Student story using the narrative writing format of Barbara Mariconda.

1. Erin,a nine year old girl, hesitantly tiptoed tothe front
steps of the abandoned house. “Shall I go in?”Erin
whispered to herself. Creak!Creak!The shuttersswungopen
and closed. She wondered if she should explore the house.
Slowly, she turned the brass door knob and entered the
mysterious mansion. As Erin entered, she listened to the
squeaking floors beneath her Feet. Erin peeked into the bedroom.Erin rubbed her
fingers across the crackeddoor.Smelling the air, a damp odor filled her nose. For one
minute, Erin stared at the torn coat laying in the closet. Standing quietly, she heard a
ding coming from the hallway. It was a dusty grandfather clock.Walking to
thegrandfather clock, Erin felt a rain drop
on herhead. Glancing up, she noticed
a crack in the roof that
the rain was leaking through.
Erin walked towards the soft
looking rocking chair. Just then,
the rocking chair started rocking.
“It’s probably just the wind
coming from the window,” Erin
slowly whispered to herself.
Erin slowly turned around and
rapidly walked to the other
room. All of a sudden, she
felt fingers crawling up her
spine. “Ahhhh!” she screamed. Quickly she
turned around and shouted, “Who’s there?” but saw no one was
there. “Oh, maybe it was just a spider,” she thought out loud. Nervously, she kept
on walking but now even faster. Suddenly, Erin saw a black cape swoosh. “What was
that?” she shouted. Her heart started pounding. Now she was really getting scared.
“Maybe it was just my imagination.” Erin tried to calm herself down but it didn’t work.
A moment later, she saw white skin in front of her. “What is that?” Right then she
took a few steps backwards. Her legs were shaking like jelly. Leaning against the wall,

2. she slowly took a step to the other side. “Calm down! Calm down! It will be ok,” she
said to herself but she knew something was not right. In the blink of an eye, Erin was
face to face with a white-faced, frightening vampire.
Erin could not believe her eyes. “You are a vampire!” she screamed. As the
creature stared at her, she stepped back cautiously. Whirling around, Erin bolted
toward the door. In a panic, she struggled to open the rickety, front door. Just
then, she heardfootsteps coming towards her. Looking around, Erin found no place to
hide. Just then, Erin set off for the stairs, searching for a room to hide in, she
spotted a huge bed. She quickly headed for the bed and slid under it. “How on earth
am I going to get out of here?” Erin screamed to herself. She wondered where the
vampire was. Clump! Clump! She heard footsteps coming down the hall. Erin noticed
black high- heeled shoes entering the room. She had to think of a better way to
escape. As the vampire came in, he started looking for her near the window so she had
a minute to get out. Quickly, she crawled out, without the cold blooded creature
running into her. As she bolted towards the door, she heard some steps behind her.
“He’s going to get me,” she whispered, as sweat dripped down her face. Suddenly, the
vampire came in front of her and she noticed his shoes were slipping on the floor. She
quickly grabbed the shoe from the vampire and smacked the vampire across the head.
Once she hit him he fainted and fell to the floor and instantly she was free to go. Erin
opened the front door and zoomed out of the weird haunted house. “I’m free”, she
shouted with excitement and skipped home happily.