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disturbed me. I jolted awake, not sure what had frayed every nerve ending in my body. All I could hear was my heart pounding. My hands gripped the edge of the duvet as my eyes were instinctively drawn towards the door. Every muscle seemed to contract as I saw the silhouette against the landing wall. It was definitely the man again, and he looked taller,broader, stronger than the night before. Slowly he edged into my room and I watched, virtually paralysed, as the door closed behind him. When that last smidgeon of light was snatched away I thought that I might die from fright. My lungs felt completely solid. I could barely breathe in or out. For a few seconds I couldn’t see the man at all while my eyes struggled to adjust. But I knew that he was there, shifting the particles of darkness, moving stealthily towards me.
    I pulled the duvet up under my chin. It was a warmish night but I felt cold, so cold. My joints were locked. I’d never be able to move fast enough to get away from him and there was no point crying out. Mum and Gran were too far away. No one would hear. The man could smother me before a feeble sound had barely left my mouth. He was getting closer and closer. I was trapped.

S URPRISE
    C RASH! Something smashed on the floorboards. “Damn! Sorry about that.”
    His voice was deep and vaguely familiar. Now my entire being was like a quivering mass of badly set crème caramel. And people say the countryside is safe, I thought. Only my second night here and I’m about to be murdered in my bed.
    â€œLaura, can you switch the light on? I can’t see where I’m going.”
    Oh my God! He knew my name. How petrifying was that? What was it I’d read about the majority of crimes being committed by someone known to the victim? Was it a person from the village or one of the men who worked for Uncle Pete on the farm?
    â€œW-what do you want?” How I managed those words I had no idea.
    â€œI want to talk to you.”
    Yeah right! I thought. That’s why people break into fourteen-year-old girls’ bedrooms in the middle of the night, just to talk.
    â€œPlease, Laura,” he repeated, “switch the blessed light on. I’m meant to be able to see in the dark but this is all a bit new to me and quite frankly everything’s a bit of a blur.”
    He certainly didn’t sound like your average homicidal maniac. In fact, I was beginning to think that he sounded a bit nervous, which was unexpected. After all, he had the upper hand. I bit my lip hard and reached for the lamp. As the light lit up the room I blinked, shielding my eyes for a second. I didn’t see him straight away. The first thing I saw as I scanned the room was my china goose, a present from Liberty, smashed to smithereens on the floorboards.
    â€œI hope it wasn’t too precious. I don’t think it can be glued.”
    I looked in the direction of the voice and there he was, standing in front of the dressing table.
    â€œSurprise!” he said, throwing his arms up and out to the side and nearly sending a little bluevase flying through the air. Then, “Oops!” as he cupped his hands around it in the nick of time.
    I actually rubbed my eyes. They do that in films and I always thought it was over the top, but I realised that when you’ve got something so unexpected, so unbelievable in front of you, it’s a natural reaction.
    He moved towards me. I recoiled.
    â€œUh oh,” he sighed. “You’re upset. I thought this might happen. I did wonder if I should have made a more gradual entrance, taken a few weeks rather than a few hours, but at the end of the day, that’s not really my style. I’m too impatient for that softly, softly approach. I did try to break you in gently with a semi-appearance last night but it obviously didn’t work. You look petrified, which is not what I wanted at all.”
    I couldn’t answer him, couldn’t get my head around