The mist began to clear. With the help of a few orange streetlights, buildings, gardens, hedges and cars appeared. I was in a village. Not much of a village, but a village all the same. The road that I was standing on bisected* it. I guessed there were about ten or twelve buildings in total. Although it wasn’t very late, there wasn’t a single light in any of them. Stranger still, I noticed that there were no Christmas trees, no coloured lights, no decorations* at all. ‘Did they forget it’s Christmas time?’ I wondered.
In the silence, the complete stillness, my breathing sounded loud.
I checked my mobile again. Unbelievable! Now, I was out of battery* I looked around and saw an old phone box on the corner. My footsteps echoed as I walked down the road. I swung the phone box door open and picked up the receiver. I wanted to hear Helen’s voice, and I wanted to call a garage. But the phone line was dead. I dropped the phone. As I swung open the door again, a flicker of light caught my eye. It was down a lane just to my right.
I walked over to the lane, but stopped. The light was coming, I guessed, from the back of the shop next to me. I looked up. Though it was not switched on, I could read the unlit letters in the shop’s sign. `Fish and Chips’ it said. My stomach grumbled*. I was hungry. I stared through the front window. The shop looked empty. I went up to the door and pushed. I expected it to be locked. Instead, there was a gentle ‘Ting’ as a small bell rang above my head and the door swung open.
Copyright: EFLshort.com
Glossary
bisected*– cut in half
decorations*– adornments, things that beautify (esp. Christmas decorations)
out of battery* – there was no more power, the battery was flat
flicker – an unsteady light, light that shows briefly
grumbled*– made an angry sound, complained
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