In The Dark

It was night and Emma Jacks was lying in bed wide-awake, feeling nervous. In fact, she was quite scared. The hall light was on but it still seemed very dark to Emma, and Emma didn't like the dark. You couldn't see what was going on, and when you couldn't see what was going on, you sometimes imagined scary things.

Emma turned her bedside light on and that helped, sort of. There were still shadows and noises—and every noise she heard worried her.
Was the thing making the noise inside, was it outside? Was it outside but wanting to come inside? Was it something dangerous?

Part of Emma knew she was being silly but the other half, slightly more than half, couldn't stop feeling scared. And once she started thinking about one scary thing, more things seemed to tumble into her head. At least she had already realised that the tall, pointy shadows that seemed to be coming towards her room from the hallway were only the coats hanging up on the coat rack. They were the same coats that hung there every day, so why did her imagination tell her that they might suddenly become something scary at night? It was the same with the dangerous shape on the end of her bed, the dangerous gym bag that was always there. It was nuts.

Then Emma heard a bang. In seconds, she was out of bed, down the hallway and into the living room where her mum was watching television. Their little husky puppy, Pip, was snuggled on her mum's lap. Bang! There it was again. It came from
the next room, the kitchen.

Mum looked up. ‘Sorry Em. Dad's being a bit noisy with the rubbish bin. Did the noise wake you?' she asked.

Oh, that was the rubbish bin,
Emma thought to herself.
That's embarrassing.

‘Um, no, I just wondered what that noise was but now I know, it's okay.'

‘Back to bed then,' said Mum.

Emma was hoping her mum would say ‘Why don't you cuddle up here and watch a bit of television first?' but it was a school night and that was unlikely to happen. She walked back down the hallway and had just reached her bedroom door when she saw a tall, dark figure standing in front of her wardrobe. Emma froze, her mouth went dry, she felt her heart beat fast and her mind started racing faster. What was it and what was it doing in her bedroom? Was it looking for her? Quickly she turned on the light ...
Oh, it is my ‘evil' dressing gown,
thought Emma, relieved but also embarrassed, even if there was no one else around.

This is ridiculous,
thought Emma as she got back into bed.
Get a grip Emma! Are you afraid of your dressing gown now?
She lay there, eyes wide open, thinking. Why did she always get so jumpy in the dark? How was she going to cope at Hannah's slumber party if she got this nervous in her own bed? Did the other girls feel scared sometimes?

Emma started counting backwards from one thousand. Sometimes that helped her get to sleep because it was so boring.
1000, 999, 998, 997, 996, 995, maybe I need a glass of water, 994, 993, 992, yes, I think I do, 991 990, 989, 988, right, I'll go and get one.

Emma walked back down the hallway. Both Mum and Dad were watching television now. She slipped into the room without them noticing and stopped just behind the sofa. Maybe if she stayed quiet she could sit there for a while, undetected, and watch a little television to take her mind off things?
Good idea, Em,
she thought.
No one will know I'm here.

Wrong.

Pip must have heard her. The puppy jumped off
the sofa, saw Emma sitting behind it and, delighted that her play-friend was up again, bounded around her licking her face. Emma spluttered. Loudly.

‘Emma, is that you? Why aren't you in bed?' Mum sounded slightly irritated.

‘I just needed a glass of water.'

‘And there's one behind the sofa?'

‘Oh, um, well I saw what you were watching and thought I might...'

‘Back to bed you go,' said Mum. ‘You need to go to sleep or you will be grumpy and tired for school in the morning. You can take Pip with you to keep you company.'

So Emma and Pip walked back to her room. Emma checked under her bed and in her cupboard and then under her bed again just to make sure, then she jumped under the covers. Pip jumped in too, taking up her secret position under the doona next to Emma. Her dad would have a fit if he saw her. He would declare it ‘a hygiene issue'.

The sound of the television from the living room made Emma feel closer to her parents and with Pip
snuggled next to her on one side and her favourite soft toy, Floppy, on the other, it was quite cosy. It was best to keep Floppy and Pip separate. Pip loved Floppy in a chew toy kind of way. Emma felt comfy, sleepy even, and her eyes slowly closed. Then from outside there was a rustling. Then a noise.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssss!

Emma's eyes shot wide open and she froze.
Gee whizz, lemonfizz, what was that?

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssssss!

There it was again. Emma didn't wait to hear it a third time. She jumped out of bed and ran back into the living room. Pip, thinking this was a hilarious new game, scampered behind her, barking.

‘Em?' said Mum in a decidedly irritated voice.

‘Why are you up again?' asked Dad.

‘There's something right outside my window,' said Emma breathlessly. ‘Something really noisy, something really angry. I think it is trying to get in.'

‘Emma, are you...'

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

Emma jumped onto the sofa between her parents. ‘There it is again!' she squealed. ‘Mum, what are we going to do?'

‘It's okay, Emma,' said Mum. ‘That's a possum.'

‘That is
not
a possum,' said Emma, fearing her mum had gone completely mad. ‘Possums are cute, they have little pink noses, they nibble on things. The thing outside making that noise is some mean creature that's coming to attack us.'

‘No Em, really, it's a possum,' said Mum, almost laughing. ‘They make those noises to scare predators away.'

‘It certainly scared me.'

‘Why don't we go outside with a torch and find it so you can see for yourself?'

They went outside and Emma's mum shone the torch on to the back fence. Sure enough, halfway along the fence was a ring-tailed possum with big eyes and long tail with a white tip. The possum was sitting perfectly still, staring unblinking at Emma and her mum. Much to Emma's delight, a baby possum
was clinging to the possum's back.

‘See,' said Mum, ‘a possum, two possums actually.' She turned off the torch and the possum scuttled along the fence and up a tree.

‘They were soooooo cute,' said Emma. ‘How can something so cute make such a horrible noise?' Emma felt a bit silly. She wondered if they had possums at Hannah's house. She was starting to think about other noises that might scare her at the slumber party when her mum interrupted her thoughts.

‘Look up,' said Mum. ‘It's a beautiful star-bright night.'

Emma looked up. It was true. Stars were flickering, like fairy lights, all over the black night sky.

‘Maybe another night we can do some stargazing,' said her mum, ‘but now it's back into bed, madam.'

This time Mum came with Emma to the bedroom, tucked her into bed and gave her a big hug. ‘Sleep tight my little one,' she whispered in Emma's ear.

Emma snuggled down again, too tired to be scared anymore.
Little one is right, silly little one,
thought Emma.
I can go on missions all over the world and I am afraid of the dark? What would A1 say if she knew?

But before she could answer that, she was, finally, asleep.