A-So you think your house is haunted&;#063;

Trudging back in the cold with the heavy shopping, Verna felt
fantastic. At least she was out, a short break from the intensive
mothering of 7 month old Mallory.

"How is she?" Verna turned and saw her neighbour.

"Hi Judy, everything's fine. Just been doing some shopping." She
waggled a bag of mainly baby items.

"Oh a baby monitor, we've that one as well. But we don't use it -I can
hear our darling's cries blasting through the ceiling. You never hear
James do you?

"Never -do you hear Mallory?"

"No&;#8230; So at least our walls are soundproof then. Can I tempt
you out to Bar Toca tonight?"

"Oh, I'd like to but it's still a bit too soon. You're 4 months ahead
of me with James. And we're moving Mallory into her own room tonight
"

"When you get to 1 year you'll need some nights off! It's now that you
really appreciate family and friends around to help."

"Is James a year old already? It must be. How is he?"

"He's smashing. The whole family love him to bits."
Glancing up Verna saw Mike at the window holding a crying Mallory. Of
the two of them -Mike definitely looked the more helpless. She imagined
that he'd be a bit stressed by now as she said she'd be back sooner.
Her break was over.

"Looks like I'm needed, Judy"

Verna attempted to watch the evening news but was distracted. The
receiver part of the 2 piece monitor hummed and whistled static from
the coffee table and occasionally broadcast distorted sighs and
shuffles of Mallory in her cot above.

Every baby noise made Verna start. She had already rushed up the 2
flights of stairs several times. But each trip was a false alarm,
Mallory slept peacefully in her cot. On the shelf beside it, Mike had
plugged in the sending part of the monitor. The curtains blocked most
of the streetlight so that the small red light above the microphone
shone bright. Each time, after checking, Verna closed the door very
slowly to avoid it creaking and crept downstairs.
Mike, who'd run up with her the first time, was working at the kitchen
table. He looked up bemused as she passed the doorway again.

"Well, I have to check!" she said
A soap had started as she flopped into her chair. Even with a baby
break it had been a long day. The monitor continued to hum but was less
annoying as the plot on the TV picked up.
She heard footsteps in the bedroom room. So now Mike couldn't resist
taking a peek! She smiled. She heard a sigh from the monitor and then a
voice hissed:

"You little SHIT! You wait, I'm going to KILL YOU-ain't I?"
Verna switched off the TV and froze.
What had she just heard? A boiling kettle clicked off in the next
room.

"Do you want a coffee?" Mike called from the kitchen.

Mike saw Verna run to the staircase. Puzzled, he put the milk back in
the fridge door before realising that her dash was more urgent than
those before. He reached the top landing. Mallory's bedroom light was
on. Verna was in the middle of the room clutching the sleepy
baby.

"There was someone in here I heard them" Verna was scanning round the
room, searching. But everything looked OK.

"What do you ..."

"I heard them on the monitor. Someone was in here, talking."

"But there can't be. You must have imagined it ... or you were dozing,
heard it on the TV"

"No it was real, it was a voice. It said 'You shit, I'm gonna kill
you'! I almost recognised it."

"You must be mistaken, a nightmare Vern. How could that be? ... Mal is
still sleepy, let's put her down and tuck her up before she
wakes."
Verna stood thinking it through. How could she describe the voice? She
couldn't, apart from noting the hatred in each word. Could it have been
real? Surely she had imagined it, or misheard something. She couldn't
explain it but the room was empty. There couldn't be anyone else in the
house. Mallory had been asleep when she'd arrived. But, it still felt
wrong. She really had heard something.
Mike touched her shoulder.

"Come on, let's put her down." They gently lowered Mallory back into
her cot.

Downstairs Mike moved the monitor around the coffee table trying to
find a position with minimum hiss. Verna stared at it waiting for the
next noise.

"I'll go and get you a coffee" said Mike. The kettle began its reboil.
Verna continued to stare at the monitor that was giving its regular
noise. She flicked the TV back on and turned to watch. Mike popped in
with a mug for her.

"SHIT, SHIT you little SHIT." Verna's head swung back to the monitor. A
baby began to cry and Verna heard it being picked up.

Hearing her gasp, Mike ran out of the kitchen and beat her to the
stairs.

"It's OK, I'll go" but Verna followed him up, around one landing and up
again. Mike paused at the door, there was no sound from inside. But she
pushed him in switching on the light as they entered. Mallory lay in
the cot blinking and started to cry. Mike picked her up.

"I heard her cry."

"But we woke her, thundering up the stairs. There Mals. Don't you
worry. It's OK." He tried to comfort her.

"And I heard a voice. Repeating 'shit' again"

"Vern, there's no one here though. Maybe you heard a "schhhh" noise of
the static? Could that sound like someone saying 'shit'?"

"No, there was someone in here talking." Verna now took Mallory, she
was the better one at consoling.

"But there isn't and there can't have been. Unless, d'you reckon it was
a ghost?"

"I heard something"

"I know from downstairs it's be harder to have her all the way up here
in the attic. I mean, compared to sleeping down in our room. So I guess
we're more jumpy. But she's gonna have to get used to being her room.
And we are. She's been in with us for 7 months. The books say just
until 6."

"Mike, it's not that. I heard something on the monitor. A voice."

"Maybe some static that sounded like a voice? That could be it."
Mallory was calm now. "Pass her back. It's OK I'll put her down." As
Verna turned to leave she thought for a moment that the red light on
the monitor winked at her.

Mike popped his head round the lounge door.

"She's down again. But I'm going back up in a few minutes and have a
look"
For a while he pottered in the kitchen then Verna heard Mike climb the
stairs. She stood in the lounge doorway as he walked along the landing
above her and then started up to the attic. There was a pause as Mike
was switching off the landing lights outside Mallory's room and then
quietly opening her door.

"Little SH-IT! I'm going to KILL YOU-ain't you for it now?"
It came loud from the monitor on the table. The voice continued to hiss
but Verna was already on the stairs. She pelted along the dark landing
and up the darker second flight. Through the gloom she saw the black
shape of Mike, towering over the cot. She reached the side of the cot
and grabbed Mallory.

"Give her me!"

"What's up? She's sleeping."

"I heard it again. It was you!" Mallory was awake and started to
cry.

"What? What was me?" He made to take Mallory but Verna pulled
away.

"Leave her. I heard you say you'd kill her. I heard you from
downstairs."

"That's rubbish. You're crazy."

"I heard you say that you'd kill her. I heard you say that" Mallory was
in full tear flow now. Verna hugged her tightly.

"No! Look, Verna &;#8230;"

"On the monitor downstairs. I heard you." Mike switched on the light
-they all squinted.

"Really? Right then, see the monitor here?" She turned and looked at
it. It was different from before -there was no red light. "I unplugged
it when I was last up here. It's not on. So how can you hear anything
down there?" She saw the plug on the floor, just below the wall socket.
The monitor was off.

"But you," she paused, "but I heard you. You must have just switched it
off!"

"Listen, I switched it off when I put her down last time. It's been off
for 5 minutes. You're losing it. You didn't hear anything." He put his
arms around them both.

"I heard something down there on the monitor."

"Verna. Please. Calm down. I haven't touched her. Let's all go down.
Nothing's wrong up here." And as Verna looked around, nothing did
appear wrong. Mike gathered Mal's dummy and blanket. "I don't know what
you're hearing. Look, let's have a look at that monitor -the bit that's
downstairs." She watched him leave. Her muscles were still tense, she
was holding Mallory too hard. Mike paused on the landing below. "Are
you guy's coming down then?"

"Yeah." She shrugged Mallory up into a more comfortable position and
carried her down. By the next landing Mallory had stopped crying, felt
refreshed and was looking forward to playing downstairs. They reached
the foot of the stairs.
As they turned into the lounge Verna saw Mike staring at the monitor in
his hand just before she registered the voice spitting through
it:

"Just relax, you little SHIT. Crap again and I'll kill you, you
stinking BASTARD." A baby began crying again but didn't sound like
Mallory.

"It's not from upstairs. It's off upstairs. So where?" Mike repeated.
Verna knew.

"He's at Judy's." Mike looked up. "They must be both out tonight so
there's a babysitter."

"Has Judy got a monitor?"

"No, Judy doesn't use one &;#8230; oh, they have got one &;#8230;
there must be a babysitter round there now. It's their baby
sitter!"

Despite his "stay here", Verna followed Mike outside. She still carried
Mallory. She wouldn't leave her. The downstairs lights were on next
door. Mike hurried up the path and rang the bell before realising that
Verna and Mallory were behind him.
Nothing for a moment and then they heard someone descending from
upstairs. Through the door's frosted glass Verna thought she could hear
crying. A shape moved towards them and the outer light was switched on.
A fumble with the lock and then the front door opened. The crying was
louder.

"Yeah?" said a short man catching Mike off guard. He hadn't stopped to
think what to actually say.

"Where are Judy and Geoff? What are you doing here?" Mike demanded. But
Verna had seen him from a few weeks before leaving Judy's. And when he
spoke again they both recognised his voice.

"Relax, I'm baby sitting for Judy. I'm her brother. Family, ain't
I?"