‘Harsh.’ He grabbed a Santa hat she’d left on the table and threw it playfully at her. ‘Night, sis.’ He walked to the door and paused. ‘And merry Christmas.’
‘You too.’
Lottie was about to put away the glasses when she realised what Zach had forgotten. She sighed – the glasses could wait. She pulled on the Santa hat and went to do her last job of the day – or the first one of Christmas Day, depending on what way you looked at it.
Emily had finally got her chance to go to the bathroom, but now she wasn’t sure she wanted to do the test any more. It would change everything, and Emily didn’t want her life to change. Things with Zach had been going really well. He’d wanted to take things slowly at the beginning, and that suited her. Their relationship had grown steadilyand she was happy. Work was going brilliantly, she was on track for promotion, and for the first time there was an opportunity to earn more than her sister. This was something she’d been striving for, and for so long it had eluded her – the opportunity to be better than her sister at something. She was on the cusp of winning.
The blue room was in darkness because Jessie was asleep, so Emily felt her way around and gathered up her washbag and night things. She wasn’t a fan of the dark. She wasn’t scared of it, she just wasn’t used to it – she lived in a town full of streetlights. Out of the window, she noticed it was pitch black – no light pollution at all. She pulled the curtains tightly closed – talk of ghosts earlier had made her a bit jumpy. The only sound was Jessie’s steady breathing.
‘Your turn,’ whispered Zach, returning from his night-time routine.
Emily went to the bathroom. She hurried about washing her face and brushing her teeth to buy herself a little time. She didn’t want Zach wondering why she was taking so long. She unwrapped the pregnancy test and speed read the instructions – it was pretty straightforward.
She slumped against the wall. This wasn’t how she’d expected this moment to be. She’d thought that one day in her future she’d have a family. When she was ready. When she was at the peak of her career, and comfortably ahead of her sister. But was that ever going to happen? Each time she got close to beating her sister, something happened. Either her chances were derailed or her sister got some accolade. Emily was tired. Tired of the endless battle, the constantly moving goal posts. She studied the tester kit. If she was pregnant, that was it – the end of the race. Her sister was going to zoom into the lead and stay there.
Emily hadn’t expected this. She wasn’t a thoughtless teenager, she was a responsible adult who had taken precautions. A baby did not feature in her plans right now.
She closed her eyes and turned the little box over in her hand. If this was it – the moment she’d find out she and Zach were going to be parents – then shouldn’t he be here too?
Zach was already in bed when Emily returned from the bathroom, so she scooted in next to him. She stared into the darkness and pondered what to do.
‘Zach?’
‘Hmmm.’ He sounded sleepy.
She didn’t know what to say. ‘It’s okay. Forget it.’ She wriggled under the covers.
‘Is something worrying you?’ he asked. She was impressed by his perceptiveness. This could be the opportunity she’d hoped for, a chance to share the situation with him. ‘Because you know the whole ghost thing is a legend. None of us have seen it. Well … apart from that time Granddad swore blind someone tapped him on the shoulder when he was in the loft.’
‘Right, yeah, the ghost,’ said Emily, blinking into the darkness and failing to see much at all.
‘There was also the shadow that Nana saw on quite a few occasions, but we put it down to her cataracts. And the time the bathroom door slammed twice but no windows were open. But, you know – an old house like this makes odd noises.’
‘Okay,’ said Emily, beginning to feel not very reassured at all. ‘Anything else?’
Zach leaned in closer and she could make out hisfeatures. ‘You know that sensation that someone’s watching you?’ Emily nodded. ‘I get that here a lot but when I look there’s no-one there.’
Emily shuddered. ‘Do you think there’s a ghost?’
‘Who knows? Night,’ he said, placing a kiss on her cheek before turning over.
Emily pulled the covers up a little higher, her mind now fully occupied by the ghost stories. She gave herself a mental shake: there were no such things as ghosts. At least it had taken her mind off the pregnancy test for a while. She turned over to face the door, shut her eyes and listened to the rhythmic sound of Zach’s breathing. She’d just started to drift off to sleep when she heard a creak. It was faint but it made her eyes snap open. Darkness swathed the room. A flicker of dim light appeared fleetingly at the bottom of the door. Emily froze. She watched shadows moving in the hallway; heard another creak. Her breath caught in her throat. The light faded.
‘Zach,’ she whispered. There was no response. She stared at the bottom of the door for a moment until her attention was pulled further up, where the handle was slowly turning. Her heart started to race; she could barely breathe. The door gradually opened. A shadowy figure loomed in the doorway. Bright red demon eyes flashed, slightly out of sync. Emily screamed.
‘Em!’ Zach shot upright.
‘Daddy!’ came the sleepy cry from Jessie.
Someone flicked on the light. Emily stopped screaming. She blinked at the figure in the doorway. Lottie was standing there wearing a Santa hat and her flashing Christmas earrings – she looked quite cross. Emily was confused. Why was she creeping into their bedroom?
‘I didn’t mean to startle you,’ said Lottie, holding something behind her back.
Zach hopped out of bed and went to Jessie. ‘It’s just Lottie saying goodnight. Come on you, back to sleep.’ Jessie didn’t need telling twice; she slumped back onto her pillow and closed her eyes. Zach turned back to Emily and gave her the same cross look that Lottie was wearing.
Why did she feel like she was the crazy one? ‘I’m sorry. I thought it was the ghost.’
Lottie held up a bulging Christmas stocking and passed it to Zach, who silently placed it at the foot of the bed, mouthing ‘thank you’ to Lottie. Realisation dawned on Emily. She felt like a prize idiot.
