Elsa shivered. Dad and Sara had almost convinced her at breakfast. Rattly water pipes and squeaky boards, that’s all it was. No ghosts. Now she wasn’t so sure.Something had come in and messed up her board. Elsa looked over her shoulder at the door. She could hear Sara playing music in her room and Dad was downstairs– everything seemed so normal. There couldn’t be a ghost moving things around in her bedroom.
Could there?
Something scuffled under her bed and Elsa yelped, scrambling back towards the door. She was expecting some kind of monster to come leaping out at her, or a greyish misty presence, or maybe a spookily pale girl in a nightie…
Instead there was a squeak. A tiny, frightened sort of squeak.
Whatever the ghost wanted, it sounded even more frightened than she was, Elsa decided. Very, very slowly she crouched down and peered at the space under her bed. She was tense, ready to spring up and run if there was some horrible creature under there– or even a cornered, angry rat.
Staring back at her were two glowing yellow-green eyes. In the shadows under Elsa’s bed it almost looked as though they were floating. For a tiny fraction of a second, Elsa remembered a scary story that Lara had told on their class sleepover about a yellow-eyed goblin that climbed on your back in the middle of the night and stole your breath away – and then she blinked and her eyes got used to the shadows and she saw what it was.
There was a kitten under her bed. A tiny, furry, frightened black kitten.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_12]
[Êàðòèíêà: img_13]
“Where did you come from?” Elsa breathed. “Oh, don’t be scared…” she added as the kitten flinched back into the shadows. “It’s OK. I’m friendly. I wonder who you belong to.” Then she frowned. “Maybe you don’t belong to anyone. Was it you making all those strange noises?” It would make sense – the scratching and scrabbling could definitely have been kitten claws, and the squeaky little cry too. “Oh, kitten, we thought you were a rat…”
The kitten peered out at her anxiously, its eyes all black in the darkness now, with just a hair-thin rim of gold. It was very small and skinny, Elsa realized. So small that she wasn’t sure it should be out on its own.
“Where’s your mum?” she murmured. Then she nibbled her bottom lip. The kitten must have belonged to the previous owner of the house, an old lady. She’d told them she was moving because she couldn’t manage the stairs any more. She’d seemed so nice. Elsa couldn’t imagine her abandoning a kitten, but how else could the poor little thing have been in the attic?
[Êàðòèíêà: img_14]
“You must be starving,” Elsa whispered, wriggling backwards and getting up slowly so as not to scare the kitten. “Just stay there a minute, OK? I’m going to get you something to eat.” She slipped out and tiptoed downstairs, wondering if Dad was still in the kitchen. He’d said something about trying to mend the dripping tap on the sink. She wasn’t sure she could argue for a snack, not just after breakfast, and she really didn’t want to tell Dad there was a kitten in her bedroom. Not yet anyway.
Luckily, her dad was unpacking books in the living room and didn’t hear her creep past. It looked like he’d got distracted and started reading, which was good news. He wouldn’t be coming to check on her for ages.
Elsa opened the fridge as quietly as she could, holding her breath as the door creaked, but there was still no sound from the living room. She grabbed a slice of ham, although that didn’t seem enough for a hungry kitten. A cat wasn’t going to want grapes, or a yogurt… Then she remembered Gran telling them that her cat Poppet’s favourite food was cheese. Elsa broke off a chunk and grabbed one of the plates that Dad had been unpacking, then she padded silently back past theliving room. The stairs gave a huge groaning creak when she was halfway up and Elsa froze, but nothing happened – Dad must be deep in his book.
At last she slipped back into her room and crouched down to look for the kitten again. It was still huddled against the wall under her bed, and when it saw Elsa it shifted worriedly and pressed itself even further back.
“Are you hungry?” Elsa whispered. “Look what I’ve got. Do you like cheese? Or ham?” She showed the plate to the kitten and then tore off a bit of ham and held it out. Was she imagining it, or did the kitten’s huge black ears flicker with interest?
[Êàðòèíêà: img_15]
“You probably don’t want to come out just yet,” Elsa said thoughtfully. She lay down on her front, and then slowly, slowly crept her hand under the bed. The kitten gave a breathy little squeak of fear.
“It’s OK. Just leaving this for you.” She dropped the bit of ham about halfway under the bed – not too close to the kitten. The poor thing was scared enough already. Then she squirmed back and watched hopefully. Was the kitten brave enough to come and get the food?
[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]
The kitten eyed the ham suspiciously for a moment, but he could smell it and it smelled so good. He measured the distance between him and the food and the girl. She was very close… But even as he was thinking it, he found himself creeping forward. He was just too hungry to wait. He gobbled down the scrap of ham with one eye firmly on the girl – if she moved, he could dart back. But she didn’t, she was absolutely still and quiet. And she had more food. He could see it on the plate right in front of her. More meat and something else…
The girl moved her hand and the kitten scuttled back, but she wasn’t reaching out to grab him. All she did was tear off another piece of ham and drop it gently, just at the edge of the safe space under the bed. Closer to her this time.
The kitten took a little longer to decide what to do, but the smell of food was so enticing it made him forget that he was frightened. He padded forward, step by slow step, and gulped down the second piece. Then he sat, almost out in the open, peering forward at the plate. There was a lot more ham left– more than he’d had already. And whatever the other stuff was smelled just as good – rich and salty and delicious.
The girl whispered something, her voice gentle, and she reached for the food, crumbling the good-smelling stuff and scattering it on the floor right in front of him. He’d only have to set one paw out beyond the shelter of the bed. Just one paw.
He edged out, pressed low to the ground, his shoulders hunched up into nervous points. His pink tongue darted out, sweeping up the scraps of cheese, and his eyes widened delightedly at the taste. Was there more of it? He stared hopefully at the girl and then laid his ears back a little as she held out her hand to him, the delicious stuff right there in her palm.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_16]
So now he had to go close…
He put out another paw and shook himself as he came into the light of the room. The girl was just there, with the food so temptingly on her hand. If she moved suddenly, he could dash back to the bed, couldn’t he? He crept all the way over to her and began to lick up the crumbs of cheese.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_4]
Elsa swallowed her giggles– the kitten was tickling her, its tongue working carefully over her fingers, making sure to find every tiny crumb. “Is the cheese good?” she murmured, wishing she could stroke it. The fur was a soft, fluffy sort of black, not smooth and shiny like some black cats. But perhaps that was only because it was so little. Its tongue was bright, bright pink against the black of its fur.
“What about the rest of the ham?” she whispered gently. “Shall I tear it up?” She reached out her other hand and picked up the half slice that was left, but the kitten didn’t wait for her to make nice bite-sized pieces. It scrambled up on to her knee and grabbed for the food, trying to gulp down the whole lot in one go.
Elsa sat like a statue. She hoped the kitten wasn’t going to make itself sick, gobbling like that. It must be so hungry. When it had finished, the pink tongue worked thoroughly round its muzzle and whiskers to make sure it hadn’t missed anything. Then it stopped and eyed her cautiously, as though it had just worked out it was sitting on top of her.