It was the first night I ever spent in my grandmother's cottage her death a month . I was all alone because my parents were visiting some friends. Outside, the was howling and I could the sound of distant and every so often the sky would light up with a flash of . I wasn't to the strange sounds of the country or to in an unfamiliar house alone. So as I made my way up to the cold, unwelcoming bedroom, I felt very lonely and a little .

Eventually I managed to asleep, but sometime the night, I suddenly woke . I lay still for a , trying to think what disturbed me. Then I it! A strange, tapping , coming from the window. Trembling with , I slowly towards it. My heart was beating fast and my mouth was dry that I couldn't . When I the curtains my face turned and I broke out in a cold sweat. There outside was a dark, shadowy shape pressed up against the . Then I gave a huge of relief as I it was only the branch of a . My imagination playing tricks on me! Quickly I raced back to and lay under the blankets, from the cold, and the .

It was just at that that I the sound of a purring peacefully. Feeling safer, I stretched out my to stroke it. But as my hand reached the place I could feel its weight, I felt ! There was no ! It was then, just before I , that I realised why people always said that grandmother's cottage was .