London Short Fiction: The Lion — londonist.com

Continuing our series of short fiction set in, or influenced by London. This time, Robert Chell, age 12, finds something strange about Trafalgar Square’s lions. Rook was huddled up next to a cold lion statue in Trafalgar Square when Big Ben struck three. He woke to a silent night, frozen to the bone. His joints ached with cold so he got up to move around. Then he thought he heard deep breathing. He looked around and saw a gigantic yawning lion. At first he thought the cold was giving him hallucinations, so he walked over to the face of the lion when suddenly the lion opened one eye. Now he was convinced it was real so he ran and shouted “It’s alive! It’s alive!”. A street-cleaner heard him but just shook his head and walked away. Rook was so tired and aching now that he just couldn’t run any longer, so he started to crawl. He looked around and saw the lion that had once been a cold statue, walking towards him. He felt the ground tremble as the lion growled, it sniffed him and then darkness wrapped around him.

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