The Terror of Hilltop House by Dan Smith

Author:Dan Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barrington Stoke Ltd
Published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Storm Carrie

That morning, the view from Miss Wan’s classroom was a pink sky of rippled clouds. By break-time, those clouds were thick and dark. At lunch-time, icy rain began to fall, and strong winds blew in from the east. The residents of Crooked Oak held their breath as they waited for the approaching storm.

The sky was black when Pete, Nancy and Krish left at the end of the day. Storm Carrie was almost upon them. Thunder rumbled. Lightning flickered. The school car park was rain drenched and chaotic, with parents hurrying to collect their kids before the storm landed.

Krish’s dad was waiting by his pick-up in the parking bay beside the bike racks. Krish’s younger sister, Rashmi, was sitting in the cab, waving frantically at Nancy. Krish rolled his eyes, but Nancy smiled and waved back.

“You’re not cycling home in this weather,” said Krish’s dad as he took Krish’s bike and lifted it into the back of the pick-up. “Orders from your mum.”

Krish’s dad was a big man with a large belly and a huge moustache. Right now, he was soaking wet, his hair plastered against his head.

“There’s no room for you two, I’m afraid,” Krish’s dad said to Nancy and Pete, who were sheltering under the roof of the bike racks. “Only room for three in the cab. But if you wait here, I’ll come back for you.”

“No thanks,” Nancy said as she tied her hair into a ponytail and pulled up the hood of her winter coat. “I don’t have far to go.”

“No problemo,” said Pete. He pulled up his hood and climbed onto his bike. “It’ll be fun.”

*

After he had done his homework, Pete made fish fingers and chips for tea. He and his mum ate at the small table in the living room. Pete cleared up while his mum took her pain tablets, then they turned off the living-room lights and opened the curtains to watch the lightning flicker over Campbell Street. They sat close on the sofa. Pete’s mum squeezed his hand and laughed whenever thunder rumbled.

At nine o’clock, Pete’s mum went up to bed. Pete fired up his clunky laptop and googled the Spencer Institute and BioMesa. He looked up a few things about carnivorous plants too, but he didn’t have the focus Nancy and Krish had. He ended up playing video games instead.

Eventually, Pete climbed into bed and fell asleep to the music of the storm.

*

The electricity was off when Pete got up for his paper round the next morning. He checked his phone, but the mobile signal was out too. Pete guessed it must have something to do with the storm.

It was dark in the house, so Pete switched on his phone torch and went down to the kitchen. He made himself a jam sandwich as the toaster wouldn’t work and wrote a note for his mum. He grabbed his school bag, put on his winter coat and wheeled his bike out the front door.

Campbell Street was dark and damp and quiet now that the storm was over.

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