Mona smiled to herself as she read his message. While she thought of a reply, Mona checked the time and shit herself when she saw it was almost two forty-five in the morning. She quickly turned off her phone and pulled the blankets right over her head. It wasn’t long before Mona heard the heavy footsteps coming down the hallway towards her bedroom door. She held her breath as she felt the familiar knot of fear return to her stomach.  

Stumbling into the kitchen the next morning, Mona heard her parents outside having their usual morning cuppa and smoke. Between mouthfuls of cereal, she heard her mother mention something to her stepfather about hearing footsteps the night before. Mona stopped chewing momentarily, to hear better. Taking a drag of his smoke, Mona’s stepfather dismissed her mother’s concerns and told her that she was probably just hearing things. Shaking her head, she chucked her bowl in the sink and hurried out the front door to the bus stop. The last thing she wanted today was a ride to school from her stepfather.  

Mona looked at her reflection in the mirror of the girl’s toilets and frowned at the large bags under her eyes. Applying concealer around her chocolate brown eyes with her little finger, she thought about what had happened the night before. Mona was scared. She needed to talk to her mother about it, but her stepfather was always around. She really needed decent night’s sleep. Shouting over the toilet stall to her cousin, Mona asked her sister girl if she could please camp at her house tonight. 

Walking home from the school the following afternoon, Mona’s spirit felt strong. She’d had a peaceful sleep at Auntie’s house and was ready to talk to her mum. Mona was also happy that her stepfather was working late and wouldn’t be around to interrupt and voice his opinion. Once inside her childhood home, Mona wasted no time telling her mother everything. The colour drained from her mother’s face as she listened to her daughter talk. Without a word, Mona’s mother got up from the couch, walked into the kitchen and turned the kettle on. She took a deep breath and told her daughter that she had heard the footsteps too – walking down the hallway past Mona’s bedroom. Mona’s mother added two sugars to her cuppa and calmly explained to her daughter that she was brought up to ignore such things.  

Mona could not believe what she was hearing. She knocked the cuppa out of her mother’s hand in a rage. Fuming, Mona looked her mother straight in the eyes and said very loudly, in a firm and clear voice, “Mum, we have a fucking ghost! You heard the footsteps at three in the morning yourself! I don’t care if your stupid husband doesn’t believe in ghosts, our house is fucking haunted!”