'Little Match-Stick Girl'

A Hallowe'en story, now, from Tom Johnstone's Last Stop Wellsbourne. It's the tale of Lily/Lilith, a nine-year-old girl who likes to spend time alone but does have some friends. Because they're deemed too old to go trick or treating, the group instead tell spooky stories. And then they dare Lily to go into a haunted house. She's tough and she does it, but has a mishap that leads to her getting stuck with one leg through a broken floorboard. In the light of her dropped phone she sees something... surprising.

'She very much doesn't want the thing  to touch her and so can't take her eyes off it.'

This is a playful story, whimsical in its way, but with a hint of figurative and literal fire. Lily is a well-drawn character and the intense - not to mention dangerous - emotions that she feels when her parents bicker and criticise her are totally believable. There is a strong hint that worse is to come for all concerned.