The Midnight Roar Mystery
The vacations had begun, and I was brimming with excitement. My grandparents and uncle were visiting us, which meant the house was livelier than usual. However, my joy was slightly dampened by the fact that my brother was still at his boarding school and wouldn’t join us for another two weeks.
The day they arrived was filled with hustle and bustle as everyone settled in. Our house was small, and accommodating six people was a tight squeeze. My uncle, father, and grandfather shared the upstairs room, while my mother and grandmother slept downstairs. I was left to sleep on the small sofa in the hall.
The vacation was shaping up to be uneventful until a peculiar, funny yet terrifying incident occurred. It was a rainy night, and the clock struck 3:00 AM. The sound of raindrops tapping on the windows was the only noise, and everyone was fast asleep. Suddenly, a deafening roar shattered the silence, jolting my mother awake.
“W…what…was…that?” she stammered, her voice trembling.
The sound echoed again, louder this time, waking my grandmother. “Must be thunder,” she suggested, though her expression betrayed her nervousness.
“No… it’s not thunder,” my mother whispered shakily. “It’s coming from upstairs!”
I awoke to their whispered conversation, startled by their anxious tones. “What?! Is there a tiger upstairs?” I exclaimed.
“Shhh…” My mother grabbed a cricket bat lying nearby. “Let’s check it out quietly,” she said, her voice a mix of fear and determination.
All three of us tiptoed up the stairs, hearts pounding. As we reached the top, the roaring noise grew louder, reverberating through the walls. “It’s coming from their room,” I whispered nervously.
Slowly, I pushed the door open, wondering how my father, uncle, and grandfather could possibly sleep through the ruckus. The door creaked, and at that moment, the monstrous roar erupted again, shaking the very air around us.
We braced ourselves for the worst. And then… we discovered the source of the terrifying noise.
There, sprawled comfortably in their beds, were my grandfather, uncle, and father — snoring at the top of their lungs, each competing for the loudest roar!
We stared at each other in disbelief before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. My grandmother wiped the sweat off her brow. “At least it wasn’t a Bengal tiger!” she said, relieved.
“And,” my mother added, smiling at me, “now you have a hilarious story to tell your brother when he gets back!”
That night turned an otherwise boring vacation into an unforgettable adventure.
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