by T Jondral
“Leave me alone!” I scream.
I throw another book at her, but she manages to dodge it again. She grabs me by the shoulder and tries to spin me around but I duck down to the floor. While still on the ground I search around the room for some useful weapon. I hear another hissing noise and know she’s onto me, I can almost feel her breathing down my neck.
A light catches my eyes. I jump to my feet before Medusa could grab me and run towards that tiny light. Getting closer, I know I’ve gotten lucky because sitting on top of the girl’s desk is one of those rulers that can fold in half and on one side there is a mirror. I can hear Medusa running towards me. I snatch the open ruler and I’m about to run again when I notice that the girl looks frightened and was about to say something. I’m guessing that she was angry at me for just taking her things. I try to quickly explain but I’m not able to say anything because the girl points up and then I hear a crack and see she has already been turned into stone. I soon as I see this I panic and remember that if I’m not careful, this will happen to me too.
I spring to my feet again to try and get some distance between Medusa and me, but Mrs. McNally pulls me by my shirt. I try to keep calm and focused, but Luke’s hyper sweating and panic is not helping.
“What’s happening?” I hear a student say. In the class, everyone is screaming and shouting and I hear another cracking sound, probably another child turning to stone.
I hold the ruler in front of me, at a slight angle upwards. I see Medusa in the reflection and nearly drop the ruler from shock. Mrs. McNally’s bandana has come off and wild snakes are bitting and hissing at each other. Her skin seems even greener now and her eyes without the sunglasses are much more menacing. I had already seen images of her and her eyes but now, they seem to be so fierce that they would just burn anything that was at her sight. I gulp, the more time I spent here the less chance I would have at getting out unharmed.
I kick backwards with my right foot, straight onto Medusa’s knees with all force. She drops her grip on me and I run and hide behind the furthest table. Using my mirror, I can see that her recovering quickly from the pain and is now taking long strides to reach me. She is walking with a limp, all thanks to me, and with every step the whole room vibrated. I saw her getting closer and closer to me. My first instinct is to flee, but I have to remain in the same spot to execute my plan; it is now or never. Five more steps and I would win it all or be turned into stone.
Four more steps...
Three more...
Her image keeps getting bigger and bigger on my mirror as she gets closer.
Two more steps...
One more...
I didn’t even need the mirror anymore to know that she was close, very close.
Chapter 14
Medusa takes the last step towards me and just as she was about to pull me again I twist and jump towards her – all with my eyes closed. The mirror on the ruler points (hopefully) right at her face. I would like to think I looked like some awesome ninja.
I feel the ruler slip out of my hands and the mirror shatter. Oh no, that ruler just turned to stone. I lose all hope thinking that I hadn’t pointed the ruler in the right direction. No cool ninja skills…
Now, I have no chance. Giving up, I land on my feet and run towards the opposite end of the glass, looking around the room for any other mirror or reflective surface. Finding one mirror was already lucky; there is almost no chance of me finding another one.
Then, just I was about to whisper sorry and goodbye to Luke; I hear a high pitched scream. It’s followed by a loud hissing, as if all the snakes wanted to speak at the same time. Both the scream and hissing die off. A crackling noise follows. Everything becomes silent. The only sound in the whole room is the beat of Luke’s heart.
Dum-dum... Dum-dum... Dum-dum...
I hear someone clap and others follow, until the whole room is now filled with students clapping and cheering. With the encouragement of the class, I turn around and see that Mrs. McNally/Medusa is now nothing but a statue; she’s a horrifyingly grotesque statue, but nothing more than stone. Her reign of terror is over. My plan worked! Medusa had looked into her own reflection on the mirror, and due to Athena’s curse she had turned herself into stone.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and when I turn around; I see Marcus is standing next to me. I am so happy I turn and give him a quick hug. Soon after, the golden haired boy walks into the class, holding hands with a girl – she must have been the statue I had seen near the office. Defeating Medusa had released all her prisoners! After a quick word of goodbye to Marcus, I head towards the door of the classroom, leaving the class to celebrate. I take all the happy chatter in and after a deep breath; I press the ‘exit’ button on the remote control. The dream was over and my job is done.
Chapter 15
Once back in reality, I see that Luke is still sleeping; at least, he is smiling now. I take my hiding spot under the bed again. I sigh, relieved that everything worked out in his dream. Soon after, I hear some footsteps approaching Luke’s room.
“Time to wake up, Luke,” I recognise his mum’s voice.
Luke doesn’t move so she strokes his forehead and repeats,
“Lukey, it’s time to get up.”
This time Luke yawns, stretches and sits up in bed with a huge smile on his face and says,
“I can’t wait to start at the school today!”
“I’m glad to hear that. Now, let’s eat some breakfast,”
And they both walk out of the room.
When they have both left I close my eyes and let myself sleep. After all this running around and saving Luke from Medusa, I’m really tired. Of course, I won’t have any dreams; there are no bed monsters for bed monsters, that would just be silly.
Zzzz....
***
I’m woken up by Luke’s soft voice. He talks quietly but very excitedly with his mum as he walks in to drop his bag in his room.
“Mum, I had the best day! I actually understood all the questions that Ms. Sweetley asked. And, she was so nice and she asked a boy called Marcus to show me around the school. I’m sure that Marcus and I will be best friends!”
His voice fades as he goes back to the living room to join his mum and I didn’t catch anymore of their conversation. I smile, knowing that it was a job well done.
“Goodbye Luke,” I whisper. Hopefully this night will be easier on the next bed monster.
I take out the remote control and press the small side button on the control. My vision becomes blurry and I feel myself being lifted. When I open my eyes again I see that I’m in a very different room. This time there is a butterfly bed right in the middle. There is a pink lampshade and pink curtains. The walls are painted a light blue with dandelion stickers at the bottom. I slide underneath the bed, happily noting that it was very clean. I rest my eyes waiting for night to fall and the owner of this bedroom to say goodnight. I lie there waiting, eager to begin another adventure!
zz** THE END **