Sarah moves into her new home. She is very happy.
But there’s a strange smell coming from somewhere…
As she tries to find out the source of it, she makes an awful discovery.
Check out my thrilling short story What’s That Smell? It comes complete with a full lesson plan that you can download and use today.
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What’s That Smell?
Sarah moved into her new home.
A charming, old Victorian terraced house.
It was just perfect.
Then began the long process of decorating her new place to her own tastes.
It had taken her so long to save for the deposit.
The bank had finally given her a mortgage and when she moved into the house, she couldn’t quite believe that she was now officially a homeowner.
No more renting.
No more sharing with people who didn’t know how to wash the dishes. Or forget the concept of laundry or cleaning the bath after using it.
She had the place all to herself. She could not be happier.
The house had a distinct musty, ‘old-house’ kind of smell. But she could deal with that.
Once she finished tidying the place up and painting the walls, it would be fine.
Her father, ever the man to try to interfere in her life, tried to offer his help.
“I have all the tools you will need,” he said. “Just give me a call and I’ll come over.”
Sarah made sure that he understood she did not need his help.
“It’s okay, Dad,” she said. “I can do it all by myself.”
She decided to work from the top down. So she made sure her bedroom, and the bathroom were decorated first.
The bedroom looked out over the back garden, and it was quiet. She imagined herself having lie-ins at the weekend, reading and drinking a nice cup of tea.
The bathroom was old. But it still functioned. She could accept that.
She saw herself taking a long hot bath after work on a Friday and looking forward to doing nothing for two whole days.
But it was only when she started working on the rooms on the ground floor that she realised that was where the smell came from.
She feared it might be damp, which would put a terrible strain on her already tight budget. Or worse, a hidden dead rodent.
That was all she needed.
A big dead rat that had crawled under the floorboards and died somewhere. The body completely hidden out of view.
The ground floor had two main rooms. A living room at the front with big bay windows looking out on the quiet suburban street.
And the smaller back room, which she hoped to turn into her dining area. This was where she planned to entertain her house guests.
This room was smaller and a little darker.
She found that she was constantly sniffing as she went from one room to the other. Trying to gauge exactly where the smell was coming from.
But it seemed that the foul odour originated in the back room. A nauseating, unfamiliar stench clung to the air.
Sarah dismissed it and told herself it was all in her imagination. After a while, everything started to have a funny smell all of its own.
It was only when she got to work in the smaller room that she realised that was the source of the bad smell. It was definitely in that smaller back room.
It smelt terrible. Like something she had not ever experienced before.
She was pretty certain that it was an animal that had died there. But she couldn’t find any evidence of anything in the room at all.
One Saturday morning, she stood in the middle of the room and gazed at the old carpet on the floor. It looked like it had been there for years.
There were a myriad of dark stains all over it. It looked like the previous owners had spilt all manner of things on it over the years.
Maybe that was the source of the smell after all?
Sarah made the decision to rip the old carpet up and throw it out.
Using a pair of pliers and a sharp knife, she got to work, pulling up the old rug.
It had been there so long that the underneath was stuck to the floorboards.
But once she got started, she gained a newfound kind of energy. Soon the carpet was removed, and she was able to fold the parts up and throw it all out.
However, the smell was still there. It may have become even stronger, and more prevalent.
Sarah lowered her head to the floorboards and sniffed.
The stench hit her, and she reeled back. It was horrific.
Like something rotting away underneath the floor.
It must be a rat. A rodent that had crawled under the floorboards, got trapped somehow and couldn’t get out.
Now its dead body slowly dissolving in the very ground of Sarah’s beloved new home.
“I’ll have to get it out,” Sarah said to herself, determined not to call her dad for help.
The only problem was that she didn’t have the tools for something like this.
She tapped away at her phone and found a listing of builders and workers for hire. People who could pull up the floorboards for her, then nail them back into place.
One guy that she called sucked on his teeth.
“I can pull the floorboards up for you, no problem,” he said. “But if there is anything under there — and it sounds like there is — you will have to call another company. I don’t deal with dead mice or rats.”
Sarah asked him how much to lift the floorboards and he named his price.
She said thank you very much and hung up. There was no way she could afford that.
Instead, she went to a hardware store and asked the man there what tools she would need to dig up the floorboards in her house.
Twenty minutes later, she was armed with all the right equipment and heading back home.
When she opened the front door, the reek was now even more apparent. Now it was a very clear vile and filthy stink.
Not wishing to waste any more time, Sarah dumped her newly acquired tools on the floor and got to work.
It was much harder than she anticipated, but finally, she got the first floorboard up. She lifted it with all her strength as it cracked out of place from the floor.
The decaying smell underneath wafted up like an evil cloud and hit her with full force in her face.
She gagged and covered her mouth with her hand.
How could one little mouse cause such a disgusting hum?
She peered down into the hole and just saw the joists underneath.
But there was a piece of plastic too. She tugged at it but couldn’t release it.
Now, driven to get to the source of the stench — the dead rat or mouse — she hacked away at the floorboards and pulled them up.
Eventually, she saw a large plastic sheet beneath the floor.
The rat must be under that.
Again, she yanked at it, but it would not budge. The plastic was quite thick, but it was like trying to move glue.
Sarah grabbed the knife and ripped at the plastic, slashing great lines on top of it.
As she did so, the stench became even more overpowering. She choked and heaved at the sheer awful stink that hit her senses, but continued cutting the plastic tarp under the floorboards.
Then she grabbed a part of it and pulled.
It came away in one long strip.
Sarah looked down and gasped. What she saw before her eyes, she could not quite believe.
A row of bodies.
But these were not rats or mice; they were human. Five lifeless figures lay side by side, their flesh paper-thin, their hair dry and brittle, their faces hardly recognizable.
They seemed more like ghosts than people.
Sarah stared at the ghastly discovery for a brief moment before letting out a scream.
Reading Comprehension Questions
What is the name of the main character in the story?
What type of house did Sarah move into?
What was the initial condition of the house that Sarah moved into?
How did Sarah feel about finally owning her own home?
What was the source of the musty smell in the house?
Why did Sarah dismiss her father’s offer to help with decorating?
Which rooms did Sarah decide to decorate first?
What did Sarah imagine doing in her bedroom and bathroom?
Where did Sarah suspect the bad smell was coming from?
What did Sarah fear might be causing the foul odour in her house?
How did the smaller back room differ from the living room?
What did Sarah do to try to identify the source of the bad smell?
What did Sarah decide to do with the old carpet in the smaller back room?
What was the result of removing the old carpet?
What did the smell under the floorboards remind Sarah of?
Why did the builder Sarah called refuse to deal with dead mice or rats?
What tools did Sarah acquire to remove the floorboards?
What did Sarah find beneath the floorboards after removing them?
How did the bodies beneath the floorboards appear?
How did Sarah react when she made the shocking discovery beneath the floorboards?
Essential Vocabulary
Homeowner | Living room | Equipment |
Deposit | Dining area | Gagged |
Mortgage | Carpet | Hacked |
Renting | Floorboards | Overpowering |
Tidying | Stench | Senses |
Decorating | Smell | Figures |
Damp | Rug | Paper-thin |
Rodent | Hardware store | Ghastly |
Exercise
Write down all the words and phrases in your vocabulary notebook. Look in your dictionary and find the meaning of each word. Write the definition next to each word.
Then make up your own sentences using each word or phrase.
For example:
Homeowner – Someone who has purchased or acquired a home and holds the legal status of ownership for that property.
Living Room – The central, common area within a home where family members and guests gather for activities like conversation, watching TV, or reading.
Then write a sentence of your own that uses the new word or phrase correctly.
As a homeowner, she takes pride in decorating her house to reflect her personal style.
She rearranged the furniture in the living room to create more open space for socializing during her house-warming party.
Do this with all the vocabulary and, over time, this will help improve all your English skills – reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Discussion Questions
How do you think you would feel if you moved into a new house and discovered an unpleasant smell like Sarah did?
What do you think Sarah’s motivation was for not accepting her father’s help with decorating the house?
If you were in Sarah’s situation, would you have accepted your father’s help, or would you have done it all by yourself like she did?
Have you ever had to deal with an unpleasant smell in your home? How did you handle it?
How important is the ambiance and smell of a living space to you?
What’s the most unusual or unpleasant smell you’ve ever encountered in your life?
If you had a mysterious bad smell in your house, how would you try to find the source?
What do you think the smell in the smaller back room might have been caused by, aside from the dead bodies?
If you were in Sarah’s position, would you have suspected that something more sinister was causing the smell, or would you also have assumed it was a dead animal?
How do you think the story might have been different if Sarah had called for professional help instead of trying to fix the issue herself?
How might this discovery impact Sarah’s perception of her new home and her sense of safety?
How would you react if you discovered a shocking and terrifying secret like Sarah did?
What do you think happened to the people whose bodies were found under the floorboards?
If you were Sarah, would you have immediately contacted the authorities after making the discovery, or would you have hesitated?
How would you describe the emotions and feelings Sarah might be experiencing at the moment she found the bodies?
If you had to choose between investigating the source of a terrible smell on your own or seeking professional help, what would you do, and why?
How might this unsettling discovery affect Sarah’s life and her relationship with her new house?
Do you think Sarah should have been more cautious before trying to remove the floorboards, or do you think her actions were justified?
How might the presence of the bodies change the atmosphere and mood of the story?
If you were to continue the story from where it left off, what do you think might happen next, and how would Sarah’s life unfold?
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