Enough about me. Now to get on with the story. I was getting really bored and it started getting on my nerves. I went to the office and switched on the computer. While it was getting started, I went into the kitchen and grabbed myself something to eat. The faint ‘thump, thump’ was still there but I ignored it. Even the maids weren’t here. They had gone to my aunt Anne’s for something, I don’t quite recall what. I climbed back upstairs and logged onto my e-mail address. I checked my e-mails and started playing games online after I had finished. I must have been online for about an hour or so and even after I had switched off the computer my parents and my sister still hadn’t come. I started getting worried as they had been gone for almost two and a half to three hours now. Had they been held up by fans? Had they forgotten that I was alone at home? If not then what had gone wrong?
I called Aunt Anne’s house and one of the maids picked up the phone.
“Hi, Marriela,” I said. “It’s Katie. Are my parents and sister there?” I asked.
“No, they all left an hour ago. Your aunt and uncle, too.” She replied, politely.
“Okay. Thanks.” I said in a worried tone. “Did they say where they were going?”
“No. They said they were coming home to you. Why is there a problem?”
“No, it’s just that they haven’t reached yet and it’s been three hours since they left.”
“Oh dear, do you want me to send someone there. You poor darling. You must be all alone in that huge place.” She said sympathetically.
“No, don’t bother. I’ll be okay. But I will definitely call you if there is anything at all that I need. Thanks a lot.”
Saying that, I put the phone down. Oh God, where could they have gone? I wondered to myself.
The thumping got louder and louder in the silence. I am not normally scared of being alone at home or anything, but this really scared me.
‘Thump, thump, thump, thump’ it kept getting louder with every passing second. My heart was beating really fast now. Mum and Dad and Michelle haven’t returned yet and these horrid sounds have been there for long now.
I called a friend of mine to chat with her hoping it was all in my mind and I could do with a laugh. She picked up the phone after what seemed like ages. We talked about general stuff and then moved onto the serious things – the delay of my parents and sister. Then all of a sudden....
“AAAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhhh!” I screamed. The phone flew out of my hand and the next thing I knew, an invisible force was pulling me away. The soldiers must have heard me scream as I heard them knocking at the huge locked oak doors.
Holding me tightly in the middle of the house in the spacious entrance hall under the antique chandelier, the ‘ghost’ whispered in my ear, “Your parents and your siblings are dead. Now it’s your turn”
“NOOOO!” I cried. “Leave me alone. What have we ever done to you?”
“Aah my princess. Not we. You. Think back to last Christmas. Didn’t you swear at me? I just wanted a picture of the three of us and I got arrested and was hanged for harassing and invading the privacy of a royal. Now I have come to take you away. I have taken the rest of your family.”
His hands came up to my throat to strangle me, then....
“Nooo!” I screamed and sat up in bed. I was sweating and breathing heavily. I looked around wondering where I was and felt myself everywhere to see if I was still alive. Getting out of bed, I opened the curtains of the palace window and looked outside. It was snowing! I got dressed and went downstairs where everyone was waiting for me. The whole family was there, including my brothers. I went over to them and gave each of my brothers and Michelle and my parents a huge hug and wished them a merry Christmas. Then I went round to the end of the huge table and gave my grandmother and grandfather a great hug. I was so glad that all that happened was just a horrible dream.
Later, after breakfast, the whole of the royal family went to Sussex to attend the morning church service.
