Like a Ninja!

So it's 1:30am and my mission is set. Get in, disable the device, get out, as quick as possible, and silently. I gripped the door handle and listened in to hear for any sounds of movement. Still, as it should be at this time of night. I turned the handle slowly, and used my other handle to push on the door. It took a bit of force to upon and a single loud bump was heard, echoing through the house. I winced, but continued on – it couldn't be helped. I held my breath as I waited for the inevitable creak that came with the door that I knew so well. I eased the door through to limit the noise and slipped in when there was enough room. I crept slowly through the room lit only by hallway lights, which were casting their burning glow in streaks around the room's sleeping resident, but without disturbing him. I looked around myself to determine where everything was. I looked to my left and saw the device in question – I moved towards it. I knew there would have to be a switch, or button, hidden or obvious, that would disable it. To press the wrong one, or disturb it in any other way though, would set it off. It took me a couple of seconds to find the switch, it was right at the back of the device, with symbols on it that could literally mean anything. One side of the switch was a picture of wavy lines. The other side was a cartoon figure yelling at a circle. I had no idea what either of those meant, as far as I knew they were not any code I recognised in the world. The switch was currently facing towards the wavy lines, so by process of elimination I deducted that the other must be right. My fingers edged near the switch, just a simple flick and all the badness goes away, and I escape off into the night. I gripped the switch and began to edge it across. It started to give a little and I knew I must do this quickly. But, I stopped myself and just in time. Looking at the picture of the cartoon figure yelling at the circle, I couldn't get it out of my head that it was a decoy – if I was using my brain I would suggest that code meant something involving noise, and that was the last thing I wanted. I took my hand off the switch again and held my lip instead, in thoughtful contemplation. There was foul play afoot.

I glanced around me in the interim and saw my second objective lying on the floor. “Get the bottle!” I heard my mission commander calling out from the depths of my memory. And there it was, discarded on the ground in the middle of the floor like an unloved toy. It seemed like such an easy grab, so instead of thinking. I went for it. I rushed across the room silently and snatched the tiny bottle from the ground. As I did so, I realised that my foot was resting upon something – when I looked down, dread filled my bones. Below my foot was a green mat, only thirty centimetres in diameter, but which held in it the very thing that would bring my mission to an unsuccessful and messy end. It was okay as I stood on it, but I knew as soon as I released pressure, that's when all hell would break loose. I tried, quick, to think what to do, looked about myself, saw a box full of building blocks on the ground. With my foot still on the mat, I bent down and dragged the box over. I eased my foot off the mat as I began replacing it with the box. “The Cow goes...” came the shrill sounds of the apparatus, but I quickly shut it up by putting the full weight of the box on top of it. I stepped back and waited. Success! I moved back quickly to the device and considered it again. There had to be a trick to it. I thought hard. Suddenly I remembered there was a manual for it still in this very room. It was in the cupboard to my left, so I grabbed the handle and gave it similar treatment as the door at the front, edging it slowly open, pulling carefully past the inevitable squeky-pop sound it makes when it comes away from the catch. It made it and I looked back at the boy – all good, still asleep. I looked back into the cupboard and instantly saw the manual. It was sitting below a strange-looking teddy bear that I had encountered the day before, during reconnaissance. I remember hearing him speaking to himself, and then when I had opened the cupboard door, he had instantly become quiet. ”STAR!” I was sure I had heard him say back then, but I didn't know what it meant. Obviously, he was some sort of guard. He seemed to be sleeping at the moment, but I had the feeling that this could easily be a ruse and disrupting him, even slightly, could be disastrous. I put my hand on him firmly enough to keep him still, but not so tight that I squeezed him, because god knows what could happen then. I slid the manual out from underneath and took my hand off the bear. “STA.....” he began to shout and I quickly shut the door, using his noise to hid the rough sound of the catch again, before hearing him finish his statement, muffled now behind the door. I looked back at the boy – still asleep – breathed a sigh of relief.

I turned the pages of the manual quickly – looking for how to turn off this damned toy, from which I had heard before entering the room, randomly shouting quotes into thin air at nobody, as if attempting to wake the boy. There – I found it! The switch, that which I was about to press before, had a third setting in the middle of the other two – the devious bastards! Had I turned it to the shouting cartoon figure and the circle it would have gone into DEMO mode, which would mean five minutes on unstoppable noise – I thanked my lucky stars for common sense.

I moved over to the device, carefully edged the switch over, inch by inch, into the middle of the two undecipherable icons. When it was done, there was nothing – I supposed that no sign was a good one and decided to get out while I could.

Another quick glance at the sleeping boy, whom had spun while I wasn't looking but was apparently still asleep. There's no telling the fear I felt when I had seen he had moved, but it was all ok. I moved fast, my loud adult footsteps making slapping noises on the carpet (I didn't realise it was possible), slipped back through the doorway, creaked the door closed, squeaked the knob, both very noisily and stood back, watiting.

I don't really know, and perhaps I never will, what happened behind that door at that point. But all at once I heard an almighty crash, like lego blocks tipping over and scattering on to the ground, followed by all these other sounds: BANG, BRRRRR, CRASH, “NUMBER ONE!”, DING DING DING, “HELLO SAILOR”, POP GOES THE WEASEL, ANOTHER CRASH, “THE COW GOES..” “STARRRR!!!!!!!” And then one last bang! I exhaled. And waited. Nothing. Nothing at all. I turned and started back towards the bedroom, an excited and silent little dance down the hall, and then sleep. Although my methods may be a little unorthodox, I got the job done!