The cupboard beneath the stairs

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Clara had been told never to open the cupboard beneath the stairs. One evening, as she crossed the passage with a lamp, three slow knocks came from behind its door.

She stopped. The flame trembled, although the air was perfectly still. ‘Who is there?’ she asked. No one answered. Instead, something scraped across the floorboards inside, paused, then scraped again.

Clara lowered the lamp. The cupboard key usually hung beside the kitchen door, but tonight it was already in the lock. She reached towards it. Before her fingers touched the metal, the door shook against its frame.

At the far end of the passage, the clock began to strike nine. On the final stroke, the latch lifted. The door opened no wider than her hand. From the darkness came the smell of wet earth.

Clara raised the lamp. Something shifted behind the boots and umbrellas. Then a low voice spoke her name.

Analyse the ways in which the writer uses language and structure to keep the cupboard’s contents mysterious. Support your answer with references to the passage.

In your answer, you should consider:

• how sounds and movements are described
• how the writer delays revealing what is inside.