For the story so far, click here

“Three of them came, with shotguns.  I watched them enter the cottage and then barred the door behind them.”

“The sound startled them; they turned to see who was there but saw no one.  I knocked over the rocking chair.  Again they were startled.  Again they saw no one.”

“I lifted my other dress from its hook and danced it around the room as if someone were wearing it.  They screamed like the cowards they were and rushed for the door.”

“As they frantically struggled to get the door open I wrote across it with black ash from the hearth: DON’T COME BACK

“I was confident that they would not.”

To be continued …