A Strange Sound

a short story written by Martina Antolovic (Croatia), illustrated by Michal Anna and Colby (USA)

It was two o'clock in the morning and I was still sleeping in my warm bed. Suddenly, a strange sound woke me up. At first, I didn't worry too much. However, the sound became a bit louder.
"What's that?", I asked myself.

I got up and walked to the door. The gentle noise was coming from the hall but I couldn't see anything so I kneeled on the floor and looked beneth the door. I saw something down there, in dark, in the hall, right in front of my room door but didn't have any clue what it could be: short, grey, thin...and it moved!
I stood up quickly. It was quiet in my house and I was scared.

My parents were sleeping in the room next to mine. I knocked at the wall. I usually did so when I needed their help at night. I heard my dad coming out of his bedrrom and I shouted:
"Daddy, daddy! There's something in front of my door? Can you see?"
"Nothing! What's the matter with you?", he replied.
"Come here and open my door, please."
In a second, he opened the door: "What...? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"

He turned on the light. A small, grey ball was rolling across my room and disappeared under my desk. I jumped on my bed.
"What is this? Where is it? Help!"
My father was giggling for a while and then whispered seriously: " A small mouse! He has found a shelter in your room now."
"A mouse?!"
I ran out of my room and started to scream in the hall. My mother and brother woke up. They were both scared looking at me trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"She's got a mouse in the room, that's all", explained my father.
My brother just said: "A typical woman!", and disappeared in his room.
I spent the rest of the night in my parents' bedroom.

The next day mum bought a mouse trap and put a piece of cheese in it. I was waiting all day long, replace the cheese with bacon, offered other delicious things to the mouse, but nothing happened.

Honestly, I was glad because I realized that the mouse was terrified of me! I didn't want it to be caught in a mouse trap, it was so small!
I have never seen the mouse in my room again. Where did it come from? Where did it go?
The trap is still in my room, empty and useless. At least, now I know how mice look like.

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