On That Winter's Night.

3-Huge Shock.

Little did Katherine know, but the encounter with that strange girl in the snow was just the beginning. Her life was about to change forever. She'd just skipped ahead to the best part of one of her books, when a knock at the front door sounded. Katherine frowned. It was very rare for her and her family to expect anyone, except the postman. She then heard her parents voices.

"Oh good lord, it's her!"

"Who's her?" 

"You know damn well who she is!"

Curiosity swept over Katherine. Her parents always said that curiosity killed the cat, but tonight, something inside her, instinct perhaps, was urging her to head downstairs and see who it was for herself. She carefully put her book to one side, shut off the light and walked down. "Don't you open that door young lady!" Mum yelled.

The warning came too late.

The door was open.

Katherine was surprised to see a familiar face. She was more confused though, about how her parents were acting. It really wasn't like them. Not at all.

"Get out of here. Now. You can't be here. We can't have you in our lives! We have a daughter! We don't want you." Their tones were tense, sharp and laced with a hint of anger.

What was going on?

Ignoring the increasingly loud protests, the girl's eyes never left Katherine. Her eyes were sad, almost guilty and her voice was quite soft as she spoke.

"I'm your sister and my name is Lily."

As soon as those words left her mouth, it was as if a bomb had gone off. The shouting got louder, but Katherine barely heard them over the ringing in the back of her head. Wordlessly, she let Lily into the house, shut the door and turned towards her parents. She couldn't even recognise her own voice as she asked them one simple question.

"Is this true?"