There was a girl alone in the house. The night was dark and the sky stormy. She was alone in the house and about to go to bed when she saw a scary shadow appearing from the window. She shouted in a loud voice: Who’s there? Suddenly, lightning began to illuminate the room like a light lamp that goes out quickly.
I saw the face of a lion, and at the same time, I heard the terrifying sound of thunder, as if the lion was roaring from the window. The lion looked like the lion I had seen at the circus in the city. They had announced his absence on the television news.
I felt extreme terror. I ran toward my bed and pulled the cover over my face and head. I began to scream and call my father and mother, but no one answered. Then I remembered they were outside and wouldn’t return soon.
I looked out from under the cover but couldn’t see anything. The darkness was intense, but I heard the sound of footsteps. The footsteps were approaching and their sound became louder and louder. Suddenly, the sound stopped completely.
The clock’s sound announced it was twelve midnight. I returned to bed again and tried to sleep, but I felt fear and terror and could never sleep. All that was going through my mind were terrifying and frightening thoughts. Some time passed, and I finally felt sleepy.
I woke up on the second day at eight in the morning. I turned on the television to the news channel. I felt relieved when I learned they had caught the lion, and I saw him tied in a cage. I felt relieved when I learned the lion had returned to the circus again.
That same day at lunch, I recounted what happened to my father and mother. They felt shocked and afraid and decided never to leave me alone in the house again, especially at night. It’s likely the lion didn’t go to the girl’s house, and everything she heard and saw was the work of her subconscious, which pictured for her the lion that had escaped from the circus and she had seen on the news.
Her solitude and fear helped her imagination, as did the sound of thunder and the sight of lightning.
Translated from the story: Home Alone