One dark night

The sound of the back door slamming made Maisie jump. She had been lost in thought looking at all the packing cases. How easily a life could be packed up and labelled, yet how hard it was to do. She went to the kitchen to see if it was the removal men who had come back. Her son was standing on a crate and pushing a broom along the top of the cupboards.

' I didn't know you were still here Dan. You'd better be off, it looks like snow. Were you looking for something ?'

' Do you remember that baseball bat that grandpa brought me back from Boston? I can't find it anywhere.'

Maisie giggled. 'Of course I do, he was so proud of it. It used to be in the passage next to his old boots. Do you remember when those drunken lads came up from the town looking for trouble and he bashed it against the front door yelling at them, and how they ran off so scared thinking there was a whole army in here? You painted a scary face on it.'

Dan and Maisie laughed at the memory. Dan got off the crate and put his arm round his mother.

'He was never scared of anything Grandpa.'
There was a catch in his voice.
' That's why I wanted the baseball bat, I thought it would be a sort of talisman.'

Maisie hugged him, 'I'll have another look before I leave, you'd better be off now, Fiona will be waiting for you. Please thank her for the invitation for lunch tomorrow.'

They walked to the front door and Dan picked up his coat. His footsteps echoed around the empty house.

'Are you sure you'll be alright here on your own? The signal here is terrible and the landline has been cut off. It's blowing up a storm too.'

'I'll be fine Dan. Do you remember when we first came to live here? What funny noises all night long.  At least we had Rufus then. Dogs are supposed to see ghosts and so I knew that if he was sleeping peacefully there were none around.'

Dan laughed, 'We thought we were so lucky moving to this house, let's hope the new family will be as happy as we were.'

He stopped and put his hand on Maisie's arm.

'Sorry mum, that was tactless, but we were happy, we really were, never have doubts about that.'

Maisie had turned away to hide her tears, but when she turned back her face was lit up with her usual cheerful grin.

''Thanks for saying that Dan, I tried to be a good daughter, wife and mother, but life has surprises for us all.'

As Dan's car disappeared down the drive Maisie shivered and went inside suddenly aware of the cold.

It was dark and she saw a few snowflakes flutter towards her. The wind was getting up and the trees looked stark and gloomy. She checked all the doors were locked and went upstairs to bed. The removal men would be along first thing and she wanted to be ready for them.

Dan had tried to persuade her to go and stay with him and Fiona but she had been adamant. She wanted one last night in the house that she had loved so much, where she  had been so happy bringing up Dan. She'd always thought Paul was happy too. Maybe he was until he met Annie. She felt sick when she thought of them together.

Everything seemed to go wrong at once. Dan left home, her parents grew old and died and her husband went off with a younger woman. All her friends were telling her to move on and get on with her life, turn the page and walk on. Maisie couldn't see her life like that. She saw it as a rich mosaic, some of the pieces were fragile and chipped, some grey and dull but others were bright and shiny, together it was her life and precious.

Maisie turned out the lights and stood at the window. On nights like this her mother had liked telling spooky stories, her favourite one being, 'One dark night a band of robbers sat round a camp fire and the leader said 'Simon stand up and tell us a story.'

It was a shaggy dog story and her mother loved the effect it had on Maisie making her giggle and squirm with fright at the same time.

As Maisie snuggled down in the sleeping bag on the makeshift bed that she'd prepared she heard a crash from downstairs. Her heart thumped loudly and she felt her blood go cold. Fear flooded through her as she realized just how isolated she was. Her neighbours were away for Christmas and the lane was dark and quiet. The removal men had been working all day and anyone could have seen that the house was empty.


The security lights outside went on lighting up the room. Maisie breathed slowly and deliberately to try and stay calm. Paul had always shrugged and gone back to sleep when the outside lights came on convinced it was just a cat or a fox trotting by, but she was on her own now and rigid with fear. She crept to the window on all fours and peered outside being careful not to be seen. The snow was falling thicker now. Her heart beat faster as she heard voices. She grappled for her phone and felt sick with fright as she saw the blank screen.

There was a crash of glass and a heavy tread, then muffled voices.

Maisie thought desperately for somewhere to hide. There was no furniture left in the bedroom, just the packing cases and crates. She tried to hold her breath as she heard the bottom stair creak and tried to remember all the tips she could from scary films. Should she pretend to be asleep or plead for mercy?

The bedroom door was being pushed open, dragging on the thick carpet. Maisie bit hard on her pillow to stop herself  from screaming. Just as she saw a foot come in the door there was a noise like thunder, a roar and then swearing and shouting. Something very hard was being thrown against the wall and there was a cry of pain, then the footsteps were running away and there was a thud, then silence.

Then came the noise of a car screeching into the drive and she became aware of the comforting sight of a flashing blue light.

Now the noise of someone running upstairs was a relief and she started to sob. A man in uniform came towards her and held out his hand. Shaking all over she tried to grasp it.

The policeman smiled at her.

'You're safe now. We came as soon as we got the call, strange, because there's no signal at all. Lucky that you had the baseball bat, that scared the heck out of them, it'll take them awhile to get rid of those bumps and bruises. We've been after those two for ages. At last we'r caught them red-handed.'

For the first time Maisie noticed the policeman was holding the baseball bat from Boston, with surprise she thought the scary face had gone and now seemed like it was smiling at her.

She took the policeman's hand and let him lead her to the waiting car, wrap her in a blanket and hand her a cup of something hot and strong.

It was then that she noticed in the snow, what looked like the footprints of her father's old boots and as she leaned back in the seat her tears began to flow mixing with the snowflakes that had settled on her hair.