Esme

My leg froze under my oversized dressing gown as I slowly tiptoed towards the garden shed. It was so cold that I could see my breath in the cool night air. Frost nipped at my toes. Oh how I wished I had taken the time to put on my warm, fluffy slippers.

The stars were twinkling in the starry sky as a morepork chanted his monotonous mantra. The feed container tingled in my hand as I shook with fear. Now was one of the times that I wished I hadn't listened to the ghost stories at camp. Pictures of ghosts filled my mind. Why did I have to feed Dandelion and Smokey? After all the rabbits were family pets, not just mine.Surely Curtis or Jackson could be doing this?

All of a sudden I heard a rustling in the bushes. A shiver ran up my spine as a shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere and rubbed around my legs. Lily my friendly ginger cat, purred loudly, unaware that she had just about scared me to death. My hand grasped the cold metal door knob. I turned it slowly. The door opened with a loud creak. I peered inside. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness and gloominess of the garden shed. The smell of mouse poo filled my nostrils as I walked in. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. The sack of feed was waiting for me in a dingy corner. It rustled as I opened it. I pulled up a handful of feed.

I felt a frantic scuffling in my palm. There in my hand was a small grey but definitely real mouse. Its tiny fearful eyes looked up at me. The mouse and I just stood there for what seemed like an eternity, just eyeballing each other. As it lifted it’s front legs I screamed. It was a scream that I had never screamed before. So loud that even the astronauts on the space station could have heard it. Automatically my arms flew into the air and the mouse became airborne. I don’t quite know where it landed but I heard a distinctive thud on the wooden rafters above me.

I ran as fast as I could back to the safety of the house. "Mum!” I cried breathlessly. “There's a mouse in the feed bag!" Mum gave me a sympathetic look. She got up out of her chair and went and fed the rabbits for me.

After that, I never went back to the garden shed at night.