Pushing Fate

Chapter 1

She tried to calm herself. She threw her hand over her mouth to cover her heavy breathing when she heard a bump at the door. Oh, no! She bundled her sheets close to her body and hugged her legs tightly against her chest. If I stay quiet, maybe they would go away, she thought. A small shadow had crept up from under the door, its dense figure staying perfectly still. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was the maid or someone playing a trick.

She decided to summon the courage to go forwards and see who was behind the door. If it really was someone trying to fool her, she would be certain to report them immediately to her father. Slowly moving the covers away she pulled her feet over the side of the bed and silently onto the floor. She cursed breathlessly at the creaks and groans the wooden floors made as she tiptoed across the boards, almost as if they had been trying to give away her presence. Hopefully, whoever was outside the door hadn't heard her. She reached out her hand, just inches from the door knob. It her fingers shook from the fear that coursed through her. With a fast movement she pushed the door open. Her heart pounding so loudly that she could hear it pulsing in her ears.

The hallway was filled with blackness, apart from the lone candle that hung against the wall in front of her bedroom door. Its dim light fading into the depths of the hallway. Someone would have had to light it, but who? She slowly crept around the edge of the door and begin making her way down the right side of the hallway, when suddenly the floor boards from behind her let out a low creak. She turned in surprise, but came to face the familiar dark space.

She tried to confidently call out, "Hello?" But the quiver in her voice gave away her falter.

Her heart started to beat with more intensity than before, she could feel it pounding against her chest as she continued forwards, slowly being swallowed into the darkness as she entered further down the hallway. She lifted her hands to feel for the wall that would tell her when she had reached the end. The flat, cold surface came upon the tips of her fingers and she took a deep satisfied breath. She must have scared away whoever was there.

She turned back towards the light to return to her bedroom, when all of the sudden she bumped into a large dark figure that towered over her. It was too late to think or react. She let out a small gasp when something hit her with a blunt force and she was engulfed into a deep state of unconsciousness.