Free A Life To Waste by Andrew Lennon Page A

Dave
would be a lot happier if he lived on a busier road where there was
a constant flow of traffic, the silence was starting to get to him.
He heard a noise.
     
    “What was that?” He said to
himself, then sat almost as if he were waiting for an answer.
    “there it is again!”
    The sound of scurrying footsteps
came from one of the other rooms.
    “oh shit someone’s in the house”
Dave whispered to himself.
    “Who’s there?” He shouted,
trying to hide the fear in his voice.
    He heard the scurrying again, it
sounded like children running around in one of the bedrooms.
    “I said who’s there?” This time
with more authority.
     
    The running stopped. Dave walked
very slowly across the room, he reached around the door and turned
the light on to the next room before entering. There was no one
there. He checked his bedroom, his mum’s bedroom, the kitchen, the
bathroom. There was no one anywhere to be seen. Unless they were
hiding? He stood for a second taking deep breaths, trying to build
up the courage to go and look. He checked his mum’s room first,
checking the cupboards, behind the door and under the bed, all the
usual “hide and seek” places he could think of. Then he checked the
bathroom, besides behind the shower curtain there was nowhere to
hide in there. Again nothing. That left his bedroom, he checked his
cupboard, there was nothing there. That only left one place, under
his bed. He heard giggling.
     
    “Oh shit!” he shouted, louder
than he meant to.
    “Ok you bastard get out from
there before I kick your ass!”
     
    He heard the giggling again.
Dave felt his stomach tighten, he felt like he was going to puke,
he was terrified. Who the hell was this hiding under his bed, it
sounded like a child, he didn’t have to be scared of a child did
he? Where did the child come from? Why were they here? What if it
wasn’t a child, what if it was the thing that took his
mum?
     
    “OK that’s it!” He shouted
    He grabbed the side of the bed
and in one swift motion lifted it on one side and threw it upwards.
It rolled over and landed upside down a couple of feet next to
him.
    “What the.....but, I heard.”
     
    There was no one there, he must
have been hearing things. All this sitting alone in the dark, in
silence all night must have been playing with his mind.
    “It sounded so real” he thought
to himself.
    Dave walked back to his chair,
sighed and sat back down with his book.
     
    There was the giggling again,
followed by hurried footsteps running from room to room.
    “Right that’s it!”
    Dave jumped up and sprinted to
his room, this time filled with more courage. He was tired of being
messed with.
     
    “Come on out you bastard! Come
out!”
    He ran round the house from room
to room screaming like a mad man, he was throwing things around,
tearing open cupboard doors so hard that the wood splintered. There
was still no one there, he sprinted from room to room again, making
sure there was no way anyone could sneak past while he was checking
another room. Eventually he stopped, leaning over to catch his
breath.
     
    “shit Dave you’ve lost your
mind.” He said to himself puffing for air.
    Another try, he sat down and
opened his book. He started to question whether his choice of book
was a good idea. What it really his best plan to sit alone in the
dark all night in complete silence and read a horror story? So
what, it was just a story, it wasn’t like a killer clown was going
to jump out and get him, he hoped. No don’t be stupid, whoever it
was he waited for would just be a human being. Perhaps a sick
deranged human being but still, there would be no killer clowns
chasing him around the house.
    He opened his page and started
to read again. He heard something else.
     
    “Oh you have got to be kidding
me, what now?”
    This wasn’t coming from inside
the house, this sounded like it was coming from outside. It was
music.
     
    “what the hell is that?” he
whispered.
    The music was