The kids sat watching TV.

"Oh, darlings, I'm glad to find you all together!" Their house mother, Trudy came in as if she was fast-walking.

"Why you glad, Trudy?" Jerome asked her lazily. "We're watching TV."

Trudy said "There's a huge storm coming and I want you all to stay together in here. I have to get some food prepared so that we can still eat cooked meals without having any electricity. Could you please make sure you have charge in your mobiles, torches and spare batteries and blankets? If you need to entertain yourselves, make sure you have well charged video games or good stories to use. No playing anything inappropriate or dangerous, that's truly for your own safety. Thank you, my lovelies."

She scampered into the kitchen like a hamster. She darted about, cooking and getting hot drinks prepared. She handed them out and lit a fire.

"Keep away from the fireplace. I don't want any of you getting hurt." She warned.

The kids ran to their rooms and got the required supplies. Fabian took his guitar. Who knew, maybe he'd need it. Trudy was cooking away in the kitchen, Victor was out for the week, leaving Trudy in charge.

Everyone had celebrated at the news, loving the fact that only their pushover of a housemother was there. Besides, she was the one who gave out cookies, cakes and brownies whenever she could.

Then the first roll of thunder and flash of lightning. Two flashes later, Trudy's cooking was done and doled out into containers. All the lights zapped out on the fourth flash.

Trudy flicked on her emergency lights.

"OK, sweeties, you're safe." Though they really weren't bothered by it. Trudy herself was terrified in a storm, nobody else. People figured she must have just had a really bad experience during one before.

"Let's tell ghost stories!" Alfie yelled.

Everyone enthusiastically agreed. In the kitchen, Trudy swallowed. Once, she'd loved a ghost story in the middle of a storm. But after one particular one told by Jerome when he was six, she'd hated it. It scared her so much, she barely slept. And if she did, she woke up screaming.

"I'll go first." Jerome spoke up. He started the one he knew would scare them all senseless.

"It was a stormy night, very like this one. There was a young mother, alone with her son. They boy was small, only about three. The mother was twenty one. The thunder was making the small child scared.

His mother sang to him. She sang the story of a baby who was born into a large but poor family. He was left to raise himself. He grew up on the streets, learning to steal, fight and kill for food. One night, he got desperate and bought a gun, stole a car, then tries to escape, but dies in his attempt."

(A/N: Anyone guessed the song? If not, link on my profile.)

Trudy remembered singing that song to Jerome on the night of the storm when he was six and she was 24. It made her cry.

"Then as he fell asleep, the young mother cried. She knew that her son would grow up some day and he wouldn't want to lie with her like that. When she heard a knock at the door, she made her little son lie on the sofa while she answered the door.

She opened the door to a man. He was wet and cold. The woman felt instant pity and brought him in. She gave him a hot drink she'd made over a fire, like the one over there."

Jerome gestured to the fireplace. Trudy was crying quietly, knowing the story well. She knew that she and Jerome were the mother and son.

"He talked to her. He made her feel warm and loved in a way she hadn't felt since before her son was born. She was happy in his company. The small boy woke and looked about, then at his mother.

'Mama, who you talk to?' The small child asked his mother.

'This lovely gentleman, my love.' The young woman answered.

She turned to the man, to see that he was no longer there. His cup was smashed on the floor, a mess of chocolate drink on the floor. A blood covered knife lay on the sofa, blood in his place.

She saw her little boy, fast asleep next to her. That man she'd been speaking to, the one who had left a mess of blood and a knife on her sofa was gone. She turned to get herself a cup of chocolate. There was something burning in the flames. She poked it with the fire poker. The poker went through it and in her horror, she pulled it out.

It was a charred man's body. She gasped in horror as she saw the face. It was her new companion. As she stared in horror, the body stood before her eyes, repairing itself.

'You are my wife. The only woman who would ever allow me inside, talk and be gentle. I have been waiting for two whole centuries to find you again, Charlotte.' The man rasped to her.

The young woman gasped. She hadn't ever married. She'd been left when she'd told the boy's father she was expecting his child.

'But... I never married. My fiance left me when I told him I was expecting his baby.' She told the man.

'You were expecting when I left, Charlotte, my love.' The man rasped.

She gasped out 'I'm only twenty four, I can't possibly have been your wife.'"

With that, the others were listening intently, waiting for the blond to continue. Trudy had hidden away, trying not to scream.

"The man pushed the young mother against the wall, gently and lovingly. He kissed her, making her feel the same pleasure she had the night her son was created. But she didn't want another child, she had given up on trusting men.

She pushed at him gently.

'Please, no. Another child is out of the question. I have my hands full with my son.' She told him kindly.

'You lovely lady. Charlotte, you're my own. I want to give you everything.' He handled her with love, lifting her off her feet, carrying her to the sofa.

But the young mother didn't want to do this. In his anger at the young woman, he picked up her sleeping toddler and threw the boy into the flames. His mother screamed in horror and made to rescue her burning child.

The man pushed her back and forced her to watch her son die.

'You are now free of that boy, Charlotte. You have nothing preventing you from this.' He told her furiously. The woman screamed as she sobbed, calling for her baby.

That night as the man slept in her bed, next to her, she slipped free. She went outside and looked to the stars.

'Mummy will be with you soon.' She told her son, up in heaven.

She went to the kitchen and got the sharpest knife she could find. She didn't want to live without her child. She stabbed herself and fell into the flames to die there.

Their bodies were recovered but so badly burnt, there was no way of ever identifying them.

And that's why Victor doesn't allow pets. Because that young mother is by that fireplace at midnight in the middle of a storm and she calls for her baby boy. If she sees any animals, the next morning, they're found dead in the fireplace. She saw Trudy's little pet kitten one stormy night. The next morning, Trudy found her cat dead in the fireplace.

All because that poor woman is looking for her son. When we get power again, Google it. It happened here in Anubis house."

All the others were terrified. Trudy had started whimpering.

"Any questions?" Jerome asked.

"Yeah," Amber answered. "Have either you or Trudy ever seen her?"

"I have, yeah." Jerome told her.

Trudy came in quietly, having seen the woman herself.

"Jerome isn't the only one. The night he told me that story for the first time, I saw her too. She was only wearing the thinnest veil wrapped around her. She was covered in soot and crying for her son." Trudy told them all.

"Whoa. Trudy, you saw the ghost?" Nina gasped.

"Yes. I was thirsty and Jerome was sleeping. I got into here and there was a woman pacing, calling and wailing. I ran out and into my bathroom. I just got a glass of water and stayed out of her way." Trudy said sadly. "It was the most painful sight ever. I knew that she must have been hurting."

"That settles it." Eddie said. "We're gonna stay up tonight and watch out for this ghost."

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Ooh, what's gonna happen? PM me with ideas for the encounter with the ghost, review if you liked this. Until next update, Random Dizzy. :)