I dropped the mirror on the table and leaped up.

“Alfred!”

Running to the window, I looked out, but there was nobody in the garden. Only shadows.

A feeling in my stomach like what a stone must feel like as it sinks into deep water. I walked back to the table, back to my solitude.

As I sat back down at the table, there came the sound again. A sudden Plink! at the window. The sound of pebbles being thrown against glass, unmistakable.

I walked back to the window, confused. It couldn’t be Alfred – he was probably at the ball, dancing with beautiful girls in beautiful dresses.

I looked out again and this time there was a figure in the garden. He/She wore a dark cape wrapped around their slim frame. A laugh like the breaking of glass, and then the figure was suddenly floating at my window.

A face like a nightmare, with eyes that were more white than iris, a mouth like a cage, the teeth the wires that kept it closed. The cage of her mouth opened wide and the laugh burst forth again.

“I am here, daughter.”