she found herself locked in this dark place. She hadn’t wanted to leave her home and even now as she studies her new surroundings, she remembers that leaving had been the hardest thing to do. To leave her friends whom she had spent her entire life, and shared so much with. It had been a beautiful little house with a park nearby, a small yet exquisite lake in the distance and the safety of having her lifelong friends close.

Her most recent birthday had been a day she’d always remember. Aside from the fact that the guy she had a crush on had shown up, the gathering of her family and friends was always a memorable experience. It hadn’t been about the tables packed with delicious foods, or the piles of gifts that seemed to keep growing. What mattered was that this had been her home; the place where she grew up and felt safe in!

Then suddenly, in what seemed like an instant decision she had been dragged away! Taken from her place of peace and dragged into what seemed like a dark abyss! She knew nothing of where she was been taken, nor its people, not even where she would be locked up when she arrived.

Now finding herself awake at a time where she would normally be peacefully asleep, she takes a deep sigh and realizes her forced new reality. She was trapped! As she wiped away a tear she realized that her only choice was to make best of what life had presented her with. She takes a deep sigh and looks down from the window to find the shadowy figure still lurking below, the streets and fences behind it having disappeared! Another bolt of lightning lights up the shadow’s crooked smile and she begins to breathe heavily in fear, her pulse rising as the beats in her chest seem almost out of control. She grabs her phone tightly as bolts of lightning begin to flash faster and faster. Each flash lighting up the shadows’ face, its smile wider and wider with each bolt of lightning! Her fear becomes almost uncontrollable and she closes her eyes, wishing to be returned home as if it were possible, until suddenly the door swings open!

“Katie! Didn’t you hear me? I said dinner’s arrived.” She turns back to look down the window quickly. The fences are still in place, not a shadow in sight accept that of a small tree below.

“I want to go home! I’ll never meet anyone again! And there were shadows down there!” She complains, a tear building in her eyes.

“It’s just your wild imagination again AND you’re 12! You’ll make new friends. Now come on your father and brother are waiting.” Her mother smirks as she exits the room.

Katie looks around the room again, sighing deeply at her new attic bedroom. She knew her mother was right; she was only 12 so making new friends wouldn’t be a problem. Yet she missed her old life and friends; friends who had as wild imaginations as she did. At least in this house she had her own room, one that wouldn’t be so bad with a little decoration.

“Katie hurry up!” her twin brother calls from below. As she leaves the room, she takes one last look around, picturing what it will look like, a slight smile growing upon her face as she closes the door.