: Looking for a better word than "Yikes" I'm trying to find the right word to use in a (serious) comic I'm writing. The character is an eighteen year old American girl, talking to some older

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While I think the answers provided here have some good input, I would instead focus on your actual character and use the situation for the reader to get to know her better.

Show character!

Make her unique - Make her use phrases that others don't (could be 'yikes', or 'holy!')
Show how she's self-aware, concerning the situation she's in, with older people...

If I were to write such a scene, my character would most likely use a swear-word such as "Shit!" or even "fuck!" along with some appropriate physical movement that signals being startled.
After the character's initial reaction, some characters would then go on to first apologize to the elderly for the use of foul language, and then ask "what the hell" that person was doing there / why they burst in, or tell them that they scared the "crap" out of them...

To me, this shows character, and a scene like this is an obvious chance to do just that.

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From the context this person is entering without knocking or intentionally playing a joke? In this case she is startled. For that I like these: Eeep! Ooph!, Fuuhh!

For something truly frightening (like something actually scary like her brother with a bloody mask on): maybe turn the word she’s saying into a sound [“I’m juuUUUEEEAAAHHH!!],

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In modern teenage parlance, and assuming you actually do need to provide an utterance that just comes out unbidden, you could try d'oh:

[Merriam-Webster]
—used to express sudden recognition of a foolish blunder or an ironic turn of events

It's the second part of that definition that applies here: "an ironic turn of events." In other words, "What? I can't believe it's them. That's typical …"

Any teenager, especially any teenager who's seen The Simpsons, will be familiar with this:

"D'oh!"

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Why have her say anything at all?

A large part of human communication is also based on body language. Maybe make her just stop mid-sentence and show a clear expression of alarm. Big exclamation marks (!!!) can come in handy for this sort of thing in a comic format depending on art style. You don't need her really say anything for it to be clear that there is an issue.

Alternatively, you could have her say something like, "Oh God..." or a curse word depending on the audience.

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