Daisy softly pushed against the ground making the swing rise and fall, flinging her head back, her chestnut hair flew behind her. She watched the clouds take shape as mutinous monsters and mysterious creatures. Every day without fail, Daisy would come to this park. Normally her friend Alex would come but she hadn’t turned up, and she had never been late before. The park felt unfamiliar to Daisy, it was covered with a blanket of grey gloom, the roundabout turned slowly by the wind and the swing beside her swayed back and forth ever so slightly. A raging wind howled around her making her hair fly over her face and blinded by a curtain of hair, she heard a crack of a branch. Whipping her head round, her eyes searched for something but nothing was there, in fact there was nobody in sight, only a crow squawking on the tree above. Daisy stopped pushing at let the swing slow to a small rock back and forth. Getting up, she suddenly felt smothered by darkness and uneasy about the emptiness of the streets. Scrambling to stand on the swing, her large, frightened eyes scanned for anyone in sight but through the dark with only the dim, yellow glow of the street lamps to light the streets it was hard to see far in front of her.
The suburb was like a ghost town.
Leaves rustled at her feet as she walked towards the climbing frame where she could see Alex’s house at the top. She clambered up, over, and through the tight red rope maze until she was perched right at the top where the wind was much stronger. It felt almost as if a giant was tipping the climbing frame and shaking her off. Quickly seizing the cold, damp metal pyramid joining the rope together, Daisy tried to locate her friend’s house through the fog. Eyes squinted she made out her friend’s house and she noticed a flickering light in the hall through the opaque front door window. Her mind was racing with thoughts and fears-“why isn’t she here? Is she hurt? Lost? She has never been late before. Something must have happened. Something.”
Daisy scampered down the ropes, hopping down from each level and using her hands to swing and jump off each level, nimble as a monkey until she heard a whisper. Turning to look, her feet fell from under her and she tumbled out of the ropes, ricocheting off the ropes at either side until she landed with a thud on the crunchy, grey gravel. Her head had collided with a metal joint on her way down making her dazed and faint. Lying flat on her back like a wounded starfish, tears had begun to form-making her blue eyes shimmer off the moon glow.
“Alex, Alex is that you?” she whimpered.
Nothing.
The young girl shuffled backwards, until she was leaning one the metal leg of the frame lip wavering, stuttering “Who-who’s there?”
Investigating her injuries quickly-a grazed knee, bruised back, scratched face and a swollen ankle-before she stumbled up, using the climbing frame to steady herself. After taking one last look into the murky darkness she turned and staggered over to the gate and made her way along the street. The pair of friends both lived on a classic suburban street-quiet road, big gardens, and a few trees dotted along the pavement. Picking up her pace she took a small detour around the block to investigate why her usually punctual friend hadn’t turn up. Weeds climbed up the garden path and two scuffed, red steps led up to Alex’s door. She knocked the door and rang the bell but there was no answer although the lights were still flickering in the hall and Alex’s bedroom light had been turned on. Backing up slowly, Daisy closed the gate with a creek, took one last look at the house and ran. The girl was unsure why she was running, not certain whether it was fear or anxiety that made her do it but she knew she had to get away from there.
Slowing to a jog as she reached the gate to her house, walking up to her door, she stared at the bronze, old fashion knocker. The knocker was shaped as a lion’s head, Alex had never realised how intimidating and fierce it’s eyes were until now. She tried to steady her breath but her heart pumped faster, so fast that she could feel her whole body pulsing and her breaths became sharper. She felt as if her lungs where a burst balloon that she was constantly trying to fill with air. Finally she knocked….and again but there was no answer. Her hand reached out to open the door, pushing it open, she stepped inside and screamed “Mum! Mum, where are you?”
No reply.
Without realising, she was crying and didn’t notice until she tasted salty water and her throat suddenly became dry. “Mu-um!” she sobbed.
Eyes scanning the hall, she noticed there was no sign of anyone apart from a light on in the hall upstairs. Heart still pounding, she ran up the red carpeted stairs, feeling dizzier with each step. “Mum, something has happened to…”
That’s when she blacked out.
Her heart had finally finished the race and slowed, her breathing steadied and Alex was still missing.
