‘Shut up! Logan never said anything to me about that. You’re just making all this up to scare me.’
‘I swear on my life. It was during maths. We were dossing around and he just came out with it. He was serious too, him and his friends.’
Tilly felt a tickle on her head and screamed. ‘Stop it with these stupid stories. Don’t you think that if someone had been murdered in these woods they would have found the body and it would have been on the news? Get the spider off me.’ She tried to grab the little creature, failing and hitting her long black wig.
‘Like I said, the earth soaks them up so they’ll never be found. Keep still.’ Katie began fiddling with the nylon strands of hair, getting it tangled around her fingers. ‘Don’t move, I’ve nearly got it.’ She yanked the wig and the grips tugged at Tilly’s own hair, almost ripping a clump out.
Slapping her friend’s hand away, Tilly took a step back, standing in a moonlit patch of mossy earth. ‘Look what you did to my hair.’
‘Here, let me fix it.’
‘No. You’ve done enough damage. I can’t turn up at school looking like this.’
Katie took her phone out again and let out a chuckle.
‘Don’t you dare.’ Tilly reached out, whacking the phone from her fingers. They listened as it crashed against a stone.
‘You’ve broken my phone. My dad’s going to kill me.’
Tilly stared open-mouthed at the ground. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. You’ll have to tell him it was my fault.’
‘I had a month’s worth of photos on there and they weren’t backed up. I’ve lost everything.’ She fumbled for the battery, scraping the sodden earth in her fingernails.
Tilly rolled up the stupid wig and pushed it into her handbag. ‘Here, let me help you. We’ll find all the bits and I’m sure it will work. Your dad will never know.’
‘It’s got a big dink in the side and the screen is all smashed up.’
Tilly began to feel in the spiny undergrowth.
The trees in front of them rustled and the girls stopped what they were doing.
Katie went to speak and Tilly clasped a hand over her mouth. The moon disappeared behind a large cloud and a few specs of rain tickled Tilly’s nose. Tilly pulled Katie deeper into the trees. They stopped when a twig snapped beneath them.
The slight shiver Tilly started out with was now a full-on tremble. She wished they’d caught the bus. There was no need to buy more drink; Logan had already told them he had enough stashed in his locker to sort them all out. They were meant to meet in the art block toilets next to the hall and have a few swigs before slinking back into the party.
Another rustle, followed by the sound of a dainty footstep close by. The clouds blew over and the moon lit up the way once again. Tilly didn’t know if she wanted to see what was coming for them. She wanted to run but the stupid heels she was wearing would make that impossible. She reached for her phone. As she went to press call on Logan’s number, their stalker came into the light.
‘It’s just a stupid fox.’ Katie chuckled and stepped out from behind the tree. ‘We look like a right pair of idiots. Now, let’s hurry up and find my phone battery. I do want to go to this party.’
Tilly fell against the tree and took a couple of deep breaths as she looked up at the moon. Something shiny dangling in the trees caught her gaze. She held her phone up and pressed the on button, casting a strip of light on the object. A rusty looking bell hung from a branch. It appeared to have a long piece of string leading from it, further into the dense woodland. ‘Look.’
‘Have you found it?’
‘No, it’s a bell.’
Katie peered around the tree. ‘So.’ She laughed. ‘It doesn’t have a clangy bit in the middle.’
‘You mean a clapper?’
‘Whatever. It’s just a stupid old bell that someone has left in the bushes. Why aren’t you doing what’s important and looking for my phone battery?’
Tilly stared at the string and held her phone up. She followed it behind another tree, once again catching her ridiculously long and straggly dress on a thorny bush. ‘Oh well, the dress is already ruined.’ She took another step. ‘The string leads into the ground through here. Come and have a look.’
‘Actually, can we just go? Forget the battery. I don’t like this.’
‘Is the story you told me true, about the girl who died?’
‘Probably not. I think Logan just made it up to scare us. Come on, let’s go. I’ll tell my mum about the phone first, she’ll make an excuse to my dad, maybe tell him I fell over. Let’s just go.’ Katie reached out and tried to grab Tilly’s arm.
‘Wait.’
Their gazes fell onto the heap of earth.
Tilly pulled the string. ‘Nothing.’
‘You know what, Logan knew we were walking, he knew we’d come this way as it is the most common shortcut through the woods from the estate to town. He did this. Him and his friends. He told me that stupid story and set this up, hoping that we’d find it. If we didn’t, he was probably going to make sure we did.’ She turned. ‘Ha, ha, ha. You can come out now, Logan. We know it’s just a trick or treat. Tilly is ready for her treat now.’
Tilly nudged her friend. ‘Stop it.’
After waiting in silence for a moment, no one responded. A bird flapped in the tree above and an owl hooted. Katie gripped Tilly’s hand.
‘He’s not there. If he isn’t there, then who did this? We have to call the police.’ Tilly’s phone fell from her trembling hands and once again the moon’s light had disappeared and the rain began to fall in icy sheets. She reached down and went to press the first nine.
‘Wait.’ Katie placed a hand over the phone, her face looking ghostly as the screen lit up her features, casting a stretch of light on the spidery branches behind her. The bell clanked against the tree and they flinched. ‘If we call the police, we’ll have to wait here for ages and we’ll miss the party. I’ve looked forward to this for weeks.’
Tilly’s fair hair began to stick to her forehead and cheeks. ‘What if someone is in there, buried alive, and they need us.’
Katie shrugged. ‘They’d be pulling the bell, obviously. Wait, there’s no clanger in the bell. We wouldn’t hear it ringing. Let’s just go.’
‘Wait.’ Tilly began to pull the string from what looked like a grave. The end slid through the earth. She shone her phone on it. ‘I don’t like the look of that.’ Tilly got onto her knees as rain began to plop in huge droplets and she scraped at the earth. ‘No way.’
‘Tilly, Tilly? Shush. There’s someone there.’ Katie hurried over to Tilly and cowered down beside her as the figure came towards them.
Chapter Five
Gina lay back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. It was either that or uncomfortably look at the three other women that were also sprawled out in the relaxation room, one wearing a thick grey mask that resembled something from a horror film. Whale sounds filled the room and Gina caught the scent of massage oil coming from her own shoulders. The hotel was lovely but the spa side of it seemed like a waste of time.