The Journey

My breath came in quick, short gasps as I sat up in bed and looked around, my eyes wide in terror. I needed to get out. Fast. I slid my legs towards the side of the bed and let them slip to the floor. Standing up, I cringed as the bed creaked unmercifully. I stood still, watching as the four walls around me became eight, then sixteen and then four again. It was dark but I didn’t have time to find the light, I just needed to get out. I took a few confident steps forward, hoping to find the direction of the door. My cat was found instead, identified by an ear-piercing squeal.

Sliding my socked feet across the wooden floor, my arms stretched out in front of me, I found the door by means of crashing into it. Clasping hold of the door handle for dear life, I twisted and turned it, but it didn’t open. I felt my breathing quicken and my pulse begin to race as I suddenly realised I couldn’t get out. I pushed my body against it, willing it to open, my eyes filling with panicky tears. Then like a light-bulb moment, and out of desperation, I lunged at the door, pulling it towards myself. It flung open and I fell into the hallway.

I stood there, my mouth hanging open and my eyes like little slits. I looked groggily to my left, followed by my right and decided to head right. Not by any real distinction between the two, it was just that there seemed to be fewer obstacles on the right. I slid one foot in front of the other carefully, my tongue flopping out of the side of my mouth in sheer concentration. I shuffled down the hallway in pitch black darkness, wondering absently where I was going. I could hear my own wheezy breaths as I walked blindly into the abyss of nothingness. The darkness seemed to go on forever and I fell against the wall, weary from the long journey.

But suddenly, like a flash from the heavens, a bright light appeared before my eyes. My shoulders sagging weakly, I stared into it and my pupils shot down to the size of a pinhead. Blinking furiously, I tried to see what it was. And then, like a diamond in a sea of litter, I saw it. It was like a throne. I charged forward towards it and sank onto the freezing seat and sighed in relief.

For once I was thankful Mum had left the toilet light on in case of emergencies...