Suddenly, the lights went out and everything went dark. I could barely see
anything and resorted to waving my arms in front of me to avoid bumping into any
furniture. My first thought was that there was a power disruption due to the
thunderstorm brewing outside. Instinct led me to the kitchen cabinet where I
could remember my mother storing some candles for emergencies. After a
considerable amount of groping, the tips of my fingers came into contact with a
waxy candle. I grabbed it immediately with relief and quickly lit it. Then, I
noticed that my neighbor's lights were on. This
discarded my first notion of the power shortage due to the storm. I began to
ponder what could be the cause of the blackout. Then, I remembered my father
showing me a lamp in his room which used to cause the electrical supply in the
house to go haywire for some inexplicable reason.
I rushed to my father's room and inspected the lamp but found that it was
disconnected. The sound of something being moved round upstairs instantly
diverted my attention. The hairs behind my neck stood on ends. To ensure I was
not seen by whoever was in the house, I quickly blew the flame off my candle.
I furtively moved under the kitchen table and remained as quiet as a bat. The
intruder went out of sight but I could hear his faint footsteps on the wooden
staircase. Thoughts of me getting kidnapped crept uneasily into my mind. No more
than a second later, I saw the garage door ploughed down by my neighbor, Mr Vasu.
As the lightning flashed, he saw me hiding and hastily led me out of the house
and into his.
Everything seemed to happen at lightning speed. Mrs Vasu tried to calm me
down and explained to me that Mr Vasu happened to see the thief
rummaging the
bedroom facing theirs. Apparently my parents had asked him to keep an eye on me
while they were away.
When I woke up the next morning, my parents were at Mr Vasu's house thanking
him for rescuing me. From their conversation, I gathered that the thief managed
to flee when he heard Mr Vasu storming through the door. Nevertheless, I was
extremely grateful to Mr Vasu and will forever be indebted to him. |