Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ANGELS WATCHING OVER ME (don’t write about the song) (06/04/15)
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TITLE: Cry at Dawn | Previous Challenge Entry
By KC Lemmer
06/10/15 -
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Grabbing the edge of the tub, I hoisted it up onto my hip and staggered out of the bathroom under its weight, stopping briefly to peek in on Sammy on my way out. He was lying face down in his cot, his little body rising and falling evenly beneath the light covering.
I hesitated at the back door. The rising sun over the trees was stunning, the sky still kissed by the orange colours of dawn. Our fence was high and barbed at the top. Our Ridgebacks were young, energetic and in a pack of three. Was I safe? Swallowing, I stepped out of the house, my heart racing as it had done every morning since that phone call five weeks ago. For one moment I wavered, wondering if I should get a rifle, and then decided against it. I couldn’t live in this fear every day. I couldn’t keep having clammy hands and dizzy spells. This wasn’t faith!
Taking a deep breath, I stepped off the porch and headed for the long washing line that ran parallel to the garden fence. Isolation had once equated serenity for me, now the word held nothing but terror.
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“The three of you,” the leader jabbed a finger at an unnaturally large man and his two sidekicks, “today is the day. Get in there. Get their weapons, money, valuables. If they fight, kill them.”
A snaking smile slid along the mouth of the colossal man. He rose with unusual grace for a man his size. In two swift movements, he had pocketed a knife and wire cutters.
“Come!” his snapped order brought both sidekicks leaping to attention, and as one, they slunk out of the shelter and headed in the direction of Sandy Peak Farm.
***********
The last piece of washing was wrung out and hung limply on the rope line, defeated. I nearly leapt out of my skin when little fingers grappled against my thigh.
“Sammy!” my heart was galloping as I tried to hold it in my chest. Laughing uneasily, I plucked my little man off the floor, trying to smile into his innocent grey eyes. “Are you all awake now? Is that you all awake, Sleepy Head?” Snuggling him close, I sighed as his soft baby hair pressed into my neck. Moments like this were to be treasured, not endured.
It was as I lifted my head that I saw three men standing on the edge of the garden fence. One was enormous, close to 7 foot. Clutching Sammy to my chest, I tried to process what I was seeing. How had they got there so silently? I hadn’t heard a thing! Hadn’t seen a thing! Backing slowly away from the line, I ducked behind the laundry, peering through it to the men beyond. The giant was systematically cutting his way through the wire and his friends were trying to peel the fence open. My ears were roaring as I clung to Sammy, vaguely aware that I might be smothering him. Where was my rifle? Inside! Where was Pete? My feet seemed to be concreted to the ground and with every second that I stayed where I was, the three men systematically cut their way in. Images flashed through my mind. The neighbours’ farm. A dead child. A blood splattered floor. They came faster and faster until a scream, right from the core of my being, erupted; and across the valley echoed my cry: ‘God!’
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“So? Where is the stuff?” the leader was at the door of the shelter to meet them as the three men slunk back into its darkness, their expressions bewildered and agitated. “Well?”
After a long moment the big man shook his head, “No, we were almost in when these two men appeared. They were huge! They stood either side of the woman and her kid. We didn’t hang around.”
Based on a true story.
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Well done.