THE SENTINEL 

By Tessa Harvey

    The boy shook with fear. No, not Sylvia! He forgot he was meant to see  Matron. Instead he ran down the stairs through the boarders' building and outside. He looked up. The sky was darkening.
    Theodor thought of his plateau and home. It would be spring there, not autumn.  But Sylvia was hurt before. Why again? He remembered the man who had tried to push him near the cliff drop.
    Blanche, Miss Dunstan was calling for him. I should go back, he thought. My friend Alice would want me to go back and be sensible. He paused, irresolute then turned to go back.
    There was a rustle near the trees. Puzzled, the boy turned to look. A man stood there grinning. His head was shaved. He looked powerful and threatening. It was the man from the plateau!! Not the quiet good man he called "the watcher" who had tried to help him. It was the evil one.
    Theo turned to run but was grabbed and held. Blanche heard a terrified scream, abruptly cut off. A child's cry.

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