NO ORDINARY ROOM Read Online Free

the stairs, but when the family joined him outside the attic room door he was still struggling to open the door which didn’t have a handle on it.
    ‘Are you sure this is the right key, Dad?’ Jamie asked.
     ‘Of course it is.  Here, let me have a go.’
    Kevin pulled on the key while turning it and an anxious Jamie looked on.  Kevin pushed open the door after his second attempt and stepped aside to let an excited Jamie have the first peep inside the mystery room.
    ‘I don’t believe it,’ Jamie cried out after he had flicked on the light switch, but remained in the doorway.
    ‘I don’t believe it,’ Jamie repeated, ‘Uncle Stanley must have known that I would like this.  It’s fantastic.’
    Jamie was followed into the room by Debbie and Kevin who were now curious to see what had caused Jamie to get so excited and ignored Leanne when she asked from outside the room if she could have a sign on her door like the ‘Jamie’s Room’ sign.
    ‘It must be a train set,’ Kevin quipped before he saw the array of equipment.
    ‘It’s just what I wanted,’ said an overjoyed Jamie.
    ‘It’s a bit old fashioned, son and looks like something out of a war film.  But as my old mum used to say, we shouldn’t judge a book by the cover.  Anyway, what is it?’
    ‘It’s a computer, Dad.’
    Kevin muttered something about it being a funny looking computer and Debbie mentioned that the room was dusty.  Leanne yawned before announcing that she was going to bed.
    ‘Can I have a play with it, Dad?  Just to see what’s on it?’  Jamie asked.
    ‘You’d better not, son.  Not until the rooms had a bit of a clean and we get settled in tomorrow after the furniture’s been delivered.’  
    Jamie reluctantly accepted his dad’s suggestion and they all left the room.  His dad locked the door and kept hold of the key, scuppering Jamie’s plan to sneak back into the room later when the family were asleep.
    * * *
    Debbie and Kevin squeezed into Uncle Stanley’s old bed and laughed when the springs made a loud squeaking noise.
    ‘What do you think of the house then, Debs?’ Kevin asked after they had snuggled down.
    ‘I really like it.  I have a good feeling about this place, even if we do have a bit of a misery next door.  How old do you think he is?’
    ‘Hard to say, but probably in his mid fifties I would think.  He reminds me of my Uncle Trevor when I look at his big hooter.’ 
    Debbie laughed and said, ‘I forgot to tell you that our Leanne thinks he’s got the longest nose in the world.’
    ‘It is long though and a funny shape,’ Kevin replied. ‘Anyway, he’ll be all right.  Our two will soften him up and make him sociable, especially Jamie.  You know what a chatterbox he is.  He takes after his mum in that department.’
    Debbie elbowed him in the ribs and then kissed him goodnight.
    * * *
    Jamie was regretting not taking his dad’s advice to kip on the settee as he tossed and turned.  Leanne had been given the spare mattress, but Jamie only had the thin sleeping bag between him and the hard floor.  But the reason for his wakefulness was more to do with him thinking about the computer equipment than anything else, but he finally drifted into a deep sleep.
    * * *
    Jamie didn’t know whether it was the discomfort of the hard floor or the scratching noise that seemed to fill the room that had woke him up.  His first thought was that it was the cat and then he remembered that his mum had insisted that it was locked in the kitchen before they came to bed.  Now he was wishing that he hadn’t watched the film at a mate’s house a couple of nights ago.  It was about someone who had been put in a coffin when they were still alive and their frantic scratching had been heard by the family who gathered in church for the cremation.  The scratching sound in the film was identical to what Jamie was hearing now.
    He knew that his dad wouldn’t be too pleased, but Jamie had no intention of opening