An Ordinary Life

Chapter 12: Hidden

Mercy quietly grunted, sitting up in bed. She had woken up in the middle of the night. Mercy could have sworn she'd heard a door eerily creak open. Perhaps it was just my imagination. Mercy thought, reluctantly lying back down in her bed. However, Mercy found herself unable to fall back asleep. Despite being tired, she felt scared at the thought that some stranger could be in her house. Nonsense! Mom, dad, and Patches are the only ones here besides myself. Perhaps it was just one of them. Mercy thought. She closed her eyes to fall back asleep, but kept listening for any other sounds.

Mercy stifled a gasp as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A door had been closed shut somewhere, and Mercy knew it couldn't have been her parents. The sound of the door closing had come from downstairs. Someone had gotten into her house, and they were going upstairs right at this very moment. Oh no! I need to hide somewhere. Mercy silently got out of bed as quickly as possible, her heart pounding in her chest. She felt like her terrified heart was going to leap out of her chest and run away. Patches, whom had been sleeping on Mercy's bed, stirred when she got up. The collie seemed to sense something was wrong, since he was staring at Mercy with a worried look. "Patches, come!" Mercy whispered as she opened her wooden wardrobe. Patches jumped down from the bed, padding up to Mercy as she stepped into the wardrobe. She stooped down a bit, scooping Patches into her warm, slim arms. I need to be quiet. I also need to keep Patches from barking. Mercy thought as she slowly closed the wardrobe's door completely to make hardly any sound at all. Mom and dad are sleeping as far as I'm concerned. Who could be in our house? Hopefully not a drunkard! Mercy thought, still worried out of her young mind.

I hope mom and dad will be okay. I'm sure they can fend for themselves. Mercy thought, growing nervous for her parents. I hope they wale up and drive the intruder away.