A Story on a Stranger at the Door: Model Answer for School Exams
Quick answer: An original 180-word exam story about a stranger at the door on a stormy night in Kodaikanal, with notes on why it scores and three other safe ways to take the topic.
A stranger-at-the-door story lives on one hesitation: do we open it. Give the family a reason to be cautious, give one member a reason to overrule the caution, and let the stranger turn out to be someone whose arrival matters to the household later. The stranger must never be a danger; boards want suspense, not threat. The model below is about 180 words and puts a soaked woman on a doorstep in Kodaikanal during a storm.
Students often make the stranger a thief or a ghost, and then have to resolve a crime or a haunting in twenty words. A stranger who needs a phone is easier to write and usually scores better, because the story becomes about the family's choice.
The task
Typical wording: 'Write a story in 150 to 200 words with the title A Stranger at the Door.' Or an opening line: 'There was a knock at the door, and nobody in the house knew who it could be.' Decide who the stranger is and what they need before the first sentence; the knock is easy, the reason is the plot.
Model answer
The Knock. The storm had taken the power at eight, and by nine the whole of the Kodaikanal hillside was dark except for the candles in the Iyer house. That was when the knocking started. Arjun's father looked at his mother. Nobody they knew would be out on a night like this.
Through the window they could see a woman in a raincoat, her hair flat with water, holding up a phone with a black screen. 'My car is in the ditch by the church,' she called. 'I only need to ring someone.' Arjun's father shook his head slightly. His mother opened the door.
The woman's name was Dr Radhika Nair. She had been driving up from Madurai to take over the government clinic in the morning, and had come two hours too early for the town to know her. She dried her hair by the stove and used their landline, and Arjun's grandmother made her drink two cups of tea.
Three weeks later, when the grandmother's chest went bad at night, it was Dr Nair who came up the hill in the rain, and she did not knock. She already knew the door would be open.
Why it earns marks
Against the three heads:
Three other ways to take the same topic
Each keeps the stranger safe and the family's choice central.
What writers can take from this
- Give the family a reason to hesitate and one person a reason to open.
- The stranger needs something small and specific.
- Suspense from the dark and the unknown, never from threat.
- Let the stranger matter later in one short scene.
- One physical detail for the stranger: wet hair, a dead phone, a hat held in both hands.
- Echo the door or the knock in the last line.
Try it yourself
Write a 180-word story in which the family decides not to open the door, and the story is about what that decision costs them the next morning. Keep the stranger entirely harmless.
Questions
What is the word limit for a stranger at the door story?
Whatever the question states. CBSE Class 9 sets 100 to 120 words; school papers usually 150 to 200; ICSE 300 to 350. Cut the doctor's background paragraph to bring the model to 120.
Can I make the stranger dangerous?
Better not, in a school exam. A dangerous stranger forces you to resolve a crime in your last paragraph, which almost always ends in an implausible rescue. A stranger who needs help gives the family a choice, and choices earn content marks.
Does this story need a moral?
Only if asked. If it is, one line will do: 'An open door on a hard night is remembered.' Do not add it otherwise.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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