Welcome To The Pack

Chapter 1 - Eden

It was very late by the time we pulled up outside the new house. And it was raining. I had hoped to get here earlier so the girls could see the place in daylight, but one delay after another and now they were fast asleep as we pulled up in the dark.

Well hopefully the rain would stop by morning so the girls could see our new home properly in the morning I think.

Leaving them asleep in the car, I run up to the door and pull the envelope I had collected earlier from the estate agent out of my bag, I tipped the set of keys out into the palm of my hand and used the torch on my mobile to find he one labelled 'front door'.

Thankfully the door swung open without a fuss and I stepped in flicking lights on as I go. The house is freezing cold, so I go straight to pop the heating on.

Ok, so the house doesn't look like much in the dark I think, and then laughed to myself before admitting that it doesn't look like much in the daylight either! But following my separation from the girls' father, it was the best I could do.

A two-storey detached house with a decent garden was actually pretty good to get by myself! I think the small village setting, surrounded by woods maybe put people off. Or maybe it was the quarry just off the main street that put people off. Or the work that needed done on the house. I didn’t care. I was glad other people were put off because it meant I'd managed to get the house for a steal. The seller had inherited the house from an uncle or something and from a quick glance at the amount of dust everywhere, he had rarely, if ever, visited the house.

Someone had obviously been in and boxed up some personal items, but the sale had included all the furniture and there were even some paintings still on the wall. Those would have to come down! The previous occupier must have had a thing for bears, but I wasn't so sure that my 3 and 5 year old daughters would be quite so impressed with all the bear paintings... especially not the ones of the bears hunting and eating their spoils.

I pop back out to the car and drag in the suitcase that held the essentials for our first night. Then it’s time to wake Imogen and Elodie and get them inside and off to bed. They both grumble about the cold in the house so I dig out the groceries we picked up earlier and find cups to heat milk. With them settled I run back out to the car to grab the box with the bedding in it.

As I’m raking about in the car, I get a shiver down the back of my neck. That tingly sensation that someone is watching me. I jerk up and scan around. But it’s too dark and wet to see…. What is that? I think with a fright. There’s a huge dark shape in the trees across from the house.

I stare at the shape for a while, c*****g my head to the side. I’m being stupid I realise – it will just be a tree stump or something…. A large tree stump, but a tree stump.

Shaking my head, I close up the car and run back inside the house to get the beds made and get the girls off to sleep.

However, I still can’t shake the tingly feeling and can’t stop myself from repeatedly peeking out the windows into the darkness outside.