That night Pippa found it particularly hard to sleep. She was beginning to wish she'd never moved here, although she did like the country-like feel of the village. Everything was a bit too creepy for her, and she didn't like it. Even tonight, a beautiful night by anyone's standard. The sky was clear and thousands of stars twinkled in the velvet blue. But Pippa sat, utterly desturbed, in her bed and found herself unable to sleep. The temperature in the room seemed to be dropping rapidly. More rapidly, than perhaps it should have been. She soon found herself shivering under the heavy quilt.

The heating was on, the radiator burned her hand when she touched it, but still she was freezing and could see her breath as he exhaled. This drop in temperature was suddenly accompanied by sounds of the floorboards creaking eerily in the room.

It's just an old house, it's bound to creak. And there's probably a open window somewhere in the house letting in the cold...

Pippa tried to convince herself that everything was explainable, but in her stomach was a deep sense of dread. The kind of feeling that makes one want to be sick, just to rid themselves of it.

The creaking sounds grew nearer and nearer until they stopped. The last one had sounded as though it was right beside her bed and she found herself unable to move through fear.

I'm being silly...It's just my imagination, I heard too many stories. There's nothing here...

She could hardly hear herself think through the seemingly thunderous beating of her heart in her throat. A sudden feeling of panic raged through her as she felt something brush her cheek gently, sending sickening shivers down her spine. Pippa leaped off of the bed, suddenly released from the trance-like fear that had held her in an iron grip and she ran from the room, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She was oblivious to the fact that she was shrieking loudly and hysterically as she raced across the landing and into the bathroom, locking herself in before sinking to the floor where she burst into tears from the sudden shock like anxiety.

Her mother knocked on the door after a minute of similarly panicked rushing to the bathroom.

"Pippa? Pippa, are you okay? What is it? Another spider, Pippa? It's not another spider is it?"

Pippa sniffed before standing and unlocked the door so she could hug her mother tightly. Through sobs she explained what had happened. Her mother seemed unimpressed.

"...Pippa, you ran screaming from your room because of house noises? That's even sillier than the spider incident, isn't it? You talked to that James again, didn't you? I shall be having words with him tomorrow..."

They both went downstairs where they had hot chocolate and talked until morning. Pippa's mum didn't have work the next day and she had planned to spend it sewing, but she understood that Pippa was shaken.

The house was starting to get to her.

A/N Sorry about the shortness of this chapter and for how long it took to write! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing!