Truly Tan Baffled

‘Gloria,’ I say, ‘that was beyond brave of you. I would never go near that place on my own, at night, with only a one-eyed Bedlington Terrier to protect me.’ Gloria giggles. ‘I know!’ she says. ‘I nearly fainted when I realised what I had done. But then …’ ‘Then what?’ ‘Things started to get even more strange. I saw a hazy light up high, in the window of the attic. I flashed my torch on it and saw a face behind the foggy glass. A thin old woman staring straight down at me.’ ‘One of the sisters!’ I say. ‘Yes. I was so freaked out that I just stood there shining my torch on her!’ ‘Like a spotlight,’ I say. ‘But here’s the weirder bit,’ says Gloria. ‘There were all these white shapes painted on the wood below the attic window.’ ‘Shapes?’ I say. ‘And the old woman kept her eyes on me and started drawing the same shapes in the fog on the window. The same strange shapes all over the windowpane. Stacks of them. Over and over …’ ‘What kind of shape was it?’ I say, jumping off the desk and

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