She turned in alarm, the sound of glass breaking in the quiet house caused a vein of fear to run through her. Although it was dark, she instinctively looked searchingly in the direction the sound had originated. She felt along the wall for the light switch and found the edge with her fingertips. As she clicked it into the on position, nothing happened. She could hear movement in the neighbouring room and she felt a sudden chill, her heart began to pound in her chest crushing her lungs, making her breaths shallow and painful. She attempted to cross the kitchen unsure if she wanted to run and hide or go toward the activity next door. Suddenly something hit her hard in her side and knocked, what little wind she had left, out of her.
It was the breakfast bar in the centre of the kitchen, the counter top had jabbed into her side and the weight of her bumping into it had rattled the pans and utensils stored there. She silently hushed the noise away hoping it wasn't as loud as it seemed, afraid she had alerted whoever or whatever lurked next door. She felt around the counter top to find her way around the wounding obstacle and made her way to the doorway of the kitchen. She rested against the door frame, tried to get her breath back and work out how badly hurt she was. Breathing was painful but she decided that although her side hurt like hell, there were no broken bones, at worst she would be black and blue in the morning. She heard more sounds of movement from the next room.
She peered round the door frame and felt safe to creep into the hall and toward the doorway of the next room, remembering to avoid the small table against the wall. She stepped over the threshold and heard movement in the far corner by the window. Again her heart was beating furiously in her chest, she felt the pain in her side as she struggled for even breaths. In the dim light from the window, she could see one of the panes of glass had been shattered. A small dark shadow was moving in her direction and when it was just a few yards in front of her it launched itself at her almost knocking her over. She caught it in her arms and felt the stinging pain of small knives cutting into the skin.
The cat hissed in her face and leaped from her arms into the darkness of the hallway. As the relief drained the tension from her body, her breathing deepened and slowed ...it was just the cat, it was OK... and she began to relax. Cursing the cat, she turned to follow it from the room and as she did so, something heavy and solid slammed into the back of her head and the world slipped slowly away.
