The Noise in the Garage - A Short Story for the weekly writing challenge "The Ink Well Fiction"
Promt: "The things that go bump in the night"
The Ink Well is a literary community on Hive that supports short story writers through weekly writing contests. If you like writing, take a look at the community and I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
The Noise in the Garage
The old man awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a loud noise coming from outside his house. Groggy, grumpy and half-asleep, he stumbled out of bed and went to investigate. He grabbed the rusty oil lantern that was already weakly burning by the side of his bed and slowly made his way to the garage.
The night was dark and still and, after waking up, the only noise he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. He opened the door to the garage, and his is heart sank as he saw the garage gate wide open.
"Burglars!"
The man immediately ran back inside the house to retrieve his gun and then cautiously approached the garage for a second time. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he started looked around. Looking through the door, nothing seemed to be out of place and there was no sign of anyone.
He cautiously stepped inside the garage and illuminated the whole room with his lantern. Now he could see that some of his tools were scattered around the floor. Quickly assessing the situation, nothing seemed to be missing, but it was clear that someone had been in there and had rummaged through his belongings.
Abruptly, he heard a noise coming from the back of the garage. He ran forward the noise, yelling, with the gun already cocked. But, instead of a dangerous thief coming out of the shadows, the man just heard a weak, high-pitched voice begging for mercy: "Please, good sir, don't shoot me! I'm lost! I'm lost!"
There, in the corner of his garage, he saw a small figure hiding between the broken mini fridge and the bath tub. It was a young boy, about 10 years old, very pale and thin, with a terrorized, but also tired, look on his face.
The man quickly lowered his gun, holstering it in the back of his underpants, and approached the frightened child. He asked the boy what he was doing there inside his garage, and the frightened kid explained that he had ran away from home after "having an argument with mom and dad". One thing led to another and, before he knew it, he was lost. As night was advancing and the cold was getting unbearable, he started looking for a place to hide and had stumbled upon the garage.
"But... was the gate already open when you arrived here, boy? Don't you dare lie to me!"
"Yes, sir, yes. Of course! I would never break into your house! Not into your house, not into anyone's house! I just wanted to find a place to shelter myself from the cold. I was thinking about sleeping in the wooden playhouse on that big mansion by the railway; but then I saw your garage wide open, and thought that it would be more comfortable here... There was even an old cushion here, behind those bicycle tires, you know?"
"Oh, my, my. I see... I probably had left the gate open. My head isn't as good as it used to be back in the days, you know? My neighbors have already warned me a few times that I was leaving the gate open; it seems that they were, in fact, telling the truth, not just gossiping about my life. Now tell me, boy, what do you think about some hot chocolate while I call your parents? They must be very worried about you..."
Thanks for reading this post, and until next time!
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