Murasakino

The Garden

   Dr Kerrett looked up, obviously hearing the noise I made. I silently shouted at myself for being so stupid.
   "What was that?" she asked.
   "I... don't actually know," Harper said, running out of lies. "Let me check. Wait here."
   At the top of the stairs, Harper walked past me and into her room, but from the doorway started whispering to me.
   "What the heck are you doing?!" she hissed, her eyes wide with anger.
   "Sorry," I mouthed, thinking I'd make too much noise whispering.
   "Get back in here and hide!" Harper said, before going back down the stairs.
   "Everything okay?" Dr Kerrett asked.
   "Yeah! It was just my cat, Sam."
   "Your cat? Did she knock something over?"
   "Yep. The, um... door to my room."
   I was now listening from inside the wardrobe. Luckily, they were talking loud enough for me to tell what they were saying.
   "The door?" Dr Kerrett asked, not believing her.
   "Yeah, it's just recently been put on and my dad said that the hinges needed changing. I can see why now," she added, laughing.
   Dr Kerrett also laughed, but then I heard a meow and the they both went silent. Sam had walked up to them from the kitchen.
   "Wasn't she just upstairs?" Dr Kerrett asked, stepping into the hallway.
   "Yes, but we have another staircase at the back of the house too."
   "A staircase at... Nevermind. Sorry for bothering you!"
   "No problem!" Harper smiled as she closed the front door behind Dr Kerrett.

   She pounded up the stairs and into her room.
   "I'm trying not to get too mad," she said as I cautiously opened the wardrobe door, "but please stay in there when anyone else arrives! I got really scared then."
   "Me too," I replied shyly. I was stupid to have tried to get closer. "Is she gone?"
   Harper peered out of the window to look in the garden.
   "I think so," she answered. "Do you need anything to eat? You mustn't have had anything for a whole day now."
   "What time is it?"
   "It's really early... half three in the morning," Harper replied, checking her watch.
   "Is your mother in?"
   "Yes, but she's asleep."
   "Oh. I wouldn't mind something to eat, since you asked."
   "Okay," she giggled. "I'll see what we have."
   Harper left again, and I leaned back in the wardrobe.
   "Harper?" It was her mother, and she was walking toward the room. I pulled the wardrobe closed just as she looked into the room, but she left soon after. "Are you downstairs?"
   "Yep! Just making a sandwich."
   "Why are you making a sandwich?" she asked, going downstairs.

   I dozed off again, but when I woke up Harper's parents were out again and she was leaving for work.
   "Hi, Murasakino!" she said as I walked downstairs, rubbing my eyes. "Your sandwich is in the kitchen."
   "I should stay at home. Well, here," I said, sitting at the kitchen table. The sandwich had cold, thinly sliced chicken with a bit of mayonnaise in it.
   "Your parents are out a lot," I said.
   "We all have jobs at the same time of day, and Sam doesn't need too much attention while we're out," Harper replied. "But I bet she'd love it if you stayed here with her."
   "Just to sit with her and give her some company?"
   "Yeah."
   "But not to tickle her belly. She didn't like that yesterday."
   Harper giggled. "She does like it, but she was probably just wanting to play with you. Be careful she doesn't scratch or bite you. If she does, just let her out into the back garden."
   "The back garden!" I repeated. "You told me I had to see it because it was awesome!"
   "Go ahead! It's right behind you," Harper said, opening the front door. "Don't let anyone in unless it's me or my parents! And if it is my parents, you know where to hide."
   She winked and left, locking the door.
  
   I sat there, staring at the front door and listening to the silence. There was a radio by the back door, which I turned on to listen to, but I heard a meow from behind me. Sam was sitting by a cupboard, staring up at me.
   "Is your food in here?" I asked her, stroking her head. "I'll give you a treat if you like."
   There were a few different boxes of weird-smelling food, but one was labelled 'Cat treats: salmon.' Sam meowed again when she saw me getting it out, and tried to get up on two legs to reach them. I opened the box and took out a couple, holding them above her head. She stood upright again and I dropped one, but it landed on her face and slid down her back. She quickly turned and found it, cruching it up and looking back up at me.
   "Here are the rest," I said, dropping them onto the floor by her feet. While she was eating I walked over to the back door, but the window in it was blurry and I couldn't see into the garden.

   I turned the key in it and pulled it open, and was greeted by an amazing view. There were lots of different flowers still in bloom despite the time of year, neatly planted in rows. There was an old looking stone wall at the far end of the garden, and the rows of flowers came toward the house from there. The grass was short and very bright green, which turned out to be because it was fake. I pulled a face, slightly disappointed, but in front of the garden was a beatiful ornate fountain with a bird bath on top. A bird feeder was next to it, and when I approached it the small bird that had been perching there darted away and into a nearby tree.
   Sam followed me out and trotted over to where the bird had been, sitting on a piece of slate and staring intently upwards.
   "It is beautiful, isn't it?" I said to her, expecting a reply. When I remembered Sam couldn't talk I laughed and answered my own question. "Yes, it is, Murasakino."
   Sam suddenly turned her head toward the side of the house, pointing her ears in the same direction.
   "What is it, Sam?" I asked. Then I heard it too. The sound of footsteps on gravel.
   Someone was sneaking round the house.