The Storm - Sevenoaks School 11+ - 2018

The Storm

The first warning was not the thunder but the silence. One moment, sparrows were quarrelling in the apple tree; the next, even the leaves seemed to be holding their breath.

I stood at the garden gate, watching a wall of purple cloud crawl across the fields. The air tasted of metal. Somewhere beyond the hill, thunder rolled like heavy furniture being dragged across a wooden floor.

“Inside, Leo!” Mum called.

I turned to obey, but a faint bleating stopped me. In the neighbouring field, a lamb had caught its wool in the wire fence. It tugged and twisted, frightened by the first hard drops of rain.

I scrambled over the gate. Wind snatched at my jacket as I knelt beside it. The wire had wound itself around one leg. My fingers shook, but I worked carefully, loosening one cruel loop after another.

A flash split the sky. For a heartbeat, the whole field shone white.

At last the lamb sprang free and bounded towards its mother. I ran too, shoes sinking into the mud. By the time I reached the kitchen, rain was hammering the windows.

Mum wrapped a towel around my shoulders. “What on earth were you doing?”

I looked through the glass. Across the field, two small shapes huddled safely beneath a hedge.

“Just getting someone home,” I said.