Sign up for Mumsnet's weekly talk round up in which our very own Morningpaper rakes over the highs, lows and just plain weird bits from Mumsnet Talk. So if you worry that you always miss the juicy bits or if you'd like to see MP's own unique take on them, sign up now and we'll add you to the mailing list. Best, Mumsnet Towers.
There once was a woman who lived in a big city. Her name was Amanda. She was beautiful and had gorgeous clothes. She had a lovely Victorian 5 bed with nooks and crannies and original fittings.
She had inherited the house from her rich auntie Luisa. It was still full of her Auntie's things and she loved nothing more on a Sunday, her only really free day as she worked so hard, than to have a root around Luisa's things.
This particular Sunday she decided to go up into the attic.
The attic was at the top of a long narrow staircase.
She hadn't been up to the attic since she was a child. Then it had been a warm, sunny place with piles of old boxes and newspapers.
So she was looking forward to going up.
She went into the kitchen and made a cup of coffee, lots of milk, no sugar and started up the stairs.
The door to the attic was smaller than the rest of the doors in the house. Even as a young child she had to duck to go through. Now at the age of 28 she had to get down on her hands and knees and crawl through.
The key to the door was smaller than a normal key; just like the door was smaller than a normal door. It was on a long chain that her auntie used to wear around her neck. As she pulled it out of her pocket she thought she caught the faint smell of the perfume her aunt used to wear. She shrugged it off and put the key in the hole.
It went in smoothly as though the lock was recently oiled. She turned the key and pushed open the door.
The room was as large as she remembered. Murky light seeped through dust and grime into the room from one of the windows. The other leaked a fragile glow from behind a wardrobe.
She reached for the light switch and was quite suprised when the bulb actually worked.
She took a sip of her coffee and spat out a cold, dusty mouthful. How did it get so cold so quickly? She put he cup down on an upturned crate and had a good look around.
Ah there was her nan's old rocking chair. Covered by the old blanket she used to wear over her knees. She missed her nan. She died too young. She removed the blanket and coughed again from the dust. She sat down and started to rock.
Tired of life. Tired of working. Tired of being tired.
As Amanda rocked, her mind cast back to the days where she was a child. All those fun times. All those adventures.
Suddenly, a noise disturbed her reverie. It was a scratching, crawling noise. Like something was forcing its way painfully across the rough floorboards….
She rocked herself gently in the chair and looked around. It was all boxes and trunks and bits of bric a brac and furniture. Covered in dust. Nothing too remarkable.
Yes. It was her name and upon closer inspection it was most definitely traced with a finger. But no one had been up here for quite a long time. Her aunt had died over 2 years ago and Amanda had only been living here for the past 2 months. None of her visitors had ever come up to the attic.
She used the sleeve of her old brown jumper to wipe the mirror. There were dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't really slept well since she moved in. Something seemed to always wake her in the middle of the night and she had an awful time falling asleep again.
She sighed and her breath steamed the mirror.
And as she watched an invisible finger starting tracing letters in her breath.
Every hair on her body stood on end and she found herself unable to move, even breathe as she read...
You must not...
There was an urgent knocking on the front door and the writing stopped. The last letter trailed off as if the finger had been dragged across the mirror.
Amanda found she could breathe again but she was afraid to turn around. She was certain there was someone standing just behind her ready to grab her. She imagined all manner of creature, ghost and vampire. She had never been so afraid in her life.
Whoever was at the front door continued banging and it finally broke the spell of fear that was upon her. She turned quickly and crouched into a defensive posture.
The room was empty behind her.
She dashed to the attic door and crawled through as fast as she possibly could and slammed the door behind her. Her heart was pounding and her skin felt like ice.
She raced down the stairs and opened the door, desperate to not be alone.
She led him into the kitchen. It was her favorite room of the house. The one where she felt most comfortable. When she had come to Auntie Luisa's as a child she always sat in the kitchen next to the stove and helped Luisa cook and bake. Luisa had been a great cook.
Amanda learned how to cook from her but she didn't put it to much use. Normally she was so busy she ate at the office or ordered takeaways. All of Luisa's pots and pans and cooking gear hung round the kitchen and cluttered the many shelves as if in mourning.
There was a small cozy wooden table under a large window. She gestured at Philip to sit while she made some coffee.
It was late October but the weather had been mild. Luisa had central heating put in years ago but Amanda liked turning on the stove nonetheless. There was something comforting about the heat of it.
She stood over the cooker rubbing her hands but even it seemed unable to remove her chill.
"So have you settled into the house okay?" Philip asked from behind her.
She turned and smiled. She didn't want him to think she was a complete lunatic.
"Yes, it's great. I have such fond memories of this place. I've been really busy at work on a project so I haven't had too much time to unpack all my own things and make room for them" She gestured at a pile of boxes in the corner of the kitchen. She'd taken out the essentials like her coffee machine but there was still loads of unpacking to do here and in every room.
"So you're going to stay then? Not planning on selling?" he asked and his voice was tinged with something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
"No. Not a hope. I love it here." or so she had. Now she wasn't so sure. Now she was actually quite keen on getting out right this minute. "I was in this tiny flat on the NorthSide for ages. It was a great complex but so expensive."
"Yeah, the North side is that," he said.
"Have you lived in the neighborhood long?" she asked him. As a child she would play with all the neighborhood kids when she visited and would have remembered him.
"No. I just bought the house a year or so ago. After I split with my wife."
She handed him a cup of hot coffee and put out some milk and sugar and bisquits. Just like her Aunt would have.
She took a good look at him over the rim of her cup as he added some milk to his.
Now that her heart had stopped pounding she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed how good-looking he was. He had thick dark hair and piercing blue eyes and even in jeans and a sweatshirt she could see he was very fit.
He looked up at her suddenly and caught her eye. She blushed and looked away, reaching to offer him a bisquit.
He smiled and said, "Do you need any help with anything around the house? I'm a carpenter and can generally hold a paint brush."
Well she most certainly could use a hand. She wasn't making much of a dent in settling into the house and it did need all sorts of work. She was dying to rip up the old carpets in all the rooms and have a look at the floorboards underneath.
If she decided to stay. She shivered again.
"You okay?" He reached out a hand and put it gently on her arm. "You look really pale."
"Sorry. Just a bit tired I guess. Long week," she tried to smile and found it much easier when she looked into his eyes.
Amanada could barely hear the phone ring over the sound of the sander. She rushed to grab it off the table before it went to voicemail. It was her best friend Susan.
"Right, well these are the choices: Blow up everything in sight, chop up everything in sight or fuck everything in sight and then chop it up. What are you in the mood for?"
"Listen," Amanda sighed, "You pick it out. Just make sure it's not something that will make me throw up my curry. And bring more wine!"
"Gotcha. See you at 8 then. Oh wait," she paused and Amanda could almost hear her giggling, "Will gorgeous still be there cause I just want to flop around in sweats and eat lots of bad things and get fat."
"No, I'd say he'd be gone by then," she replied and got a big sigh in return.
"Ah well, that's alright then."
Amanda smiled. Susan had developed quite a thing for Philip. Well frankly, so had she.
She walked back inside. The sander was turned off and Philip stood in the kitchen doorway. His industrial dust mask dangled around his neck and he was downing a litre bottle of water.
He was sweaty and covered in sawdust but his piercing eyes just went right through her. Over the past few weeks they had gotten to be friends. He spent a couple of weekends helping her sort through Luisa's things, rip up carpets, even sorted an auctioneer out for her. Last week she had given him a key so that he could work on the floors while she was at work.
She still hadn't ventured back up into the attic. Each night when she went to bed she lay barely breathing, listening for the sound of something walking or worse yet, dragging up in the attic above her bedroom. But she never heard anything. Not even a creak. When the hot water clocked on in the morning the sound of the rattling pipes woke her with a start and sometimes even a scream.
She slept each night with the hall light on and her bedroom door looked. She still woke in the middle of the night but now it took her forever to go back to sleep. She was in a built up area but it was very quiet in the middle of the night. Above the pounding of her heart she strained to hear anything moving about.
But there was never anything.
She thought about asking Philip to have a look around up there with her.
Philip smiled at her and her heart did a little flip.
"How's it going?" she asked as she smiled back.
"Well they're not too bad. By the time I'm done with them they'll glow," he replied, running his hands through his hair.
She'd had such dreadful luck with men all her life. It had been months since she'd even gone on a date. Too much time and effort these days. She had more than her fair share of attention but she just hadn't been interested in anyone in ages it seemed.
"They look fantastic already," she said and it was true, the house was old but it had charm and character and not the mouldy, falling apart kind either. It just needed a bit of tlc.
"What are you doing this weekend Philip?" she asked "Anything fun?"
"You mean besides varnishing your floors?" he grinned and her heart skipped again. His eyes stared straight into hers, and she was moementarily speechless.
Finally she turned and worked up the courage to ask him.
"Well if you're not busy tomorrow night I thought I might take you out for dinner... As a thank you," she hastily added.
"You're already paying me quite a bit of money Amanda," he said and the way he said her name, a murmur almost as if he were whispering in her ear sent another shiver through her. But this one she liked.
"Oh, I know, but you've helped me with so many other things, and well, I'd just like to..."
"Yes," he murmured from right behind her. He must have moved across the room while her back was turned. "But only if I can take you out."
She could feel the heat of him. He wasn't touching her but if she leaned back just that little bit she would be right up against him.
She stood at the kitchen sink in indecision. She looked out the window into the back garden. Luisa had such a green thumb and she had managed not to kill everything off yet.
She knew if she turned to him now she would just fall into his arms and she wasn't sure that's what she wanted. It was late in the day and the night was drawing in, turning the window into a mirror. His eyes were intense but he was smiling.
"Amanda," he whipsered and she felt herself starting to turn....
She sat shivering on the sofa. It was covered with a plastic sheet to protect it from the dust which was now all over her but she didn't even notice. Philip had put on a fire and it was roaring away in the fireplace.
"Hey. Are you okay?" he asked as he sat down next to her. He sounded genuinely concerned.
She nodded but couldn't quite steady her voice enough to speak just yet.
"Let me get you some water," he said.
"No," she implored and clutched his arm as he got up. She absolutely did not want to be alone, even for a minute.
"Okay. It's okay," he murmured and put his arms around her.
She scrunched up against him, shivering despite the fire. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes; they both just looked at the fire.
"I'm sorry. I must seem like a complete lunatic," she finally said.
"Yeah, well, I like lunatics," he smiled. "What happened? You look like you'd seen a ghost."
She hesitated. She knew it was actually complete lunacy to tell him what she saw. She was doubting her own sanity. What if she told him and they went back in the kitchen and there was no trace of the phantom writing on the window? No. She couldn't possibly tell him.
"I just thought I saw something or someone out in the back. It scared the life out of me," she made a half-hearted attempt at laughing.
"Well you might have. Kids climbing walls round here all the time. My walls are 10 foot and I still get your assorted types in my back garden. Plus this house is big and kept up. Anyone can see it's worth a bundle, especially in the middle of the city. What's your security system like?"
"Well Luisa never bothered with one. She'd never had any trouble and she lived here for over 50 years. Alone for the last 15 or so after my Uncle Paul died."
It was true. Luisa always felt safe in this house. Never felt the need for anything more than a lock on the door. When she did that even.
"And I've just never gotten around to it. I'm so busy at work all the time. I'm hardly ever here except on the weekends..."
"Well I know someone who's good," Philip offered, "I'll have him come round next week and talk to you. You really need to have some sort of protection when you're here on your own Amanda."
She looked up at him and nodded. She felt so uncharacteristically weak and vulnerable. She'd always taken care of herself. She was a VP with 40 people under her for crying out loud. She was a black belt in Judo and fit. She knew how to defend herself.
So why did the stuffing just go out of her when he looked at her with those light blue eyes?
Philip stared at her for the longest time and then gave himself a little shake and smiled, "I better get this place cleaned up," he said. "Don't you have a friend coming over tonight?"
"Oh...." she had forgotten. She glanced at the clock. Susan would be here in two hours and the place was a disaster. Not that Susan would care. But it probably wouldn't be much fun watching a dvd and drinking wine covered in dust and plastic.
Amanda was putting the vacuum away in the utility room when she heard Philip come back in from the back garden. She told herself she was being ridiculous and walked back into the kitchen to meet him. A furtive glance at the window told her what she already suspected. The writing was gone.
"Well I checked everywhere, including the garage and there's no one back there," he said as he flicked off the back light and locked the deadbolt on the kitchen door. "Doesn't mean there wasn't someone there though Amanda. There very well could have been but you must have scared them off when they saw you."
He walked around the kitchen, checking that all the windows were locked. He strode through the house checking all the doors and windows.
"Well, everything looks okay. You should be fine. But listen Amanda," he got very serious and put his hand on her arm. Amanda was a tall woman but he was at least 4 inches taller than she was and strong, she could feel the strength of him just in his hand. "You have my number. I'm only a couple of houses away. If you need me for anything, call me."
She smiled and nodded.
"It doesn't matter what time it is. You can wake me up. I can be here faster than any police."
"I will," she said and leaned into him a fraction of an inch.
His eyes were like the moon on the water at midnight. His hand tightened on her arm and he bent his head with a mutter and kissed her.
Amanda reached up and pulled Philip's head closer. She was suprised at the urgency she felt and the shudder of electricity that coursed through her.
Philip pulled her in closer still.
And the first four or five times the doorbell sounded neither of them heard it. It was only when it was leaned on like an alarm clock ringing that Amanda broke away from him.
"Amanda..." Philip whispered. She was breathing too hard to talk so she smiled up at him and raced for the door.
"Hey. It's fucking freezing out here," Susan said when she got to the door. Her arms were laden with bags. It was dark and the wind was starting to pick up. Amanda closed the door and locked it and followed Susan into the sitting room.
"What took you so long anyway? Were you counting your nose hairs or something? She asked as she pulled dvds out of one of the bags and tossed them on one of the sofas. She put the rest of the bags on the floor and shrugged off her coat.
"What the hell happened to you?" Susan asked when she finally stopped and took a good look at Amanda.
] 
