"Right," Cait said, wiping tomato sauce from her chin. "Is there anything else we need?" She looked set for an Antarctic expedition, all trussed up in Mum's old jacket with one of Dad's beanies. I knew I must look the same, although my jacket probably looked a little better. "Nope," I said. "We're ready." "OK." We were standing just inside our front door, next to the pile of shoes we'd left earlier. "I guess this is it.

" I slipped out of my slippers and put on my shoes. Cait did the same, arranging her green cat slippers neatly on the rack, just how Mum always left them. "I guess so." I climed up one last time on the chair, peering out of our door into the hallway. "It's all clear." The hallway was still empty when we locked the front door behind us. We made it to the outside door without meeting anyone, but almost at once our troubles began. The door wouldn't open.

I tried again and again, but it hardly budged. Were we trapped in our own building? "The snow?" Cait suggested. This time she helped me push on the door, and it swung a bit further open. She was right. Outside it was still snowing and the snow was piling up, almost blocking our front door. "Again," I said. "One, two, three." We both heaved and the door edged open enough for us to get through.

Outside the snowy day had turned to dark, dark night, and the snow was still coming down. The streets were completely empty. Even the street lamps seemed to have lost their colour. The entire world was cloaked in white snow, turned eerie grey by the darkness. I shivered. "Come on," Cait said. "Let's make this quick.".