Haunted: Scariest stories from the UK's no. 1 psychic. Derek Acorah

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СКАЧАТЬ bring the dog in at night and then let it out again in the morning as she went to work. Sure enough, when she arrived home each evening the little chap would be sitting on her front doorstep waiting for her.

      It was as she was coming home one evening that she was stopped by a youth. ‘You’re the woman who’s taken in a little ginger dog, aren’t you?’ he stated.

      Katy agreed that she was, hoping that at last somebody had come forward to claim him. However, the youth’s next words froze her with horror: ‘You won’t get anybody coming forward. The man who owned it wanted to get rid of it and tried to strangle it. He used to leave it out in all weathers and kick it too. He won’t want it back because he’s only interested in pedigree Jack Russells now.’

      Katy thanked him for the information. In that instant she decided that the search for the owner of the dog was over: she herself would give him a home.

      From that day on the pattern changed. Instead of being out in the garden during the day, the dog was given a warm bed in the kitchen. He was fed on proper dog food, not just scraps, and bought a shiny new collar and lead. He was also given a name: Hokie. The day that Hokie came to stay changed Katy’s life forever.

      Although Katy’s parents had always owned dogs, she had never herself felt that her busy life and work schedule could accommodate a pet. She realized now that she had been wrong, because Hokie fitted in very well. Whenever she felt down, he was there to make her feel wanted and loved. When she wasn’t at work, he was constantly by her side. Although he was proud to wear his lovely new collar, a lead was unnecessary, because he would follow her around, constantly keeping to her side. He was only small, but he had an enormous heart. It broke Katy’s own heart to know that he had been treated so badly by his previous owner.

      Of course there were times when Hokie was naughty. He had a particular liking of wood and loved to chew. It was unfortunate that the wood he chewed sometimes turned out to be Katy’s skirting boards or chair legs. He was also an adroit thief. If he managed to hop out of the house without Katy knowing, he would invariably return with some booty – perhaps a carton of milk stolen from a neighbour’s doorstep or even a packet of sandwiches filched from the jacket pocket or bag of some unsuspecting workman.

      The years passed by and Hokie became part of Katy’s life. When she got married and moved home, he was first through the door. He had long since given up his cosy bed in the kitchen and was now firmly established at the bottom of Katy’s bed, and this did not change upon her marriage.

      By then Katy and Hokie had been together for about 14 years. Although she had had no idea of his age when he had turned up in her life, she had assumed that he had been around 12 months old at the time. His once vibrant gingery coat was now grizzled and grey, his eyes were becoming opaque and his hearing was not all that it once had been. Nevertheless he enjoyed life and was just as eager to accompany Katy on a walk as ever.

      One day, however, when Katy returned home from work she noticed a change in her old friend. He did not jump up to greet her but lay on his bed in the kitchen with his head on his paws, watching her as she moved around. There was an air about him that Katy felt was different. That evening she took him to the veterinary surgeon, who carried out some tests. A day or two later the results came through and the news was not good: Hokie had a form of cancer from which he would not recover.

      Katy was devastated. She could not even think about ending Hokie’s life, but she knew that it was the kindest thing to do. He was deteriorating rapidly; his breath becoming short. She vowed that she would spend one more night with Hokie and the following day she would make the ultimate personal sacrifice of sending her old friend on his way.

      Hokie made the decision for her, though, as that evening he passed away in his sleep. One minute he was lying sleeping on the sofa, cuddling up to Katy as he usually did. A moment or two later, with a quick last whimper, he was gone.

      The days that followed were a blur for Katy. She could not eat, nor could she sleep without the comforting weight of Hokie at her feet. She missed him so much. Her husband tried to comfort her by telling her that he would get her another dog, but she refused, telling him that nobody could replace Hokie. He had been her companion through all the trials and tribulations of the past 14 years. He had been her friend when nobody else wanted to be, he had been her companion when she had been lonely, he had smiled in his own special way with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth when he had known she was happy. He had even attended her wedding, wearing a smart black bow tie. She just could not countenance another dog taking his place.

      Some weeks passed and Katy was at last beginning to come to terms with the loss of Hokie. She still looked for him as she opened the door when she arrived home from work every day, though, only for realization to dawn that he was not there. She still missed him terribly, but she had reached a point where she did not break down in tears each time she thought of him. It was at this point that she contacted me.

      I was due to visit Loughborough and somehow Katy had heard that I was coming to a bookshop to do a signing session for one of my book releases. On the designated day, she turned up at the bookshop and waited until the end of the signing. It was at this point that she approached me and told me the story of Hokie.

      ‘Will I ever see him again?’ she pleaded with me.

      I was happy to tell Katy that she would indeed meet up with Hokie once more. When her time came to pass over in to the spirit world, Hokie would run to meet her as joyfully as he had when he was here on Earth with her in his physical life. He would never forget her and the wonderful life she had given him after the awful treatment he had received from his first owner. He was her lifelong pal and this closeness would continue from beyond the veil.

      Katy seemed happy to know that she would see Hokie again and that he would still be around her now, although she could not see him and had not felt his presence.

      A week or two later I received an excited telephone call from Katy. ‘Hokie’s come back!’ she told me.

      She explained that she had come home from work as usual one evening and as she had opened the door she had heard a quiet ‘woof’ coming from the area of the kitchen. She had been surprised, as this was what Hokie had always done to greet her when she came home and she knew of course that Hokie was no longer there.

      Now each evening the same thing was happening. As she opened the front door, she would hear Hokie’s ‘woof’ in greeting. She also told me that she had definitely felt him around her in the house. She had been able to feel his presence almost as strongly as if she could see him.

      The previous night had confirmed everything to her. She had been lying in bed when she had heard a patter of small paws, then felt a ‘thud’ as something Hokie-sized had landed on the bottom of the bed.

      ‘I know he’s back with me, Derek!’ she said excitedly. ‘I just know it!’

      Almost six months later I was in Birmingham appearing at the Alexandra Theatre. At the end of the evening I was surprised to see Katy.

      ‘I had to come and see you,’ she told me, ‘and I have to tell you that I’ve got a new dog. I’ve called her Sally and she’s adorable. She’ll never take Hokie’s place, but I missed having a dog around the house.’

      I was pleased to hear that Katy had taken the step of acquiring a new pet. It is something that I can heartily recommend from personal experience. We may love our pets to distraction, but when they go they leave a huge hole in our lives and that hole can be filled by having another pet to love. It does truly ease the pain a little and in time you get to love the new pet just СКАЧАТЬ