He’d been following her for about two
weeks. He had begun to map her routine and knew the bus that she took to get
back from work.
He had started to wait for her near to the
stop she got off. He had started to follow her home at a distance, a sort of
test. A couple of times she had turned but he had looked away apparently
uninterested and she had looked right through him and walked on.
There was one occasion when he had decided
to make his move but just as he approached he had been picked up by some woman
and it took all his efforts to get away. By the time he had his target was
gone.
He was great at following, one of the best
and people would pay big money for his skills but he knew that this was the
last one and tonight was going to be the night.
He walked at a distance behind as she made
her way from the bus carrying a number of bags and parcels. He made sure that
she could not see him and that no one would interrupt his journey this time.
Finally he saw her open her front door and
step inside. Once it was shut he waited a few moments for people to pass and
then quietly walked up her path. He didn’t want to make a scene so he scratched
gently at the door.
Inside she was putting her shopping away
when she began to hear the noise. She walked into the hall and knew it was
coming from the front door. She put the chain on the door and turned on the
outside light. When she felt safe she opened it and glanced out, there was no
one there.
As soon as she had opened the door wide
enough he had snuck in. He ran down her hall into the kitchen and positioned
himself.
She shut the door, shrugged in confusion
and then turned to continue her unpacking. It was then that she saw him, his
sharp penetrating eyes staring at her.
‘Hello,’ she said in a kind, singsong
voice, ‘how did you get in here?’ He took it as his cue and walked towards her
weaving between her legs and purring at the same time. She bent down and
scratched behind his ears. In response he rolled over onto his back.
‘Who do you belong to?’ she asked while
scratching his stomach, ‘someone is going to miss you, especially on Christmas
Eve?’
He purred even harder – he knew he wasn’t
going to be lonely this Christmas.
