Ramsey Campbell - The Claw

As soon as they reached the door, mummy rang the bell. After a while she rang again and began to search for her key. Anna was more afraid than ever: afraid that someone would open the door, afraid that nobody would. She might have run into the fog now that mummy had let go of her, but mummy was glaring at her as if she could read her mind. No doubt she could. She had her key now. She gripped Anna's shoulder as she opened the door, and sent her stumbling into the hall.

The fog was there already. The light looked smoky, burning out. For the first time, as far as she could remember, she couldn't hear the sea in the house. The silence made her skin prickle. It felt as if there were someone in the house, holding their breath. When mummy called 'Alan?', her voice seemed so loud that Anna cried out.

There was no reply. 'Alan?' mummy called again, shoving Anna along the hall. For a moment she sounded like mummy, but she was still behaving like the stranger. She called once more, this time sounding less like mummy. Anna sensed that she was growing angry. and nervous -which meant dangerous. By now Anna was sure that daddy wasn't here.

Mummy opened the door of the long room. The room smelled musty as an attic, like the rest of the house. Mummy was staring about as if she recognized nothing, not the videorecorder with a cassette still in it, not even her paintings of the sea, which looked dusty and faded. When she caught sight of Anna's tortoise made of shells, her eyes gleamed. For a moment Anna thought she was going to smash it, or her.

Mummy dragged her across the hall to the playroom. The floor was covered with toys; Anna hadn't cleared up for a while, she didn't like clearing up. Mummy's hand was tightening on her shoulder at the sight of the room, her nails digging in until Anna was ready to scream. She was afraid to scream now, so far from anyone. She was afraid of what mummy might do to stop her screaming.

Mummy was lugging her to the kitchen now, so roughly that Anna's heels dragged over the carpet. Mummy was staring at knives in the rack on the kitchen wall, and Anna's stomach twisted violently as she wished she could twist herself free. But mummy was pulling her toward the stairs. 'Someone put the light on,' she was muttering.

At once Anna realized that it had been mummy – that she'd left the light on the night they'd gone to the hotel. She didn't dare say so, but her fear and frustration made her speak. 'Daddy isn't here,' she complained. 'Why did we come home?'

Mummy stared at her as if she'd forgotten Anna could talk. 'Because you asked to.'

Her voice was cold and full of hate, the stranger's voice. 'I want to go back to the hotel,' Anna whimpered.

'You mean you don't want to stay here with me.' Mummy's eyes were brightening. 'That's the truth, isn't it? What a wise child.'

'What's wrong?' Anna couldn't help it, she was sobbing. 'You aren't like mummy.'

'Oh, don't I meet with your approval? It's all my fault, is it?' Mummy was hauling her upstairs, not stopping when Anna tripped and bruised her ankle on a stair. She must know by now that daddy wasn't here. What did she mean to do upstairs?

Fog shifted at the landing windows, as if the house were drowned and drifting under water. It didn't just smell musty, it smelled harsh; it made Anna think of a zoo. Mummy was dragging her from room to room, first her and daddy's bedroom, now Anna's, her hand pinching Anna's shoulder cruelly as she looked into the small untidy room. What was she looking for? Anna was afraid to think.

'Yes, of course,' mummy was muttering. 'There is one room.' She was making for the stairs again; she was dragging Anna up to daddy's workroom. Anna sobbed and struggled, but it was no use: mummy was stronger than she was – stronger than Anna had ever known her. Anna was on her knees as mummy dragged her up the last few stairs and across the landing, tugging her all the more roughly when Anna screamed. But before she'd reached daddy's workroom, they both heard a car draw up outside.

Mummy jerked her to her feet before Anna could resist. She must have meant to lock Anna in the workroom while she went to see who was out there, but then she decided that would waste time, for she dragged Anna to the landing window. Something red was out there on the road, reddening a patch of fog. It was a red car. Anna was praying that she knew whose it was, and it seemed her prayers were answered: Granny Knight was striding towards the house.

In the moment when mummy saw her too, Anna had the chance to scream for help, to bang on the window; Granny Knight would have seen her. But already mummy was jerking her away, hurting her arm so much that Anna couldn't even cry out. She threw open the door and shoved Anna into daddy's workroom, where she fell on the floor just short of the desk.

Anna struggled to her feet, terrified of mummy's eyes. 'Are you going to make a sound?' mummy demanded, in her stranger's voice. Anna wanted to say no, to promise she'd be quiet so that mummy would lock her in and go downstairs, so that she could scream for help as soon as she heard mummy opening the front door. But mummy was reading her mind again. She stared into Anna's eyes, then she lashed out. Mummy's hand swinging at her face was the last thing Anna saw as she fell.

Liz gazed down at Anna where she lay sprawled on the workroom floor. She was ready to hit the child again if she moved – she was ready to do whatever was needed to make sure that Anna couldn't cry out to Isobel. But Anna wasn't moving. Liz must have knocked her cold before she fell, otherwise she would have cried out when she hit the floor so awkwardly. Satisfied, Liz went swiftly out of the room and bolted the door.

Isobel was knocking at the front door. The sound reverberated through the house as if the entire building were made of wood. It didn't matter that it made her jump and curse Isobel; at least it couldn't rouse Anna. Isobel was ringing the bell, but Liz was calmer now; Isobel couldn't know she was in the house, she had only to wait up here until the interfering woman went away.

Isobel was knocking again and again. Let her knock -Liz hoped she went on until her hands were raw. What did the old bitch want, anyway? What was she doing here? Of course, she couldn't know that Liz was supposed to be at the hotel. Liz didn't even know what she was doing here herself, except that someone had left the light on in the house. Good God – of course, she had, the night she'd fled to the hotel. But she hadn't been going to the hotel that night, she'd been heading in the other direction… Only then those people in the car had interfered. She knew where she must go as soon as Isobel went away.

Isobel was knocking and ringing now. The knocking pounded inside Liz's skull, the ringing jangled her nerves. Stupid bitch, didn't Isobel realize she was only making it worse for Anna? Even now Liz was considering hitting

Anna again to make sure she kept quiet. But after one last thunderous knock, Isobel seemed to give up.

Liz listened to the silence and felt indescribably grateful. She was calm now, she didn't have to listen to Anna. Once she heard Isobel's car she would take Anna out. She could carry her, the child was light enough. Nobody would see them in the fog. She felt so calm it was as though she'd already done what she had to do, until she realized that she hadn't heard the car or even Isobel's footsteps receding. Isobel was still outside the house.

Liz risked a glance from the landing window and found that she was looking directly down on Isobel, a squashed dwarf whose most prominent feature was a pair of folded arms. For a moment Liz wished she could find something heavy, balance it on the sill, open the window stealthily -but there was nothing, and in any case, she felt unable to cope with complications. She had to get rid of Isobel as quickly as possible. That meant now, before Anna regained consciousness and began screaming.