Story-+Shadows+in+the+Lake+by+Phoebe

Shadows on the Lake It was 1914, and Maria was sitting in the kitchen, on a dark, cold night, eating her tea. Her brother Joseph delighted in telling her spooky ghost stories. The one Maria remembered the most, was about ghostly shadows on the lake next to their house. Joseph said that the lake was haunted. He told stories of creepy shadows crawling on the water at midnight when the moon was full. Maria didn’t know if it was true or not, but she wanted to find out. That night, Maria was listening for the howl of the wolf, which howls every night, five minutes before midnight. She was scared that Joseph’s stories were true and was terribly frightened. Lying in bed, half awake, half asleep.....listening.....there was the distant lonely howl. She sat up abruptly and rushed over to the window and slowly opened the curtains. She was terrified and she could hear her own heart beating, but she needed to know the truth. She peered out....but jumped back when she heard an owl hoot nearby. Her heart was racing. She wanted to get back into bed, hide under the covers, and pretend it wasn’t real, but she hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night for nothing. She drew a deep breath peeped out again, but couldn’t see anything. “It must not be true” Maria whispered to herself. Suddenly, the lake rippled, and she saw a shadow that looked like a tiger, scampering across the water. She let out a gasp when the tiger showed its teeth and then seemed to disappear right before her eyes. Maria was breathless. Then she saw what seemed to be a person, walking on water. Maria looked closer. She realised it had... RED EYES! “Joseph!” she yelled. No answer. “Joseph!” she screamed even louder. Joseph came running in. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “It’s true, the shadows are real, and I saw them, there was a tiger and it showed its teeth! There was a p-p-person with bright red glowing eyes!!!!!” Maria stammered. She was talking so fast, Joseph could barely understand her. “Calm down” said Joseph. “Go back to sleep. You were just dreaming, there is nothing there I promise. Please, just go to bed.” Maria couldn’t sleep at all that night. She just sat by the window all night. Her eyes hurt from staring at the lake for hours, waiting for the mysterious shadows. For a fleeting moment, as the moons rays hit the rippling water, she saw it. Not game to blink, she thought that the silhouette looked a lot like her shape.... Yes, it was definitely her shadow. Slowly, she wobbled her arms, and the shadow did the same. Her arms around, and so did the shadow on the lake. She saw her stuffed tiger on the window sill. She opened its mouth to show its teeth. The shadow on the lake changed to a tiger and did the same. Next to her tiger, was her Barbie. Maria had coloured her eyes red when she was a little girl. “Weird” said Maria. The small toys couldn’t make a shadow that big, and the toys didn’t move like the shadows did. After that night Maria would wait up sitting at the window looking for the mysterious shadows dancing on the lake; however, she never saw the shadows again. She never knew if the story was really true or not....but whenever the moon was full and the wolf was howling, she had her own spooky ghost story to scare her brother Joseph with.