The mud at the bottom of her feet was beginning to dry up and started to peel back. She had taken off her shoes to relax and let some air get to them. She had walked with her two suit cases all the way from the town. It was a long walk and she had no car yet and was unable to get a lift home. It was winter but where she was it never really got that cold. But it rained a lot, and had been all day. Luckily for her it didn't rain a bit during her enduring walk form the town to her isolated parents house. Laila or Lailey as know by her brother was sitting above the wet ground on her parents porch. Waiting for them to arrive home from afternoon tea at the Wilsons house which was a few miles down the road from the house she used to call home. Lailey loved this old farm house it held great childhood memories. The pouch she sat on held many of them. She remembered once her brother Malcolm told her that there was a ghost living in their basement right under that same pouch. She was only 8 and Malcolm was 10.

There is a big ghost right underneath here, did you know that?" Malcolm said with a cheeky gleam in his eyes. Lailey froze and stopped reading her book. "Yeah he likes to eat people, especially little girls!"

There is not Malcolm she said with uncertainty in her voice.

Yes there is! Ooooooooooo jumping up around her making ghost noises.

Be quiet or Ill tell mother! she snapped

Ooooooooooooo he kept going running around her. That night Lailey remembered lying in her bed with her eyes shut but her ears open to here any sounds.  It was a windy night and every sound she heard the first thing that would come to mind was the ghost. For weeks she could not sleep properly and she was petrified of sitting on the front pouch which was her favorite spot. She also tried to ignore Malcolms gestures of the ghost.

The rain started to pour down again and Lailey sat back from the edge of the pouch.  The rain was fresh and had a light musky smell to it. She really missed this place. It was luminous with all the green grass and the surrounding hills. The rain was falling as far as she could see; hidden within a valley this place seemed so intangible. Like it was only known to a few amount of people, and had only been just discovered by an explorer, searching for a paradise. Only to find this place not entirely a explorers idea of heaven but close enough to it.

There werent many other homes, apart from her familys, Mr McGregors and the Wilsons. They too ran farms like her mother and father did. Mr McGregor was from Ireland and has been here since she was a little girl. He drank a lot but had a great sense of humor with a mouth full of yellow decaying teeth. Every time she remembered him she thought of him she remember the faint sent of whisky he had buried within his skin. But she had a lot of empathy for the old man as he was lonely. His wife died many years ago and his daughter Briony moved away with her husband. Nearly blind Mr McGregor is still constant visitor at her house. She remembered when his dog Missy had puppies and Lailey and her brother were given one. Much to her mothers disgust, not that she didn't like animals after the entire farm was pretty much over run by them. But there was another animal to look after but Lailey and Malcolm begged her and once she finally decided she laid down the law. The dog was their responsibility and would have to be taken care of by them both. Orange the terrier cross was a great dog, he was mischievous and would often get into tight and unusual places like underneath the haunted pouch and in the chicken coop. Orange would love to chase the poor chickens lightly nipping at their feathers. Lailey named him Orange because the fur around his ears was of an orange tinge. The family agreed on his name and it was well suited.

Lailey got up picked up her suit case and dirty shoes and decided to move into the house and have a bath so she could freshen up for dinner. It was for her arrival home from graduating medical school and working as an intern in the city. She opened the door she stepped into the hall way, and looked down at her dirty feet. Luckily the imported rug that usually sat on the floor boards was not there and she couldn't get mud on it. Walking down the hall way she analyzed each room she passed it. They were exactly the way they were when she left, upstairs her bedroom door was shut. Not knowing what to expect she opened the door and let it swing open. Every thing was the same. Her bed was untouched, her books were aligned perfectly and her  feather dream keeper mobile given to her by a friend  still hung near the window. She placed her suit case she shoes down and headed for the bathroom. Nothing had changed everything was the way it was, in fact she could have sworn that she never actually left.