She heard the voice again calling her name and she walked towards it instinctively. The voice was coming from the old tree house her father had built when she was little. She threw down her blanket and climbed up the wooden ladder as the voice got louder. Tara looked in the doorway to see who it belonged to, but it was dark and she couldn’t make anyone out. “Hello”, Tara said as she crouched down to enter the tree house. “Tara I’m over here”, the voice replied. Inside the tree house Tara felt around for some matches to light her candle she kept by the door. After several attempts to strike the matches a spark emerged and Tara was able to light up the room with her candle. The flame flickered and revealed colourful pictures on the walls and an old floral quilt on the floor. As Tara turned around her eyes met with the owner of the expectant voice who had been calling for her. The voice belonged a young girl of the same age who was sitting on the floor. Her name was Daphne and she wore similar clothing to Tara much to Tara’s dislike. Daphne’s pale skin glowed in contrast against her long curly hair. Her eyes darted around the room at the shadows on the walls and then they fixed on Tara.
“So you remembered about me then did you, Tara?” hissed Daphne. Tara hesitated to answer as she feared Daphne’s anger at the wrong answer. “Of course I did Daphne you are my big sister after all”, Tara said. “So why are you wearing my clothes Tara?” said Daphne looking Tara up and down. “It’s not my fault Daphne, mummy makes me wear them to remind her of you”, Tara mumbled. “Mummy doesn’t even notice me anymore Tara, I’m thinking of going to find Daddy” said Daphne. “Can I come with you too Daphne, I miss daddy so and I don’t think mummy would even care” begged Tara. Silence fell on the two little girls and Daphne smiled. “Alright Tara pack some things and I will see to it that you see daddy soon” said Daphne.
Tara was so happy to not feel lonely anymore that she left the candle burning as she went down the ladder. She left her blanket on the grass below as she ran towards the house exited at the prospect of leaving it and its loneliness for good. Tara eased open the door and made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. She quietly changed her clothes and put on some shoes and a warm coat. She heard a voice call out her name but this time it was not Daphne but instead her mothers voice. “Tara”, her mother shouted frantically downstairs in the dining room. Tara realised that her mother must have noticed her empty bedroom earlier and started to search for her downstairs. Tara froze unsure what to do as she feared losing her chance to be a family again with her sister and her father. Downstairs Tara’s mother stumbled out the front door shouting her name. Her mother saw light coming from the old tree house and she staggered through the grass until she saw the blanket at the foot of the tree. Tara’s mother’s voice became angry and Tara was afraid to call out to her now and let her know she was upstairs in her bedroom.
“Tara if you don’t get down here now you’ll be sorry” Tara’s mother screamed. Infuriated at her daughter’s disobedience Tara’s mother climbed the wooden ladder toward the tree house. Tara watched helpless at her bedroom window as her mother crawled inside the tree house. Silence was followed by a scream of horror as Daphne shouted “Tara isn’t here anymore but I am”. Tara’s watched her mothers shadow back out of the tree house in terror like a scalded cat. Screaming “no it can’t be Daphne, you’re dead” Tara’s mother fell from the tree house and the screaming stopped. Tara ran downstairs and into the garden outside. At the bottom of the tree lay her mother’s broken body and beside her smiling was Daphne! Tara ran over to the tree and Daphne looked up and said “As I told you Tara, I will find daddy”. Tara looked in disbelief as Daphne stood up and walked away. Running after her Tara shouted “don’t leave me again Daphne you said you’d take me to see daddy”. Daphne stopped and turned for a minute and replied “Dear sister can’t you see that mummy needs me now and daddy will have to return for you now that she has gone”. Gasps and shrieks were heard from the neighbours who ran towards Tara’s mother’s body at the foot of the tree.
Tara’s neighbour Mrs Black put her arm around Tara and took her away from the crowd of onlookers. Looking up at her kindly old face Tara asked Mrs Black “will my daddy come home now”. The old lady smiled and promised she would bring him home to take Tara with him this time. When Tara looked around the garden for Daphne in the confusion, she could only see her and what seemed like her mother holding hands walking away in the distance together. Her mother was no longer staggering or shouting or angry instead she was so happy to be reunited with Daphne. Tara smiled as she knew now that she would ever be alone again and that she would not only have her daddy back but that her sister and mother would never be lonely again either.