Wren was staring out of the window. It was one of her favourite things to do.
The window in her bedroom was nice and low, and there was a toy chest just below it that she could kneel on, and with her elbows propped on her window sill she could see all the sights that a morning in Foster Avenue had to offer. There was a tree in her next-door neighbour's front garden, and birds landed in it all the time - black birds and brown birds and sometimes even bright green birds, which were her favourite. (She knew that there was a bird called a Wren and she told people that that was her favourite, because she'd found that for some reason people liked it if little girls had facts to hand like what their favourite bird was; but she wasn't sure what a wren looked like, actually.)
Every now and again someone would go by walking their dog - Wren wasn't so sure about dogs when they got up close, because sometimes they tried to jump up on you and lots of dogs were bigger than Wren when they were up on their hind legs; but at this distance they were just funny and barky and she liked to look at them.
There was the lady who delivered the post and the boy who delivered the paper - both of them were used to seeing Wren staring out of her window, and they usually remembered to wave to her.
And then there were all the windows opposite. There was Curtains Always Shut, and there was Red Lampshade, and there was Ginger Cat - Ginger Cat was probably Wren's favourite - and then there was Empty House -
Wren gasped. There was someone in Empty House! There was a little girl, staring out of the window just like Wren. She had brown hair, just like Wren, but instead of pigtails she had one long plait that hung over her shoulder - Wren was sure she’d seen her somewhere before.
Wren waved, and the other little girl waved back, just as Wren's mummy came into the room to help her get dressed, just as she always did.
"Who’s that girl?" Wren asked - but as she turned back to the window to show Mummy what she meant, the other little girl vanished.
Wren had a busy day. After breakfast she played with her Barbies and made a cake with Daddy and read some stories; and then after lunch she and Mummy went to visit Granny in the nursing home.
Mummy went to see Granny lots, but she didn't always take Wren with her, even though Wren liked the nursing home very much. There was a room with a big telly that was always on very loud, and the nurses always made a big fuss of Wren, and so did all the old people, and there were often biscuits - sometimes only boring ones like custard creams, but sometimes there were Jammy Dodgers which were Wren's favourite. Granny didn't say much, and sometimes she cried which was very sad, because then Mummy would usually cry too on the way home. But usually Granny would only cuddle Wren, which was nice because she wore soft cardigans and smelt of talcum powder, and so Wren didn't mind that Granny usually got her name wrong.
Today, as she often did, Granny called her Jenny.
"I'm not Jenny, I'm Wren," Wren reminded her; but she tried not to do it in a cross voice, because Mummy had told her that Jenny was Mummy's sister who had died when she was very little, and that both Mummy and Granny had loved Jenny very much; and so it was a nice thing, Mummy said, that Wren reminded them both of her. To try to help Granny remember, Wren pointed at the picture on the windowsill.
“See, Granny? I’m not Jenny. That’s Jenny - ” and then Wren climbed down from Granny’s lap to get a closer look at the picture. The little girl in the framed photograph did look a bit like Wren - but instead of pigtails, she had one long plait that hung over her shoulder, just like the other little girl Wren had seen through the window this morning.
That night Wren took another look out of the window before Mummy closed the curtains, hoping the other little girl would be there so Wren could show Mummy just how much she looked like her sister Jenny. But the windows of Empty House were as empty as they usually were.
Wren went to sleep and dreamed of the other little girl. In the dream she knew that the girl really was Jenny - and she was in trouble. She was banging on the inside of her bedroom window with both palms and shouting for help, but when Wren tried to get Mummy to help Jenny, Mummy didn't believe her. "There's no-one there," Mummy said to Wren in the dream, as they both stood at the window, Wren watching Jenny pleading behind the glass.
Wren woke up in a fright and went straight to her window, where it was just beginning to get light - and just as in the dream, the other little girl was there at her own window, banging on the glass; and though Wren couldn't hear her, the little girl's mouth was open wide as though she was shouting.
Wren wasn't allowed to go outside by herself, but she decided that this was an emergency. Mummy might be cross, but wouldn't she be pleased if Wren helped this other little girl who looked so much like Mummy's Jenny?
Wren put her dressing-gown over her pyjamas and her trainers over her bare feet, and downstairs she pulled a chair to the front door so that she could reach to open it. Outside it was very cold, and drizzling just a little, but still Wren paused by the empty road to look both ways before walking carefully across. When she got to the other side she looked up to see the other little girl, still calling to her through the window.
"Let me in!" Wren mouthed; but the other little girl shook her head; and as Wren pushed at the front door, it simply swung open.
The inside of the house was empty - no pictures on the walls, no carpet on the stairs, which were on the wrong side of the hall from the stairs in Wren's house. Wren hurried up them, one big step at a time, hauling herself up with the banisters; and at the top she rushed into the front bedroom.
The room was empty, and the door swung closed behind her. Wren went to the window - where had the other little girl gone? - and looked out.
Lights were beginning to come on in the houses opposite, as Foster Avenue woke up. Wren looked from one house to another until she recognised her own - there was Mummy's car on the drive - and when she looked up, she saw the other little girl in the window. She was standing in Wren's bedroom.
She went to the door and tried it, but it wouldn't open; and when she went back to the window, she saw Mummy had joined the other little girl in Wren's room. As Wren stared at them, Mummy put her arm around the other little girl; and after a moment, they both waved.