Chloe Collins

Written age 12
The High School of Dundee

THE UNKNOWN

The house had always stood there:

Nobody knew or cared,

Until the drizzling stormy night

When a snarling badger gave me a fright

And my car careered away.

The bonnet buckled as I hit a fence

Jagged teeth piercing the air above my head

I leant back and kicked the door

Bursting it open: splinters still lie on the floor

And out I stepped into the dark.

The crushing blackness swallows all sight

Pressing in on me: I cannot see light

I slide my foot forwards along the dry leaf-strewn ground

It crackled sharply as I bent and found

A shilling coin worn by the centuries.

Silently I straightened quickly

Alert, on edge, senses prickling

How had it got there? Who was the owner?

Had it come to be there even sooner?

I frantically asked myself.

Out in the night a something clicked

Around I almost instantaneously flicked

I caught a glimpse of fur, fangs, claws

And for the moment I swear I saw massive jaws

Then, with a whisper, it pattered off.

My nerve gave way and I stumbled back to the car

Wrenching open the door, knocking my head on the roofbar

I hit the gas, the tyres squeal as if with hate

Behind, the house, still tall and aged, waits,

Till next time.