Work created by the participants in Ella West's Twisty Plots Writers Workshops for Teens in 2019

I was woken up by Starlight, my dog, barking. I sat up with a start. Moonshine, my cat, was curled up beside my head and the sky outside was still inky black.

“Starlight!” I scolded. “Now is not the time to go to the toilet!”

Starlight kept growling, head butting the door, pawing the ground.

“Alright, alright, fine, we’ll go, if you be quiet, yeah?”

I took hold of Starlight’s collar and went to open the door. But now Starlight was refusing to come with me!

“Come on, Starlight! There’s nothing scary out there. You’re not still afraid of the hallway at night, are you. . .?”

As I was speaking, I opened the door and found out what my dog was so scared of. . .
Fire! The hallway was on fire!

I leaped back and slammed the door quickly.

I had learnt from my Scout leader that smoke killed more people than fire, so I had to act fast.

Why oh why Mum didn’t have a fire alarm installed, I thought desperately. I would have to use my lungs.

“Fire! Fire!” I yelled at the top of my voice. The paint on my door was curling from the heat.

I ran over to the window and wrenched it open. It was maybe a three-or-four metre drop. Could I risk jumping down?

Anything was better than burning to death. But then I thought of my pets.

How would Moonshine and Starlight get down?

Smoke poured through the crack under the door.

Without thinking, I stuffed Moonshine into my pyjama top and grabbed Starlight.

Then I jumped.

Luckily I landed on a long, overgrown patch of grass, but my pets didn’t half get squashed! My ankle got a bit twisted, and my chest hurt as well because Moonlight panicked and scratched at me.

But none of that mattered as I rushed best as I could to the letterbox, which was at the end of our looooooooooooooooooooooooooong driveway. All that mattered was that me and my pets were alive (plus my parents. I met them at the letterbox).