Alone in the Night

by Holly Webb

  For Tom

  For more information about Holly Webb visit: www.holly-webb.com

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Other titles by Holly Webb:

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  “Jasmine! Hurry up! You’re going to be late for school!” Jasmine’s mum glanced at her watch – and then at all the other children wearing the same uniform as her daughter, who were streaming past the end of their road.

  Jasmine looked up. “Oh, but, I was just saying hello to Tiger, Mum!” The marmalade tabby cat sitting on the wall ducked his head so Jasmine could rub his ears. Then he stood up and leaned over to bump the side of his head against her chin. Jasmine had read lots of books about cats and knew that he wasn’t just being cute. He was rubbing his scent glands on her. It was pretty cute, too, though. All the cats in the street loved Jasmine – which is why it always took her so long to get to school.

  “Jasmine, we left the house ten minutes ago and we haven’t even got past next door!” Her mum sighed. “You’re going to be late.”

  “Sorry, Mum.” Jasmine smiled at her apologetically. “Let’s run!”

  She was just picking up her school bag when she stopped again. “Oh, Mum, look! In next door’s window!” She pointed across the garden.

  “Oh, a kitten.”

  “Mum! A gorgeous kitten! I haven’t seen her before. Did you know the new people next door had a kitten?”

  The kitten was tiny, perched right in the middle of the big window sill, which made her look tinier still. Jasmine could just about make out her beautiful stripy brown tabby markings.

  “No, I didn’t,” Mum said, leading her away. Jasmine walked backwards, still staring at the kitten, who stared back. “You know we haven’t really said any more than a quick hello while they were unpacking.”

  “Poor little kitten. They must have left her all alone while they’ve gone to work,” Jasmine said sadly.

  “Oh, Jasmine! Cats don’t mind being on their own,” her mum laughed. “Besides, how do you even know that kitten’s a she? It could be a boy.”

  “She just looked like a she,” Jasmine said. “And cats do get lonely, Mum, especially when they’re only babies.”

  “I’m sure they’ll play with her when they get home,” Mum comforted her. “Now run!”

  Jasmine turned out to be right – the kitten was a girl. Her mum invited Helen, the new lady next door, round for coffee, and found out all about her beautiful cat.

  “She’s called Star,” Jasmine told her best friend Lara, as they walked home from school together. “She’s got such cute tabby stripes; she’s really gorgeous.” Jasmine sighed. “She looks exactly my dream cat – you know, the one I’d really like to have for my own some day.”

  “Oh, you’re so lucky having her next door. She might come into your garden,” Lara said enviously. “Do you know how old she is?”

  “Nearly three months. They were given her by a friend whose cat had kittens. They were a bit worried she’d be upset by the move, but she doesn’t mind. Except she’s desperate to go out!”

  “Can’t they let her out?” Lara asked.

  “Not until she’s had all her vaccinations in a couple of weeks’ time,” Jasmine explained. “See you tomorrow!” she called, as they got to her gate.

  Over the next few weeks, Jasmine watched for Star every time she walked past the house next door and always waved hello. Sometimes, if she was sitting on the window sill, the little cat would stand up on her back legs and scrabble hopefully at the glass with her paws, as though she hoped she might be able to slip through and come out for Jasmine to stroke her. Jasmine wished she could, too.

  Star finished her wash and looked thoughtfully round the garden. She still wasn’t very used to being outside. In fact, today was the first day that her owners had left her in the house with the cat flap unlocked. She’d been allowed out all on her own a few times over the weekend, and they’d put out big bowls of cat crunchies to make sure she came back. Of course she had! She loved her house, and her basket, and her food bowls, and her people. Exploring was fun too, that was all.

  She headed to the end of the garden. The brambles there were fascinating, full of nests and tunnels and hidey-holes. When she’d finally finished investigating and wriggled out again, her eyes were sparkling with excitement. She licked the fur round her mouth thoughtfully, trying to get rid of the rather strange taste of beetle. Beetles looked delicious, like walking cat crunchies, but they didn’t taste good.

  Star sat down in the middle of the lawn, closing her eyes for a moment and feeling the warm autumn sunshine on her fur. Then she went and rolled around in a pile of dried leaves. When she’d got bored of that game, she stretched out her front paws and then her back paws, and looked for something to do next. There was a snail moving very slowly along a leaf just next to her, and she watched that for a little while, but she’d learned from the beetle, and didn’t try to eat it.

  That was when she spotted the gap under the fence. Star didn’t really know what the fence was. She didn’t quite understand that there was a whole new garden on the other side of it. But she knew that the little hole looked interesting.

  The gap wasn’t very big, and she had to scratch a little at the earth underneath to get through. Star still had little soft indoor kitten paws, with apricot-pink pads, and digging her way under the fence rubbed off a little of their newness. It felt good.

  She emerged in next door’s garden and gave herself a quick wash. Then she looked round with interest.

  Suddenly she caught sight of Jasmine. Her eyes widened – as Jasmine was so quiet she’d thought she was alone. But she didn’t dive back under the fence. Star recognized the girl – she was the friendly one who always waved when she walked past the house.

  It was the middle of the half-term holiday. Jasmine was in the garden putting the leftover toast crusts from breakfast out on the bird table when she caught a little greyish-brown flash in the corner of her eye. She turned her head slowly, hoping to see what sort of bird it was. But it wasn’t a sparrow hopping about in the bushes. It was a cat.

  Not just any cat… The cat. It was little Star, from next door.

  She was squeezing herself under the fence, wriggling and scrabbling, with such a determined expression on her face that Jasmine had to bite her lip to stop herself from giggling – she didn’t want to scare Star away.

  The kitten finally popped out from under the fence like she’d been pushed and twitched her tail crossly. Then she sat down to have a wash, brushing her paw thoroughly round her ears in case she’d got them grubby fighting her way through.

  Jasmine perched on the garden bench and watched her, not even wanting to breathe too deeply in case she frightened the tiny creature. She’d been hoping to meet Star properly for so long, and the kitten was only a few metres away.

  Now Star had obviously seen her. She stood up daintily and padded over to Jasmine. No one had stroked her since Helen and Andy left for work, and even though exploring was fun, she wanted someone to fuss over her. She stopped a little way away, just far enough to make a run for it if Jasmine turned out not to be friendly, and gave a hopeful little mew.

  Jasmine reached out her hand slowly. She couldn’t believe Star had come this close – she’d thought that such a little kitten would be too nervous. She could almost touch Star’s nose, but she didn’t. She just held her fingers out, and whispered, “Here, puss, hello, Star…”

  Star’s
ears pricked slightly. The girl knew her name! That had to be good. She pranced a few steps closer and rubbed her head affectionately against Jasmine’s leg.

  Jasmine laughed and stroked Star’s ears, and Star made a big leap and sprang on to the bench next to her, then climbed into Jasmine’s lap. There she gave a contented little sigh and closed her eyes, massaging Jasmine’s jeans with her little needle-sharp claws. Good. Proper stroking.

  Jasmine smiled down at her, wishing she had a beautiful kitten of her very own. It was such a pity her mum and dad weren’t really pet people. But maybe gorgeous little Star could help convince them?

  From then on, Jasmine always looked out for Star in the garden, and Star soon worked out what time Jasmine got home from school. If she was bored, or wanted someone to play with, she would wriggle under the fence – she’d had to make the hole quite a lot bigger by now – and jump from the bench on to the kitchen window sill. Then she would mew plaintively for Jasmine to come out and see her.

  Jasmine’s mum thought it was funny at first, but then she got a bit worried. What if the next-door neighbours minded about Jasmine spending all this time fussing over their kitten?

  One day the kitchen window was open – Jasmine’s mum had been cooking chilli for dinner and wanted to let the smell out – and when Jasmine came into the kitchen she saw Star nosing curiously around the gap, obviously wondering if she was allowed to step in through the window.

  Jasmine didn’t even think. She just held out her hand and made puss-puss noises to Star, tempting her in. She couldn’t imagine anything nicer than cuddling Star in her own kitchen. Unless it was in her bedroom, of course…

  Jasmine’s mum was horrified when she came up to see how Jasmine was getting on with her homework. “Jasmine! What’s that cat doing in here?” she cried.

  Star gave a nervous little squeak and disappeared off Jasmine’s lap under the desk.

  Jasmine glared at her mum and crouched down to try and coax her out. “You frightened her!”

  “She frightened me!” her mum retorted. “She’s not meant to be in our house, Jasmine, she’s next door’s cat!”

  “I bet they wouldn’t mind,” Jasmine muttered. She knew she shouldn’t really have let Star in, but she’d been so lonely, mewing on the window sill. “They don’t get home till later, Mum; she just wanted a cuddle!”

  “Jasmine, she’s not ours. She’ll end up getting confused about where she lives – she’s only little. Put her out!” her mum said firmly. And Jasmine had to gather Star up and take her back downstairs.

  “Sorry, Star!” Jasmine murmured, as she slipped the kitten out of the back door. Her mum was watching, her arms folded sternly, and Jasmine knew she’d be pushing her luck if she went outside too. But it was getting dark and had started to rain. She felt so guilty putting Star out in the cold and wet.

  Star watched the door close, looking up at it sadly. Why hadn’t Jasmine’s mother wanted her? She didn’t understand. She shook her whiskers, feeling confused, then slunk across the garden, under the fence and back through her cat flap.

  Chapter Two

  After Mum had made her take Star outside, Jasmine didn’t risk letting her in the house again, however much she wanted to. For the next few weeks she played with Star in the garden instead, even though it was November and freezing cold. Star’s lovely furry coat kept her a lot warmer than Jasmine’s blue school anorak, but she didn’t want to miss out on playing with the kitten.

  “Jasmine! Come on in, it’s tea time!” Jasmine’s mum called from the back door.

  Jasmine picked up Star and put her gently on top of the fence – she liked jumping on to it now she was a bit bigger, instead of scrabbling underneath. “Bye, Star! See you tomorrow,” she murmured, stroking the little cat’s nose. Star was in that funny stage now where she was half-kitten, half-cat and all legs.

  Her mum was still looking out of the back door. “Aren’t you frozen? Look, your hands are bright red; where are your gloves?”

  Jasmine wiggled her fingers, which were feeling quite numb now. “I was stroking Star; you can’t stroke a cat with gloves on, Mum.”

  Her mum shook her head, smiling. “You and that cat.”

  Star jumped lightly down from the wall and trotted back to her cat flap. She was very cold and she wanted to go inside. But when she nudged her cat flap with her nose, it didn’t open. Star butted it harder, but she only hurt her nose. She mewed crossly. Then she tried scratching at the cat flap, but that didn’t work either. The flap was stuck, and it wouldn’t budge.

  Star mewed again, louder this time, hoping her owners would hear. But no one came. Miserably, she crept away and hid under a bush close to the door, waiting for the house lights to go on to show her owners were home.

  It seemed as though she waited for ages, while the garden grew darker and darker, and ever more cold. Even her tail ached with it. It was too cold to sleep, and she was so hungry. She got up and went to stare sadly through the cat flap at her food bowl. Usually her owners would be home by now, she was sure. Where were they? Star didn’t like being on her own. She liked people, and being stroked and petted. She looked back across the dark garden to Jasmine’s house. If only she could go inside. It would be so lovely and warm in there.

  Suddenly the fur on her back rose up as she sensed that another cat was in her garden, and not one she liked. She’d met quite a few other cats over the last few weeks. Some had been friendly, and some had warned her away. She jumped round, whiskers bristling, and saw an enormous dark shape creeping towards her. A dark shape that hissed.

  Star squeaked with fright and backed up against the wall, darting a quick, desperate glance at her cat flap. But it was still shut tight.

  The black cat padded closer and hissed again, and then swiped at her with one huge dark paw, sending her skidding away.

  Star skittered across the garden and dived for the hole under the fence. Frantically, she squeezed her way through, even though it was really far too tight, and shot out into Jasmine’s garden. At least the hole was too small for that huge black cat to follow her. Star ran over to Jasmine’s back door and let out a panicky howl, hoping Jasmine would come and rescue her.

  She’d been right. The hole was too small for the black cat. But she could hear him scrambling up the fence…

  Jasmine was asleep, dreaming of a horrible spelling test, when her teacher suddenly turned into a mewing cat. She wriggled and turned over, muttering in her sleep. But the meowing didn’t stop, and eventually she woke up, blinking worriedly into the darkness. That was Star!

  Jasmine hopped out of bed and dragged on her dressing gown. She was leaning over the top of the stairs when her dad came out of the living room.

  “Oh, did they wake you, Jasmine? Don’t be scared; it’s just some cats fighting in the garden. I’m going to chase them away.”

  Jasmine shook her head anxiously, and ran down the stairs towards him. “No, Dad, don’t! That sounds like Star, the kitten from next door. I’m sure she’s not fighting. She’s really scared, I can tell.”

  Her dad sighed. “Your mum said you’d fallen in love with that cat. Come on, then, let’s see what’s going on.”

  He opened the back door, and there on the step, shivering, was a tiny little tabby thing, her fur all up on end and her tail looking like a feather duster. Lurking a couple of metres away, its eyes shining green in the light from the kitchen, was the biggest black cat Jasmine had ever seen.

  “Oh! It’s Sam, from down the road. He’s always fighting. He’s only got half an ear, and Mrs James has to take him to the vet about once a fortnight. We can’t let him fight with Star, he’s so huge he’d just squash her!” Jasmine went out on to the step, not caring about her bare feet. “Shoo, Sam! Go home, bad cat!”

  Sam backed off, but only a little way. Star gave a miserable little mew, and Jasmine picked her up gently. “Dad, please can we bring her inside? I know the Murrays wouldn’t mind, not if she was going to get hurt.”

 
Her dad sighed and looked over at her mum, who’d come into the kitchen to see what was happening.

  “Why can’t she go home?” Mum asked, sounding reluctant. “Hasn’t she got a cat flap?”

  Jasmine shrugged. “Maybe she’s too scared to get past Sam?”

  “I’ll nip next door and see if the Murrays are home. It didn’t look like their lights were on though.” Dad went round to the front of the house.

  Jasmine cuddled Star, feeling her heart racing inside her fragile body. She was still such a little cat.

  Dad came back, shaking his head. “No, they’re definitely out.”

  Jasmine’s mum sighed. “Well, maybe we had better hold on to her. Just till Helen and Andy get home. They must have gone out for the evening.”

  Even though it was late, Jasmine’s mum and dad let her stay downstairs with Star – it was a Friday evening, so there was no school the next day. And when Jasmine pointed out that Star probably hadn’t had any tea, Mum even found a tin of tuna for her.

  But it got later and later, and Jasmine couldn’t stop yawning. Star was curled up fast asleep on her lap on the sofa, and Jasmine’s mum shook her head, laughing.

  “Go up to bed, Jasmine. And yes, you can take her with you, otherwise I should think she’ll howl herself silly in the kitchen. We’ll just have to take her back in the morning.”

  Jasmine looked up at her in delight. “Really?” She had been trying so hard not to yawn in case Mum sent her off to bed, but she’d never thought they’d let her take Star upstairs, not after what Mum had said last time.