Катя Рябинина (Intermediate)

Home Alone (Short story, 2011)

When I was about nine years old, my family lived in a big house in the country. I was an obedient child. I went to school and studied very well. I used to like reading books, watching cartoons about Tom and Jerry, cleaning the house, cooking sweet dishes with my mother and playing with my friends outside. But I used to be afraid of staying at home alone.

One day in autumn, my parents and my older brother went to see my grandmother who had a birthday to a neighbouring village. I was feeling a bit ill, so I stayed at home alone. I slept all morning, then watched a film on TV and read a book.

Then I noticed that it was quite dark for the early afternoon. I came up to the window: a wind was shaking trees and it started to rain. All of a sudden, I was horrified: I was at home alone! I switched on lights in every room and went to the entrance hall because I wanted to check the locks. The doors were locked – and I breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, I heard an awful noise from above. I ran into the room fast, switched off the television and listened to the noise. At first, I heard only sounds of the rain and the wind, but after some minutes, there was the horrible noise from above again. I was shocked! I did not know what I could do. I thought that somebody wanted to rob our house. I was crying while I was going down and saw some outlines of people behind fence.

But when I wanted to run to away to hide somewhwere, I heard my mother`s voice. «Katya, Katya!», she cried. These were my parents and my brother. I was happy, I was rescued!

Weeping, I ran to my mother and embraced her tightly. I cried for a long time. My father asked me what had happened and I told him about the noise from above. I went into the house with my mother, but my father and brother went out to look around the house and find out what was wrong. I sat on my mother`s lap and told her my story again and again...

When my father and brother came back, they told us that the terrible noise had been caused by the wind that was moving a sheet of iron on the roof. So that was the noise which frightened me so much! I cried again. This time, I was crying because I was happy to be with my family at last. After that, I never stayed at home alone.

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