Sefa opened her eyes and allowed a crooked grin to cover her face as the single most important thought in her life so far popped into her head - "I'm ten today!" The realisation made her buzz with excitement, although she casually pressed herself deeper into her feather mattress, absorbing the warmth and comfort as the chill November air played around the cold room. A noise from the other side of the room caused her to move her head on one side, her blue eyes resting on a lump in the twin bed set against the opposite wall, watching as a ginger head appeared from underneath the thick duvet, a childish face turning to sleepily peer at her, thick red hair falling over Denith's childish features.
The best thing about turning ten to Sefa's mind was that she became an adult in her Father's eye. This meant one thing to Sefa - she would no longer have to share a room with her annoying little brother. For some time, Sefa's insistent pestering to have her own room had fallen on deaf parental ears and the poor girl was almost on the point of giving up. But Denith, her dear sweet brother, had eventually stated that he would like his own room and this had galvanized her parents into action. The room was to be her birthday present and it would make Sefa's tenth her best birthday yet!
Preparations had been underway for several weeks preceding the 6th of November - Sefa's birthday. The only available room was the cellar and this had to be cleared out of all the accumulated junk that had ended up there over the years, as well as being furnished. Sefa and her mother were planning on spending the day cleaning away the many cobwebs and the grime that had built up so that her father could place her bed there tonight. Sefa could not wait! Especially as her two favourite people were coming for dinner before hand - Granny M and her best friend Joran.
She already knew Joran's birthday present too her. His father had made a lock to go on the trapdoor that led to the cellar that was going to be locked and unlocked from the inside, helping to eliminate the risk of annoying brothers coming into her room at the dead of night. It was going to be her own space and she was going to love it!
The girl scampered out of bed, flinging on a warm, woolen, pale blue dress that she often wore when the weather turned colder. The skinny waif of a child charging down into the cellar, grinning as she slammed the trapdoor down behind her. The room was gloomy, the only light coming from a small slit at the top of the wall, the rest of the room being underground meaning that it kept the warmth in, although the early morning chill and the slight dampness in the room made her shiver a little. Dust spun as she charged around, sending the only lamp in the room flying. She winced at the crash, breathing a sigh of relief that she had not lit the lamp.
The darkness seemed to claw at her after a while, the dust making her cough as it settled. Silence pervaded making the girl suddenly feel alone. Slowly, she made her way up the small ladder to the trapdoor, trying to shove it up, only to find that it would not open! She shoved and shoved, yelling and crying to no avail. She was trapped and alone in the dark, silent, cold, dusty room.
After her initial panic she calmed down, sitting on a step on the ladder and eyeing her room, trying to review her situation with a calm mind. It worked...right up until she heard the first squeak! A small rosy nose appeared in the gloom followed by the sleek body of a rat. Sefa eyed it uncertainly, looking like she might be alright until the creature started coming closer. Blind panic ensued, the poor girl screaming and screaming, wishing the fell beast away. Yet even in her panic, more creatures came forth until she found herself pressed against the trap door, with half a dozen rats at the bottom of the ladder.
It was two hours before they found her. She had cried herself into numb silence, staring as the little horrors padded around her glorious room. The light as they opened the trapdoor made her blink, the unsettled dust causing her to cough a little. Her father bent down and picked her up in his arms, holding her tightly as he whispered a birthday greeting to her, showing her more love and comfort in those precious few moments than he had in the last ten years of her life.
To this day Sefa has had a fear of rats and few people know where that fear came from…but being stuck in a dark room with dust and terror and no way out, with the only sound being the rustling and squeaking of little feet is bound to leave an association of terror for anyone in her place…
