Grim Tales for Gruesome People

Three Knocks

I like playing games.

Three knocks, that's what he said. No more. No less.

Not long ago, I heard someone scream. But they didn't knock, so I didn't open the door.

It's cold here, in the closet. It smells too, like wet clothes and old bread. Light shines in through a gap at the bottom of the door and makes my socks glow yellow. One big toe pokes out through a hole, but Mummy says that's okay - it's so my feet can see where they're going.

Today is my Birthday. I'm six. It says so on my cake. Mummy made it for my party but my belly was too stuffed with jelly to eat any. There were candles on it, but Mummy took them away after I blew them all out. Well, not straight away. Peter and Lewis had a go at blowing them out as well. That was stupid; it's not even their Birthday.

I'd show you my cake, but I'm not allowed to leave this closet.

Not unless I hear three knocks.

The party is over now. Mummy said it was getting late and her and Aunt Marie still had the big shop to do. Aunt Marie lives with us. Oh, and then there's my sister. Sorry, I nearly forgot about her. Mummy says I forget lots of things, but it's easy to forget about Jessica. She's always in her bedroom, listening to music on her headphones and playing on her phone. She only comes out for dinner or when she goes to meet her friends. She's in big school and wears skirts that Mummy says are too short to go out in. She has short blonde hair and bright red lips, but that's make-up; they're not really that colour. You didn't really need to know about my sister, did you? I don't think you'll ever meet her.

Mummy is pretty. She's got long brown hair with a purple flower in it and she smells like perfume. She got me a colouring set for my birthday. She said my pictures were out of this world and stuck them on the fridge. There are five of them now: three dinosaurs, Mummy and Aunt Marie. Jessica drew one of a mouse but it's rubbish.

Also, I bet you're wondering why I live with my Aunt Marie? Not many people live with their Aunt, do they? She moved in with us when Daddy left. But that was a long time ago. And we've moved house three times since then. Aunt Marie is nice. I don't really know what else to say about her. She likes toffee pudding and Coronation Street.

I should tell you about the houses I've lived in.

The first house we lived in was my favourite. The House of Books, I used to call it. That's because there was this really big bookshelf in Daddy's office that I wasn't allowed to touch. Once, I hid in there, under his desk, to surprise him. Only, he was more angry than surprised. I think it's because he was with a friend. She was called Krystal. I didn't know her but I heard Mummy shouting her name through the floorboards when I was in bed one night. There were other friends, too. They weren't all Daddy's though. Some of the friends were Uncle Ken's.

Uncle Ken has a big moustache and curly hair. I don't like Uncle Ken. I don't think you would like Uncle Ken. I'm not going to tell you about Uncle Ken.

All that was before Mummy had her accident.

I'll tell you what happened. Well, I didn't see, but Daddy said she slipped in the kitchen and bumped her head on the table. She must've bumped her eye as well, because it swelled up and went the same colour as my wallpaper. My wallpaper is purple and has dinosaurs on it. My favourite is the T-Rex. They match my bed-sheets. Jessica says dinosaurs are for babies but they're not. They have long claws and sharp teeth. Babies don't like long claws and sharp teeth.

Mummy says I'm clumsy, but she's worse, because after bumping her head in the kitchen, she fell down the stairs and broke her arm and twisted her neck and had to go to the hospital. Aunt Marie came then on an aeroplane. She took us to visit because she said Daddy was working. There were lots of flowers and cards around Mummy's bed. She even had grown-up chocolates. She gave me an orange one and Jessica had caramel. She had a bandage on as well. She let Jessica and me write on it in pen. Jessica wrote some words and her name with a little love heart. I drew a picture of an Angel. Mummy likes Angels. She has a picture of one on a necklace she wears around her neck.