"It's sad about the dog, isn't it?"
The girl spun around surprised to find an old woman standing behind her.
"Sad isn't it?" The woman said again pointing a gloved hand at the missing dog poster.
"Yeah, I know," said the girl turning back to face the hand written sign, "There seem to be a lot of these posters lately."
They stood together for a moment staring absently at the poster each lost in their own thoughts.
"Anyway, best be going now." said the woman.
The girl felt an unexpected pang of loneliness now the woman was leaving, not that there was anything special about this woman that would make her such great company.
She seemed like any other old woman, wrinkled face, numerous layers of grey clothing, a faint smell of talcum powder, the only thing differentiating this old woman from any other was a slash of bright red lipstick on her lips and unfortunately her teeth.
"Goodbye." said the girl and began to walk away.
The woman grabbed her by the wrist. "Don't be silly Amy, it's time to go home."
The girl tried to release her wrist from the woman's tight grip, "I'm sorry, my name is-"
"Come on Amy, I've left the oven on, we really must go."
The girl surveyed the woman, from her grey roots and dyed black split ends to her green mud encrusted wellington boots. It wouldn't hurt to humour her for a bit, thought the girl, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to be.
She had been considering whether or not to sleep under the bridge down by the river again tonight but the thought of the water rats scurrying around her body made her shudder.
The woman slipped her arm through the girl's linking them together and she led her to a tree lined street packed with semi detached houses. As the woman rummaged in her bag for her keys, the girl took a step back.
The house looked perfectly nice. A few shrubs in the front, purple crocuses protected from the autumn drizzle by a big bay window. Empty milk bottles waiting to be collected from a stone step.
The girl was relieved to see there were no lights on in the house; at least she wasn't going to be confronted by a bemused or perhaps angry son, daughter or husband. Anyway, she thought, she would just tell the truth. She would explain how the woman had mistaken her for someone else and she had wanted to make sure the woman got home ok.
Having resolved this in her mind she followed the woman into the dark house.
The smell of roast chicken permeated the house. The girl inhaled deeply she couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed a home cooked meal.
"Smells good doesn't it?" said the woman.
She gestured towards a door to the right, "Go and sit down, love."
The woman pushed the girl into the dark room, she flicked the light switch and the room filled with light.
The girl gasped at the scene before her in the living room. Hundreds of black eyes bore into her, appraising her with insolent stares.
The woman raised herself up on her tip toes to whisper in the girl's ear, "She must have been a bit lonely mustn't she? All alone here in the dark."
As the woman giggled to herself the girl noticed she was missing two of her bottom teeth.
