Mount Tall Retreat
It was a cold winter morning and it was the day Zoe, Ashley and their dog Bonnie were going to climb Mount Tall. They left home early in the morning. It had taken them all morning to drive to the base of the mountain, by the time they arrived it was midday. They began to climb the mountain, the first part was easy but as they climbed higher along the track they became very tired. After several hours of walking they had accomplished the mountain, as they pulled themselves up the steep rocks at the peak. “finally we’ve reached the top”, said Ashley.
At the top of the mountain they sat and rested for a moment, admired the amazing view and snacked on an energy bar before getting ready for the walk back down.
By the time they were back down the bottom of the mountain, it was very late in the afternoon. They started to drive home as soon as they could. “I don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere when it’s pitch black,” said Zoe
“Yes lots of scary things come out at night,” Ashley said worriedly.
Just as the dog was about to fall asleep from the long climb, the car broke down. “Ahh what’s happened to the car,” screamed Zoe, after they had thought about it they remembered that they were running low on petrol on there way there and forgot to fill it up. “What are we going to do,” said Ashley.
Now it was pitch black and the girl’s were getting very worried and scared. A loud noise frightened the dog so much that she jumped out of the car and ran away! “Where is Bonnie going?” yelled Zoe.
“We have to follow her,” said Ashley. They ran up and down hills they went through bushes and lots of cobwebs until finally Bonnie stopped outside an old broken down house.
They crept up to the front porch, the house appeared to be deserted. They peered in through the window but there was no sign of anyone. They knocked on the door three times but nobody answered. “Try to open the door,” said Zoe anxiously. Ashley slowly turned the knob and to their amazement, the door was unlocked.
Inside the house did not look bad, the beds were all made up with sheets and blankets. The house was very welcoming and they felt safe. They decided to stay the night because they wouldn’t have been able to find the way back to the car. “It will be easier in the morning to see where were going,” said Zoe.
All through the night they heard sounds like ghosts. This made the girls very scared even the dog. Zoe got up out of bed and had a look around but she couldn’t see anything. The sounds kept them up all night.
In the morning Ashley was looking around the house. She wondered who the house belonged to. Ashley found some old photos of a family she had never seen before, she felt curious, she wanted to know who they were. Meanwhile, Zoe was searching outside the house. She found a door which led to a small barn and in there she found a large tin of petrol, “Ashley guess what I found, petrol!” yelled Zoe.
“Oh that’s great let’s go find the car and fill it up,” said Ashley.
It took the girls some time to find the car but eventually they did. They filled up the car and began the return trip home. On their way back home, Ashley told Zoe about the photographs she had discovered inside. Zoe just could not stop thinking about all the sounds they heard during the night. They really wished they could tell the family how the house had saved them that night. They always felt curious about this mysterious house. Bonnie let out a big sigh, curled up in the back of the car and went to sleep. They decided to call the house Mount Tall Retreat, that’s exactly what it meant to them.
