Page 134 of The Sleepwalker
She needs to get to her phone.
The door to the boiler room opens and closes.
Ida tiptoes out from the hall and sees herself on the lawn in front of the apple tree. She then hurries over to the stairs and starts climbing them as quietly as she can.
She looks down, between the steps, and gasps.
The woman isn’t in the boiler room at all. She is standing just outside, hidden in a dark corner.
Ida meets her eye.
The woman lunges forward and swings an axe, and Ida just has time to lift her foot before the sharp blade slices through the tread and hits the side panel.
She screams and starts running, reaching the kitchen counter and managing to knock over her wineglass as she grabs her phone.
It falls to the floor and shatters on the tiles, causing wine to spray across the cupboards and kick plates.
Ida can hear the woman’s heavy footsteps on the stairs as she hurries through to the bedroom, locks the door behind her and backs away.
Her hands are shaking so much that it takes her three attempts to unlock her phone.
The woman is now tugging on the door handle.
Ida dials 112.
The call handler answers just as the intruder starts pounding on the door.
‘You have to help me,’ Ida whispers.
‘What’s the nature of the emergency?’
‘There’s a madwoman in my house,’ she says between shaky breaths.
‘What do you mean by a madwoman?’ the call handler asks in a patient voice.
‘A woman with an axe, she’s broken in.’
‘Is anyone hurt?’
Ida screams as the axe slams into the solid wood door.
‘What’s happening? Do you need help?’ asks the call handler.
‘You have to come, as soon as you—’
There is a cracking sound as the blade hits the door for a second time.
‘Where are you?’
‘I’ve locked myself in the bedroom.’
‘What’s your address?’
Ida reels it off and hears the call handler’s fingers rattling over the keys.
‘A patrol car is heading to you now,’ he says.
‘Oh God,’ Ida gasps as the axe hits the door again. ‘Please, tell them to hurry.’
