The Long Walk Home

by Danielle Varieur (age 10, ME)

Note that the first three paragraphs of the story were taken from “Writing Strands, Challenging writing projects for homeschoolers, Level 3,” by National Writing Institute. The remaining paragraphs were authored by Danielle A. Varieur

I remember the walk home that night very well. It was late in October, near the end of the month, I think. It had been a cold day, and there were dark clouds piling up in the west. They had hidden the setting sun and were moving quickly over me, for there was a strong wind blowing.

The dark and bare trees along the lonely road creaked and moaned as they were blown this way and that. Their branches seemed to reach and clutch at me like old and thin hands.

As I walked along, I noticed that the lights of my friend’s house had disappeared around the bend, and the other few houses on that long, gravel road were dark.

I had to walk past the old Finster house on the hill. It was quite a big house indeed, with its black peeling paint. I looked at the porch with broken boards and spider webs all over. The grass was very overgrown, about as tall as I. There was moss everywhere as far as I could see. There were dark windows on every corner, and all the green shutters were hanging by one hinge.

I kept my eyes on the house as I walked past. I was very scared as I started at the house. The wind was shaking me while I was shaking myself. I got caught on a tree branch. I was very frightened. I pulled to get free but could not… so I screamed at the top of my lungs!

I saw a movement in one of the windows. It was a dark, hairy looking shadow. I was petrified while I was still stuck on that tree branch. What was that? While I was trying to figure out who the shadow could be, a big dog came. He was half as tall as I, with big sharp teeth. He came towards me. While I tried to get free, the dog started pulling on my coat. I was scared, but the dog helped me. He pulled me off the branch. I turned around and saw there was still some of my coat on the tree, and I giggled. I turned around and saw the dog was gone. I wondered where he could be.

I am sure I saw a person in the window. The shadow was very short and thin. He had chemistry bottles in his hands. The shadow seemed to look at me. I jumped and hid behind a tree. I was going to take out my stuffed elephant, but it was gone. I screamed and shook, but I noticed that I dropped my stuffed elephant in the dirt. I hugged my elephant toy tightly after picking him up and brushing him off.

I remembered Old Man Finster had moved two years ago. I remember him as big and tall, not short and thin. While I was shaking, the big dog came back and ripped off the leg on my stuffed elephant. I looked at my elephant toy, I looked back, and the dog was gone! I yelled at the top of my lungs.

I knew no one had moved in because the “For Sale” sign was still by the road. The sign was falling over, and the words were fading.

I watched the shadow very carefully. I thought the shadow had spiky hair. I heard the shadow scream with laughter as I trembled. I backed up very fast and shook harder. Inside the house, I also heard a bark. It sounded just like the big dog I saw earlier.

I walked slowly toward the house. I heard another shriek of laughter. I heard another bark too.

I ran on home because I had a lot of errands to do!

THE END

About the author:
Danielle Varieur is 10 years old. She loves to swim. She also wrote a story about ornaments coming to life.