Claire hid in the alleyway at the bottom of the street, giddy with excitement. Getting to sleep had been a hard job. She'd been certain that Kerry the witch had sussed that something was up, what with all the tossing and turning she'd done, especially with the two of them in the same bed.
Lucky for me, she thought, that the witch sleeps like a log. Close call this morning though. She certainly gave me the once-over - for a minute back there, I thought I'd grown a zit the size of a mountain. But I'm free now, and all I've got to do is wait here until Kerry and the brats are long gone.
Her heart skipped into overdrive as Kerry, with the kids trailing behind her in single file, strode past. Claire bit down on a giggle. For God's sake! If Kerry was dressed in white and the brats in yellow, she'd look like a mother duck with her babies.
Another few minutes, that's all, make sure non of them's forgotten anything. Claire's skin tingled a a surge of adrenalin rushed through her young body.
Freedom loomed in front of her, and its scent was intoxicating.
A second later, though, she had to stifle a scream when she felt something on the back of her hand and looked down to see a fat brown spider crawling towards her sleeve. If there was one thing Claire hated it was spiders, especially fat brown spiders that were heading for openings that would lead them to her body. She'd once had one trapped in her knickers when she was seven and had suffered nightmares for months.
'Oh Christ.' Shuddering, she shook her hand hard enough for the spider to drop off. Revolted, she tried to dance on it, but Mrs Spider had other ideas and scuttled away.
Face twisted into a grimace, she looked up the alley just in time to see fat Jason Smith and his blackand-white collie, Jess. Dogs Claire could take at any time, especially Jess, who just lived to be petted. It was her master Claire didn't like. She didn't like the way he looked at her either; even when she'd been smaller his eyes had seemed to single her out from the other kids. Creepy Jason Smith, he looked like he'd be more at home with a snake draped around his ugly fat sweaty neck than with a dog at his side.
Claire froze as Jess stopped and sniffed the air; if the dog sussed her out, so would the King of Creeps.
She took an exaggerated side-step which put her behind the fence and, once there, pulled her mobile phone - a present from the delectable Brad - out of her pocket to check the time. Still a few minutes left before the Sunderland bus arrived. The phone was on her top-secret list, and she kissed it before slipping it back into her pocket.
Deciding she had enough time for a make-up check, Claire drew her compact - another present from Brad and also on her top-secret list - from her other pocket. She covered her lips with a bright red lipstick, and her cheeks with a blusher only slightly paler. Satisfied with her appearance, she pocketed the compact then, fingers crossed, began a slow walk up the alley.
Ecstatic because her escape plan was working so well, she forgot herself and began humming the new Robbie Williams song, then nearly had a heart attack when she almost stepped out in front of her own Robbie Lumsdon.
To find out what happens next, read Sheila Quigley's stunning debut novel, Run for Home.