But none of these details mattered, and my racing heartbeat didn’t matter, because I was merely having a panic attack and my brain was compensating for the lack of a solid reason for said panic attack by configuring a scary image. Well, I would deal with this right now. Once, I had turned to the chest of drawers when it called me a slut and told it to shut up. And it did. It never spoke again. So I squeezed my eyes closed and stood there with my hands making fists and repeated my mantra.

‘You are not there,’ I hissed. ‘You are not there. You are a figment of my imagination. When I open my eyes you will be gone.’

I opened my eyes.

But she was right there, just inches from my face. I staggered backwards, gasping, terror wringing all the air from my lungs. She was more creature than human. Her skin was purple and mottled, her hair was covered in slimy leaves and weeds, and I could see the black bodies of beetles wriggling in the tangles. Her teeth were black, piranha-like fangs in grey gums. But worst of all were her eyes – they were black and bulbous as a frog’s, so dark they looked like holes.

I fell to the ground, shaking and sobbing. When I looked up the light was on, and the woman was gone. I was curled up in the foetal position and trembling all over, the sight of that horrible face emblazoned on my mind. Someone said ‘Sophie’ and I gave a loud shriek, jerking away from the hand that was stretched out to me. But then I saw a flash of blonde hair, and a small, worried face.

It was Gaia, and she was bent over me, asking if I was all right.

I tried to be adult but right then I was mired in deepest primal terror, so instead of dusting myself off with a beaming Mary Poppins smile and assuring my charge that I was quite fine, darling, and let us have some milk and cookies before bedtime, I pressed my face into my hands and sobbed my heart out.

Gaia wrapped her arms around me and kissed my head.

‘It’s OK,’ Gaia whispered. ‘I saw her too.’

   23   

SOMEONE ELSE KNOWS

Now

I took Gaia straight up to my bed. I knew there was no way of getting her to sleep on her own after what had just happened, and to be honest, I didn’t want to sleep alone. I tried to wake Coco, but she was fast asleep and determined to remain that way, so I turned on the video baby camera and brought the monitor into my room. Then I locked the door and barricaded it with the chest of drawers.