The growling outside her door grew louder.
In the distance, someone let out a horrified shriek. The monster snarled, drawn away towards the sound. The heavy thumps of its dreadful footsteps fading away.
Isabelle glanced around her room, wide-eyed and frantic as to what her next move should be. She swallowed, licking her dry lips as she tried to regain her breathing enough to think clearly.
With every breath she sucked in, she could feel her heart racing. Isabelle moved quietly around the room, searching.
"Rosie? Rosie!" She hissed, eyes darting around for the little mouse. Rosie emerged from underneath the straw mattress, squeaking.
"There you are," Isabelle sighed in relief, scooping her up and tucking the little thing into her apron pocket.
A fearsome roar echoed down the hallways and she could hear rapid footsteps of girls outside running to their rooms, slamming doors shut.
Her unlocked door would not hold. She needed a better place to take shelter.
Once there was only silence, Isabelle peeked out of her room and into the long dark corridor.
It was eerily quiet. The shadows seemed to have grown into vicious shapes, as though mimicking the monster that stalked somewhere in the corridors.
Isabelle crept out, Rosie shifting around nervously in her pocket.
She held her breath as she tiptoed to the door across the hall, rapping slightly.
"Please let me in."
No one answered her. She tried the handle.
Locked.
"Please! Please let me in!" Her whispered cries fell on the silent, closed door. She went to the next door.
"Please open up."
No response.
Isabelle went further down the hall, her knocking becoming more frantic as it was becoming increasingly clear, she would not be let in.
Click.
A large shadow came into view, looming over the ceiling of the long hall, swaying with the flicker of candlelight. A low and menacing growl rumbled through the stone wall, the chill seeping down into her very bones.
Click.
Isabelle turned heel, bolting in the opposite direction and down the long corridor until it forked into two paths. She veered right, daring a glance over her shoulder—
She slammed heavily into something soft and small, knocking it over. There was a gasp and a loud shatter as an oil lamp crashed to the floor, spilling hot liquid all over the ground.
A scullery maid sat up bewildered. "Hey! You—"
Isabelle dropped to her knees, clamping down on the girl's mouth with one hand and holding up a finger in front of her lips with the other, motioning for the girl to be quiet.
Click.
The clacking of large claws was getting closer, and the girl's eyes widened in fear, realization dawning upon her. Under Isabelle's hand, she trembled.
Click.
They remained perfectly still as the footsteps ebbed ever closer. The girls huddled together with bated breath.
A soft growl was heard, echoing down the halls. The heavy thumping of feet faded away; it must have gone down the other hall. Both girls waited a moment longer, listening.
YOU ARE READING
Blood & Cinders- Choose your Own Adventure Story
FantasyThe Dark City. A Kingdom of Monsters. A Kingdom of Sin. 'Don't let them take your light, my child.' Isabelle had clung to her father's words, like kindling. Trying to keep the thin flame of hope burning in her bleak life. Sold to the slavers' m...
