The Power Cut

Text 1: The Whale Hall, by Catrin Vale

An original short story extract.

At nine o’clock, the museum released its final visitors. Their voices dwindled along the marble corridor; the entrance doors sighed shut; silence spread from gallery to gallery. Imani checked the locks and turned towards the whale hall. Above her, the skeleton hung in its usual place, all ribs and shadow, swimming through the darkness beneath the glass roof.

The storm struck without warning. Rain rattled overhead and the electric lights vanished. For one second, the museum was entirely black. Then the emergency lamps blinked awake, staining the display cases a watery green. Imani tightened her grip on the radio. She knew every room. She knew every exit. She knew that nothing in the museum could move.

A tap sounded beyond the archway.

She waited. The radio breathed static against her palm. Tap. Tap. Something small and patient was calling from the Egyptian gallery. As she walked towards it, painted faces appeared and disappeared in the sweep of her torch. A jackal-headed statue watched her pass. The corridor seemed to lengthen, each doorway opening into another pocket of darkness.

The sound grew louder beside the donation box: tap-tap, tap-tap. Imani raised the torch and found rainwater slipping through a crack in the ceiling. Each drop struck the metal lid with a bright, harmless ping. She let out a laugh that bounced around the gallery and came back sounding braver than she felt.

Imani fetched a bucket, placed it beneath the leak and reported the fault. On her way back to the whale hall, she stopped below the enormous skeleton. Its bones no longer seemed to be circling above her. They were only bones. She switched off her torch and continued her rounds.

How does Vale use language and structure to present Imani’s changing response to being alone in the museum during the power cut?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.