The Good Sisters: The perfect scary read to curl up with this winter. Helen Phifer

she smelt a faint whiff of the odour from this morning and sniffed. What was that smell? She’d used garlic to cook with. She’d had the kitchen window open and the extractor fan blasting. It shouldn’t be lingering at the bottom of the stairs.

      ‘Can you smell that funny smell?’

      Ollie looked around and sniffed a few times, then shook his head. ‘The only thing I can smell is fresh plaster, paint and that pasta you made. What can you smell?’

      ‘I don’t know. It’s like a faint whiff of garlic and burning flesh all rolled into one.’

      ‘Nice. Nope – I don’t really know what burning flesh smells like to be honest, though.’

      She started to laugh, not wanting him to think she was drunk and delusional. ‘It must be the garlic bread. I did burn it a little.’

      He opened the front door and turned to kiss her on the cheek. ‘Thank you again. It was nice eating a meal like a civilised person. I could get used to it. I’ll see you tomorrow and if you need me for anything before the morning don’t hesitate to ring. I mean it, Kate, if you get worried or hear noises phone the police then ring me. Promise?’

      ‘I promise; thanks, Ollie. See you tomorrow.’

      She shut the door and turned the lock, afraid that if she watched him drive away she would be too scared to go back inside on her own. His engine started and she heard the sound of his tyres on the gravel as he drove away. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Forcing herself to be brave, she decided to check the entire house just to make sure there was no one in it before she locked herself into her makeshift bedroom for the night.

      Kate walked back to the kitchen and the drawer where she kept the huge torch Ollie had left there for her in case of a power cut; then she locked the back door and began to make her way into each room, checking they were secure. She got to the very last room downstairs and opened the door. As she flicked the light switch there was a bang as the bulb exploded and she swore to herself. Turning on the torch she shone it around the empty room. Satisfied there was no one in there, she pulled the door shut.

      As she made her way upstairs she could still smell whatever the odour was from before. She forced herself to carry on. She was tired and sad that Ollie had actually driven away. Maybe she should have asked him to stop. Feeling tetchy and more than a little bit angry she ran to the top of the stairs to check each room upstairs. The first two were fine, so was the third but as she got to the fourth one a feeling of dread began to settle over her. Man up, Kate, it’s just a big, old, empty house. That’s it, nothing more. You’re spooking yourself. This is your dream house, so check the rooms, then you can get to bed, on your own once again.

      She tutted out loud. Sometimes she wished she could turn off the internal voices in her head. Grabbing the handle she twisted the knob and threw the door open. Flicking on the light switch she grinned to herself. The room was empty. It smelt of fresh paint and the window was open a small gap. She crossed the room to pull it shut. She didn’t want the wind to pick up in the night and cause any draughts or banging doors.

      As she was trying to tug down the heavy wooden frame, she didn’t see the figure dressed in a nun’s habit watching her from the doorway. She did, however, get a creeping sensation on the back of her neck that someone was behind her and her heart began to race. Kate whipped her head around, but the doorway was empty. She managed to slam the window down so loud the noise echoed around the room. Then she turned and walked back out, switching off the light and closing the door behind her.

      As she walked out onto the landing a cold chill went right through her entire body, as if she’d just walked through a cold spot. She shook her head. No, it felt like you walked through a ghost. She shuddered. The rest of the bedroom doors were closed. Suddenly she didn’t feel so brave. Her anger at Ollie for leaving her and the strange feeling of being watched unsettled her. She was torn. Did she finish checking the rooms or did she go down to the safety of her bedroom where she felt comfortable, cocooned in her own little world and surrounded by the few things she owned that meant something to her?

      A muffled thud echoed around the hall, making her jump. As she turned in the direction where it came from, a vision of a beautiful, petite, dark-haired woman flashed through her mind. She was staring straight at her. The woman smiled and whispered, ‘Hello, Kate, welcome to my world.’ Then she was gone and Kate knew that her name was Lilith. The word filled her mind, silently screaming a warning to her. The door from the room where she’d heard the noises earlier and where that smell had come from was ajar. How had that happened? Or more importantly who had opened it? Because it had been shut seconds ago.

      Kate wasn’t a fool or particularly brave, but she wanted to know what was going on. This was her house. Every penny she had was being ploughed into renovating it. If it was something to do with Martin, as Ollie suspected, then she wanted to know. If only she had cameras. She would ask Ollie tomorrow if they could hurry them up somehow.

      Can you really go downstairs, knowing that someone is up here? Are you going to sleep soundly when anyone could be prowling around? She knew that she would, but only in an alcohol-induced haze and she didn’t want that. She wanted to get her life back together without relying on alcohol. Her feet made the decision for her and began striding towards the door. She held the torch up to use as a weapon in case she needed to defend herself.