DEAD GOOD Read Online Free
Author: D A Cooper
manically or cry. I also wonder if I might pee myself, I feel so out of control.
‘Maddie?’ I gasp involuntarily as I hear Mum call out from the front door which I now realise has flown open straight ahead of me. ‘What’s going on? We could hear noises from outs-’
My head spins towards her and I watch her face fall. I must look crazed. ‘What’s happening?’ she yelps, crossing the floor worriedly. ‘What’re you standing like that for in the middle of the…’ she stops and tilts her head to one side just like I did earlier, listening as the noises start to overpower her voice. ‘Who’s here? What’s that noise? And what’s that smell? Is something burning?’
I see Dad arrive behind her and watch him stop too, waiting at the doorway with two white carrier bags. When he sees me frozen to the spot he puts them down and walks over to me. I think I might have lost the ability to speak and I can’t feel my legs. But I’m so glad to see them, I start to laugh. Maybe I’m hysterical. He puts his arms round me and pulls me to his chest. I still feel frozen, though.
Mum strides straight past us and into the kitchen where most of the noise is emanating. Gradually Dad follows with me still clamped to his side. We watch as she goes over to the cooker and she peers inside the already-open door, sniffs deeply then shakes her head. She twists every gas knob one way then another and makes sure they’re all switched off. Then she turns back to us. ‘The smell isn’t in here,’ she says confused. ‘It’s in the living room. What could be burning in the living room?’
And that’s when the screaming starts.
I’ve seen horror films like this. I know I haven’t seen the really, really scary, Eighteen rated ones but I’ve seen films where things like this take place and usually I’ve just thought ‘yeah, yeah, things like that wouldn’t really happen’ but they do. They have. They are. See?
As if the drawers opening and the lights flashing and the water running and everything else that happened in the kitchen isn’t bad enough, there actually is a really strong smell of burning coming from the living room and when Mum instinctively goes towards it, the door slams shut right in her face. And I mean right in her face. Like someone pushed it hard from the other side.
The screaming is ear-splitting now. Mostly it seems to be coming from the living room – which we still can’t get the door to open to. And we can’t even touch the door knob now because it’s red hot. It’s times like this you wish you had a camcorder because no one’s going to believe this is happening. Nobody. Even I wouldn’t.
‘Where’s Davey?’ Mum suddenly yelps.
‘Oh god –‘ I gasp, ‘I left him in his room when I heard the noises down here. I don’t know… I’ll go and check on him. He can’t be sleeping through all this noise.’
Mum’s face is white and frowny and she’s a bit jittery. I supposed that’s to be expected under these circumstances. I wish I could tell her not to worry but then she’d think I was a part of it or something. The screams have started to become more muffled inside the room now but we still can’t get hold of the door handle.
Dad is trying to get a signal on his mobile and can’t understand why it won’t work. We can’t get to the landline phone ‘cos it’s in the living room. Mum is still holding onto my hands and then it looks like she suddenly realises she is and drops them.
‘Go!’ she says urgently. ‘Check on Davey!’
I force my body to move and run full pelt up the stairs, noticing that there’s a thicker smell up here of smoke. Downstairs it’s more hot and burny but up here it feels heavy… like if it was proper smoke, it’d be really hard to breathe properly. Heat rises. It comes back to me from a science lesson. So I’m guessing that upstairs is going to be just as bad as downstairs. And – wait a
‘Maddie?’ I gasp involuntarily as I hear Mum call out from the front door which I now realise has flown open straight ahead of me. ‘What’s going on? We could hear noises from outs-’
My head spins towards her and I watch her face fall. I must look crazed. ‘What’s happening?’ she yelps, crossing the floor worriedly. ‘What’re you standing like that for in the middle of the…’ she stops and tilts her head to one side just like I did earlier, listening as the noises start to overpower her voice. ‘Who’s here? What’s that noise? And what’s that smell? Is something burning?’
I see Dad arrive behind her and watch him stop too, waiting at the doorway with two white carrier bags. When he sees me frozen to the spot he puts them down and walks over to me. I think I might have lost the ability to speak and I can’t feel my legs. But I’m so glad to see them, I start to laugh. Maybe I’m hysterical. He puts his arms round me and pulls me to his chest. I still feel frozen, though.
Mum strides straight past us and into the kitchen where most of the noise is emanating. Gradually Dad follows with me still clamped to his side. We watch as she goes over to the cooker and she peers inside the already-open door, sniffs deeply then shakes her head. She twists every gas knob one way then another and makes sure they’re all switched off. Then she turns back to us. ‘The smell isn’t in here,’ she says confused. ‘It’s in the living room. What could be burning in the living room?’
And that’s when the screaming starts.
I’ve seen horror films like this. I know I haven’t seen the really, really scary, Eighteen rated ones but I’ve seen films where things like this take place and usually I’ve just thought ‘yeah, yeah, things like that wouldn’t really happen’ but they do. They have. They are. See?
As if the drawers opening and the lights flashing and the water running and everything else that happened in the kitchen isn’t bad enough, there actually is a really strong smell of burning coming from the living room and when Mum instinctively goes towards it, the door slams shut right in her face. And I mean right in her face. Like someone pushed it hard from the other side.
The screaming is ear-splitting now. Mostly it seems to be coming from the living room – which we still can’t get the door to open to. And we can’t even touch the door knob now because it’s red hot. It’s times like this you wish you had a camcorder because no one’s going to believe this is happening. Nobody. Even I wouldn’t.
‘Where’s Davey?’ Mum suddenly yelps.
‘Oh god –‘ I gasp, ‘I left him in his room when I heard the noises down here. I don’t know… I’ll go and check on him. He can’t be sleeping through all this noise.’
Mum’s face is white and frowny and she’s a bit jittery. I supposed that’s to be expected under these circumstances. I wish I could tell her not to worry but then she’d think I was a part of it or something. The screams have started to become more muffled inside the room now but we still can’t get hold of the door handle.
Dad is trying to get a signal on his mobile and can’t understand why it won’t work. We can’t get to the landline phone ‘cos it’s in the living room. Mum is still holding onto my hands and then it looks like she suddenly realises she is and drops them.
‘Go!’ she says urgently. ‘Check on Davey!’
I force my body to move and run full pelt up the stairs, noticing that there’s a thicker smell up here of smoke. Downstairs it’s more hot and burny but up here it feels heavy… like if it was proper smoke, it’d be really hard to breathe properly. Heat rises. It comes back to me from a science lesson. So I’m guessing that upstairs is going to be just as bad as downstairs. And – wait a
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