Jackson pulled the floorboard up and breathed a sigh of relief. The box was still there. He opened it just to be sure. The pendant sparkled at him as is to say, “I’m safe, don’t worry.”

  He carefully replaced it in its hiding place, then called the police.

  A sergeant and constable arrived twenty minutes later. The point of entry was the forced back door.

  The sergeant took some details from Jackson while the constable took some photos.

  “Mr Turner, can you please make a list of any missing items and bring it in to the station tomorrow,” the sergeant said.

  “Yes, or course,” Jackson replied, “I’ve had a quick look already. I don’t really have a lot of things of any great value. But the TV is still here, and so is my laptop computer and its accessories.”

  “They may have been looking for some specific item. Can you think of anything?”

  Yes, Jackson could think of a particular item that may be of great value, the pendant. But he didn’t want to tell the police about it. In fact no one knew he had it except for the jeweller.

  The police left five minutes later with Jackson promising to do a more thorough check for anything missing.

  “I suggest you get deadbolts for both your front and back doors,” the sergeant had said as he was leaving, “We don’t get a lot of burglaries in Alford, but it’s always a good idea to have good home security.”

  After the police had gone Jackson spent the next two hours tidying up the mess the burglars had left. When he had finished he was certain nothing had been taken. The burglars were looking for something, and, unless they had gone to the wrong house, he could only think of one thing they were after, the pendant.

  The next day he phoned the police station to tell them nothing had been stolen, then he called the locksmith to come and fix his back door and install deadbolts.

  George arrived at three o’clock. “No worries,” he said looking at the damaged back door, I’ll have this fixed in an hour. By the way do you normally get people walking down the middle of your lane just outside your gate? I nearly ran into this woman on my way here. She was right in the middle of the road, I had to brake to avoid hitting her. Then she ran off into the trees.”

  Jackson whirled around to face George. “What did you say?” he demanded, “A woman? What did she look like?”

  “Well I didn’t get a close look at her face, I was too busy trying not to run her down. But she had long brown hair and was wearing a white dress. Where are you going?”

  Jackson didn’t answer George. He rushed to the front door and ran down the driveway. When he reached the gate he looked around. A girl with brown hair in a white dress. It must have been Isabella, but where was she?

  He called her name over and over as he walked further down the lane, but there was no sign of her. Dejectedly he turned around and walked slowly back to the house.

  As he walked back up his driveway a man stepped out from behind a tree near the gate and watched him intently.

  The next morning started out with a light mist. Jackson made himself a hot mug of coffee and sat on the top step of the porch watching the mist with the sun slowly breaking through with shafts of silvery light. He took a long sip of coffee and put the mug down on the step next to him. He remembered when he first saw Isabella she had stepped out of a mist like this. For a long moment he stared down the driveway imagining he could see her gradually emerging from the mist in her white dress, and with a big smile on her face as she greeted him.

  “Good morning, Mr Jackson.”

  “What?” He rubbed his eyes and gasped in astonishment. There standing before him at the foot of the steps was his beloved Isabella. Was she real, or was this his imagination? He jumped up knocking over his coffee mug. In two seconds he was at the bottom step holding Isabella in a tight hug.

  “Where have you been, my darling?” he asked her, “I’ve been out of my mind missing you. I thought you were never coming back.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry my love,” she whispered, “How long was I gone?”

  “It’s been about three weeks. But where were you all this time?”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Three weeks this time,” she muttered.

  “What do you mean this time?”

  “Darling, let’s go inside and sit down. I have some things to tell you.”

  “Okay, but first tell me, are you the Isabella Thorne who disappeared from that hill over there in 1936?”

  She slowly nodded, then took him by the hand and lead him up the steps into the house.

  Over a cup of coffee at the dining table Isabella slowly revealed the incredible events which had befallen her starting eighty nine years ago.

  “It was a warm summer day so my sister Katherine and I decided to race to the top of the hill. We fell asleep on the soft grass, then a storm woke us up. Katherine ran down the hill, but I was still at the top when there was a big flash of light, then everything went black. When I woke up hours later I was back in the house, but something had changed. My bedroom looked different, my family had gone, the house was deserted. Later I discovered I was captive to the house, I couldn’t leave it.

  A few years after that a young couple moved into the house. They never had children so they mostly lived downstairs. They were here for a long time before they moved out and the house was left deserted for many years. Then another couple without children moved in, then years later another couple. These couples all lived downstairs while the upstairs gradually fell into disrepair..

  During this time I thought I must be a ghost. I didn’t need to eat or sleep, I just existed. Then eventually I worked it out. It was the pendant. It was the magical power of the pendant. If I could find it I could escape the house and go…” she paused, “and go back home. I thought I must have left it here in the house on the day of the storm. I started searching for it upstairs. That’s when the couple living down here must have heard me. They built that door with the lock at the top of the stairs. They thought they had a ghost and the door would keep me up here. About the time your uncle moved in I finally discovered I could leave the house and walk around the town. I watched you from my bedroom window when you were in the garden the first day you arrived. I was determined to meet you but I was too shy at first. I’m sorry if I scared you with any noise I made upstairs sometimes, but I was still looking for the pendant.”

  Jackson sat back trying to absorb all this. It was fantastic, it was unbelievable, but in a way it made some sort of crazy sense.

  “But my darling where were you the last three weeks?” he asked.

  Isabella reached across the table and held Jackson’s hand.

  “I was right here,” she said, “I’ve always been here at Oakhaven. She pointed to the ceiling. I’m upstairs in my room. That’s where I’ve been every night since we met. I just pretended I was living in a house down the road. But every now and then something strange happens. I lie down in my bed one night, and the next morning is not the next morning, it’s weeks or months later. That’s what happened this time. To me the last time I saw you was yesterday, but for you it was many weeks. I’m jumping forward in time. I don’t know why it happens. I don’t know why any of this is happening. All I know is two things. I love the handsome young Mr Jackson who lives in my house, and the pendant, I have to find it. I don’t know why, but I have to find it. I think it has something to do with everything that’s been happening to me.”

  “I have a surprise for you, my love,” Jackson said, rising from the table, “Stay here, don’t move.”

  Isabella watched him curiously as he walked over to the mat in the floor of the living room and pushed it aside. He then lifted up the floorboard and retrieved the small box wrapped in plastic. He returned to the table, removed the plastic from the box and handed it to her without a word.

  Isabella opened the box and gasped. “You found it! Oh you are so wonderful, I love you so much!”

  She removed the pendant from the box and gently rubbed her finger over the crystal.

  “Here, let me,” Jackson offered. He took the pendant from her and fastened it around her neck, “Now come and look in the mirror.”

  She walked over to the mirror and looked at her reflection. She gave a big smile, and as she did so the crystal seemed to magically sparkle to match the sparkle in Isabella’s eyes.