Taormina

 Rachel Taormina pd.1 **One Foot After Another I could feel blood dripping down my knee as I recovered from my fall. Sweat trickled down my neck as I ran up the uneven stairs that I had found earlier that day in the woods behind my grandparents house. Leaves crumpled beneath my feet, and the wind swayed my hair gently. I could have spent this beautiful day playing catch with my neighbors or taking my dog for a walk, but I was on a mission. I had to find out what was hiding at the top of the stairs. Every second mattered, and I only had a few minutes left before my grandparents got home. good description (i liked the way you started your paper w/o a "proper" introduction) I will always remember the day that I moved in with my grandparents four years ago. It was three days after my parents had gone missing, and my loving grandparents were very sympathetic towards me. They had let me take my dog, Scooter, to live with them too. They gave me only a couple rules; clean up after Scooter, put my dishes in the dishwasher, and never, ever go up in the woods. I questioned them a couple times about why I couldn’t go to the woods, but they never gave me a truthful answer. Sometimes they said there was poisonous bugs in there, sometimes they said it was “too big” and I could get lost, or my personal favorite, you could get sprayed by a skunk. ((Good description))

I was breathing heavily and I kept repeating, “one foot after another” as I continued my journey up the stairs. Are the stairs the reason they never wanted me to come here? And what were they hiding? I thought. Suddenly, I heard the crinkling of leaves, but they weren’t under my foot. They were behind me. I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and see who or what was behind me. I felt heavy breathing on my neck…chills ran through my veins when I felt the cold touch of a hand grab my arm.

“G-grandpa, what are y-you doing home so e-early? I t-thought you had a luncheon with friends.” I stuttered slowly as I saw the owner of the hand who had grabbed me.

“I thought we made it very clear that you are to never come up here. We’re going home now.” He snarled at me, then tightened his grip on my arm and led me home.

When we got home, my grandpa scolded me a little more, saying that if I ever do that again there would be serious consequences. “What’s at the top the stairs Grandpa?” I tried to sound sweet as I asked the question I knew he wouldn’t answer. “Honey, you really wouldn’t understand. But please, please promise me you will never go up there again. It’s very dangerous for a young girl like you, and I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you. Now go to your room for the rest of the night.”

My room is not the place that you want to be stuck in. The carpet and walls are plain beige, my single bed has dark brown, scratchy covers, and there is absolutely nothing on the wall. Besides having no color, there is nothing to do. I usually only sleep in my room, but that night, my room became useful to me.

I paced back and forth in my room, planning my escape from the house and to the woods. My grandparents go to bed around 8:00, so I would leave at nine, just to make sure they were asleep. Never in my life did three hours go by so slowly. 6:45, 7:30, 8:57, 9:00! Finally, I silently opened my old, brown-framed window. Below my window was a sturdy vine, which led to the first story. I grabbed the vine, swung my legs around it, and made my way down. I would definitely have bumps and bruises to show for this journey because the vine was prickly and pointy all over. This definitely wasn’t as easy as the fairy tales made it look.

As soon as my trembling foot hit the ground, I sprinted towards the woods. They were only about fifty feet from my house, but I had to be very quiet. I stepped on a twig, which snapped into two pieces. I froze, looked around, and then started my journey again. As I lifted my foot to first wretched step, I took a deep breath and whispered under my breath “I can do this. I have to know what is at the top of the stairs.”

Every step felt like the stair beneath me was about to crumble. I looked back constantly to see if anyone was following me. I was trembling all over, my mouth was dry as cotton, and my teeth were clenched.(nice description) I knew I was at least halfway up the stairs, further than I had gone previously that day. “One foot after another, every stair is one stair closer to the top.” I thought, trying to reassure myself. About twenty minutes later, I saw a figure standing before me.

As I got closer to the large thing, I realized it wasn’t a person. It was a large, square shed. It was definitely old; the paint on the outside was chipping, and the roof looked about as sturdy as a piece of paper. I couldn’t make out the color, since the darkness of the night surrounded me. There was an immense door, which almost took up the whole front side of the small “house.” I took a few more steps closer, and I noticed there were old, broken locks shattered on the ground that must have been on the door recently. Someone or something had to have broken them off. What were the locks trying to keep hidden? Puzzled and frightened, I shakily moved my hand closer to the door. My hand wrapped around the doorknob tightly, and I held my breath. Curiosity overtook my fear as the door squeaked open. ** way to leave me hanging....(very good ending, really left me hanging!) i bet the grandparents have the missing parents!!