It was a beautiful sunny day, the dead flowers in Lenore's front garden were showing no sign of life, her house was showing no sign of colour, and Lenore herself was sat in the darkest corner of her front room prodding kitty number 208.

The house next door to Lenore’s had been up for sale for months, for some reason nobody seemed to want to buy it after Lenore had moved in next door… But about 2 days ago the “For Sale” had been changed to a “Sold”, and today the small family had moved in.

“Come on, kitty, stop sleeping.” Lenore said, as the cat lay limply on the table. There had been an incident were Lenore had used up all of the cat food and had had to use a substitute; apparently Mr. Gosh was not edible.

Lenore sighed. “Kitty deaded.” She picked the cat up by the scruff of its neck. “I’m gonna have to go to the pet shop again…”

As she was about to walk to the back door to toss the dead cat onto the pile of cats that were “sleeping”, there was a knock on the front door. Lenore walked to the door with the cat still in her hand and opened it.

A tall, skinny, blonde haired woman with blue eyes was stood at the door beaming and holding a basket. Before Lenore could say anything she began a stream of non-stop talk.
“Hello! We’ve just moved in next door and came to say hello and give you this, and also to ask you if-” She suddenly stopped as she realised she was talking to thin air. She looked down and spotted Lenore staring up at her.

“You’re tall.” Said Lenore to the towering woman.

The woman smiled down at her. “Um… thank you. How old are you, little girl?”

“10.” Answered Lenore.

“Well, is your mummy or daddy in?”

“No.”

“Will they be back soon?”

“Um…”

“Well what’s your name, little girl?”

“Lenore.”

“Well, Lenore, is it okay if my son, Josh, stays here while we sort out our house?” The woman pulled a 10 year old, black-haired, bright-green-eyed, boy in a black hoodie and jeans out from a bush.

Lenore stared at the boy, wondering why he was in her bush. “Uh…”

“Thank you so much!” The woman turned to Josh and crouched down to his eye level with her hands on his shoulders. “You be a good boy while mummy makes the house all tidy! I’ll come to get you later tonight!”

Josh remained silent.

The woman turned and walked back to her new house. Leaving Lenore to entertain this dark, silent, 10 year old boy…