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depending on how deep a sleep he was in and how tired he was. Now he was exhausted, not only from his day at work but from a broken night’s sleep. I felt pretty exhausted too, and the worry of what had happened stayed with me.
    As Adrian suckled contentedly, blissfully unaware of the previous drama, I allowed my head to rest back on the cushioned headboard, and my eyes closed. Five minutes later I felt Adrian stop suckling, and I put him on the other breast. Again, my head slowly inched back as I began to doze.
    Suddenly I was awake again, and my heart started pounding. I thought I heard a noise. With Adrian still feeding, I watched the door, my ears straining for any noise that suggested Dawn was out of bed, but no sound came from the carpeted landing. Then I jumped as the door handle slowly began to lower.
    ‘John,’ I said, and shook his arm. He was immediately awake. ‘Look! The door.’ He sat upright and we both stared, horrified, at the door. The handle moved down as far as it would go and then the door slowly opened.
    Dawn appeared, her head held upright and her open eyes staring straight ahead. Her face was expressionless, as it had been before, and she looked even paler in the half light coming from the lamp. John and I sat motionless in bed, as Adrian continued to feed. We watched, transfixed, waiting to see what she was going to do next.
    Dawn stood still for a moment, almost as though she was getting her bearings, although her eyes didn’t move. Then slowly, with the same mechanical robot-like steps, she began to cross the room. She navigated her way round the end of our bed and stopped in front of Adrian’s empty cot.
    I consider myself level headed and not easily spooked, but at that moment, tired from lack of sleep and seeing Dawn’s ghost-like figure in the half light, I reacted emotionally. ‘She’s come to get my baby!’ I cried.
    ‘Stay there,’ John said firmly to me. He got out of bed and went to Dawn. She was now standing in exactly the same position as she had been before – in front of the cot, expressionless and very still.
    ‘Dawn,’ John said. ‘Go back to your bed.’ There was no reaction. He placed a hand lightly on each of her shoulders, and slowly began to turn her away from the cot. She didn’t resist. Once turned, and facing towards the door, she began to walk of her own accord. John followed a step or two behind, and I watched as she went out of the door and on to the landing.
    ‘No, into your bedroom,’ I heard John say a moment later, so I thought she must have paused at the top of the stairs, as she had done before. A minute passed, when I assumed Dawn was getting into bed, then I heard John close her bedroom door. He reappeared, and shut our door firmly.
    ‘She went straight to sleep again,’ he said with a sigh, and climbing into bed. ‘This is ridiculous! We can’t have this at night. I don’t feel safe in my own home.’
    I looked at him. His brow was creased with worry. And although I couldn’t have said why, I didn’t feel safe either. We knew very little about Dawn, and nothing about sleepwalking. To have a stranger, albeit a girl of thirteen, come into your bedroom like a zombie in the middle of the night and go to your baby’s cot was neither safe nor normal.
    Adrian had finished feeding, and I changed his nappy and tucked him into his cot. John was propped up on his pillows, deep in anxious thought. I returned to bed, and lay down beside him. Neither of us spoke. Exhausted, and beside ourselves with worry, we remained on guard, listening for the slightest sound coming from the landing. I saw 4.00 a.m. come and go, and then at some point we must have both fallen asleep.
       
    When I woke I did so with a start, and my eyes went straight to the bedroom door. It was still shut. I turned to look at the bedside clock. It was 7.30 a.m. We had overslept!
    ‘John,’ I said rubbing his arm. ‘It’s seven thirty. John, wake up.’
    ‘Damn!’ he said,