THE INTRUDER (Shay Buckley)

The howling dog woke me up. Just as well it did! It was howling for some reason known only to the dog. I lay in bed wondering why the dog was howling like this when it stopped suddenly and abruptly. The night became quiet again and try as I could I couldn’t get back to sleep. Stupid dog. I pulled myself out of bed and shivered because of the sudden change in temperature. I groaned as I looked at the clock next to me. 03:46. “Stupid, stupid dog" I said to myself. I was thinking of ways to sneak over to the dog and make sure he would never howl again when I heard it. A creak. Now normally I wouldn’t have taken much notice of a creak. In a house this old a fly could probably make a creak if he landed on the right floorboard. The creak stood out because of the silence of the cold night.

I slowly walked across to my door. Pulling it open as little as I could, I tip-toed over to the old wooden banister. Looking down I squinted through the darkness straining to see where the noise had come from. Nothing. Well, at first I could see nothing but after about two minutes I spotted the living room door open slowly. I leaned back making myself as inconspicuous as possible feeling my breathing quicken. A balaclava-clad man stepped out of the room and looked around. Seeing no one he seemed to relax outwardly and started towards the stairs. I scurried backwards willing my breathing to quieten and looked around frantically. My eyes darted back and forth desperately searching for something. Anything. I could use to ….. Well I wasn’t sure what I was going to do yet but anything to stop the man reaching the top of the stairs and spotting me crouching in my pyjamas outside my door.

There. A box full of old forgotten books. I reached towards it and prayed that the intruder wasn’t about to hear me. Lifting it up I looked over the banister again noting his position. About halfway up the stairs. I would only get one shot at this. Three, two, one. “AHHHHH” I screamed hoarsely and chucked the box up and over the banister with all my might. It connected with a sickening thud on the man's back. He was knocked forwards immediately and fell on the steps banging his head on the wooden step. I ran trembling back into my room and grabbed my phone, sure that the man would jump up as I heard him groan. Calling 999, I quickly told the operator about my ordeal which calmed me down. The reassuring operator told me that there was a nearby police car on patrol which would arrive soon. The car arrived and arrested the intruder who was still dazed and mumbling incoherently, signalling the end of my nightmare. I smiled to myself as I thought of something. “Smart, smart dog”