Maida and I wait until it’s almost dark. We tell my mother and Agnes that we’re going to the lake nearby and won’t be back for dinner. We get in Maida’s car and drive to Main Street, we turn off to the left, I can remember how to get to the house. We make our way up the steep hill leading out of town and turn down a narrow dirt road. The house isn’t too far. This place doesn’t have the ostentatious gate out the front like mine, just a no trespassing sign nailed to a tree next to the letterbox. Maida parks the car on the side of the road. We walk up the driveway, I’m not sure if anybody lives here now, so we play it safe and stay in the shadows. It’s a short walk to the house, no lights are on, it looks like nobody is home. We walk nearer and I notice the front door is ajar, a window is smashed. I get closer and look through the window to see inside, it’s too dark to see anything. I hear a door creaking and see Maida pushing the front door open slowly.

“What are you doing?” I say, trying to keep my voice low.

“I don’t think anybody lives here.” She whispers back.

It makes sense, who would live here after what happened? My family probably still owns the place too. I walk up behind her and look inside, she’s right, it looks abandoned. There’s some dust covered wooden furniture, spiderwebs clinging to the edges. The place is a mess, the floor is covered in wet dirt and broken windows let the freezing air inside. We walk into the house. Maida pulls the folded blueprint from her bag, she walks over to a dust covered table and lays it on the top. She hands me her torch. “Okay, so we’re here.” She points at a spot at the lower end of the house's plan. A large staircase is drawn to our right. “It looks like the cross is downstairs. But I can’t figure out how to get there, it’s not connected to anything.”

I look up at the rafters we’d found him hanging from. Just then a searing hot pain hits me in the face. I drop the torch and hear it roll away, the sound faint, I drop to my knees. This is a much worse pain than before. I can feel the memories come flooding back, it feels like an intense brain freeze. The pain won’t stop.

I look up, it’s dark and warm. I’m in the yard at the back of my uncle’s place with Esther, Nick and his girlfriend Rachel. We’re all dressed up in our finest attire, Nick’s tie is undone and his shirt’s untucked. Rachel is walking around barefoot, clinging onto Nick, laughing about something I can't hear. I’m at the back walking with Esther, her hair has fallen out, she turns to me. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“He won’t care, he’s not even home.” I assure her.

“I don’t know, I don’t like it. We don’t have to do things just because Nick says so. We can do something else.”

“Why don’t you go home?”

“What? Walk home through the woods in the dark? By myself? I don’t have a death wish.”

“I can walk home with you if you want.”

Esther looks over at Nick and Rachel. “No, it’s fine. I’ll stay.” Esther doesn’t want to leave the two of them alone.

We continue up to the house, my heels slipping and getting stuck in the grass, even in summer the ground here is wet. A light shines in one of the back rooms. That’s weird, I feel a sense of dread, something about this doesn’t feel right. I turn towards Esther, about to tell her that I agree, we should go but Nick’s already opened the back door.

“Come on El.” He shouts, waving his arm for me to hurry up. He disappears inside, Rachel right behind him. I run over quickly, stumbling in the grass. It’s too late to back out now, I walk through the doorway and towards the alarm’s control panel. I enter the code but the light doesn’t go green. Nothing, the alarm is still going off, I try again, still nothing. He must have changed the code.

“Guys! It’s not working.” I yell out over the alarm.

I see Rachel walk past me, going towards the house’s large foyer. I continue to push the buttons in front of me, I try different numbers he could have chosen, birthdays, anniversaries. I hear a scream, it distracts me from the panel and I go to see what all the fuss is about. I see Rachel, Nick’s arms are around her, she looks terrified, tears in her eyes. I look over at Esther, who’s looking more concerned about Nick comforting Rachel. I go forward, Nick puts his arm out to push me back, shaking his head, I brush him aside and continue past them. I look up and see something hanging from a beam, what the hell is that? It doesn’t register at first, then it hits me. A body, I look up at his face, it doesn’t look the same as I remember but I recognise it, I know who that is. It’s my uncle, Edmond. Someone grabs me from behind, they loop my arm around theirs and forcefully drag me away. “Elena, the cops are coming, run!” Someone screeches in my ear, I can’t tell who it is. The body is getting further away, I feel as if I’m floating, my brain doesn’t keep up with everything taking place. Time is moving slowly and quickly at the same time. I feel sick. This can’t be real. This isn’t real. This is all just a bad dream, I will myself to wake up. I look up again and we’re at the back door. I can’t run, I can’t do anything. My legs are like lead weights. I trip and fall on the ground.

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“Just leave her.” I hear Nick yell.

“We can’t leave her!” Esther screams back.

“I’m not getting in trouble for this!”

“You are so selfish, what is wrong with you?”

“Come on Rach, let’s go.” I watch as Nick grabs Rachel’s hand and they start to run. I’m starting to realise what’s happening. The shock is starting to fade a little, I want to cry, I want to run but I can’t. I’m stuck. I feel like I’m sinking, I feel so heavy. I see Nick and Rachel reach the trees and fade into the darkness. Esther is still here, she helps me get back up and holds me tightly. A bright light shines in my eyes, it’s blinding, I blink and look away. The light comes closer.

“What are you guys doing out here?” A policeman asks.

“The house, go in the house.” My breath is caught in my throat, it sounds like I’m crying and maybe I am, I can’t tell. I point weakly back at the doorway. He calls for his partner, who turns the corner. “Keep an eye on them.” He jogs up to the back steps and enters the house. When he comes back out he looks sick. He stands next to the other officer. “Can you take them to the station, we’ll have to ask them some questions. I’ll sort this whole thing out.”

The other policeman nods. “Come on girls.” We follow him to his car, I feel numb. We can’t run away and I don’t want to try. A car ride back to town sounds pleasant enough, I don’t want to be out here anymore.

“Why didn’t you run?” I ask Esther.

“I’d never leave you behind. You’re my best friend.” She says back.

When we get to the police station the officer tells us to sit in two metal chairs in front of his desk, he squeezes himself into the seat on the other side. He looks like he’s in his fifties his greying hair is slicked back. His blue eyes stare at me, watery and bloodshot, his face red.

“Okay girls, so what happened?” He asks, grabbing a notepad to jot things down.

“We broke into my uncle’s house.” I tell the truth.

“Why?”

“Just for fun.”

“Okay.” He gives me a weird look. “Was anyone else with you two?”

I go to answer but Esther interrupts me. “No.” She says, I can’t believe she’s trying to cover for Nick after he ditched us.

“Okay, so which one of you discovered the deceased?”

“I did.” Esther lies again. I’m surprised she doesn’t try to throw Rachel under the bus so she can get Nick all to herself. I look over at her but she averts my eyes.

“Did you touch anything?”

“I touched the alarm panel. The code didn’t work.” I realise that Nick touched the back door knob too, I don’t want to get Esther in trouble so I remain silent.

“Was the door locked?”

“I’m not sure.”

The officer gives me a weird look.

“Sorry Officer,” I look at his name tag, “Easton, it’s just been a very stressful night.”

He puts the pen down and looks at his watch. “Okay, you know what, it’s late, I think you’ve been through enough tonight.” He pushes the phone on his desk over to us. “Call your parents and get out of here. We’ll deal with this later.”

Oh god, I’ll have to call my mother. My heart starts to race. I almost ask the officer if I could get a night in lockup instead, it might be a better alternative. Within minutes Esther’s father arrives, he gives her a hug and asks if she’s okay. Esther walks away and waves goodbye. Her dad says nothing to me, this isn’t the first time I’ve been around when his daughter’s in trouble.

My mother arrives shortly after. She thanks the officer and we walk towards my Dad’s old black Jaguar. As soon as we’re outside she turns around to face me. She slaps me hard in the face. I wince in pain.

“What is wrong with you?” She screams at me. “I can’t deal with you anymore. I try to raise you to be a good honest person and it’s like you go out of your way to ruin my reputation!”

“Why does everything always come back to you?”

“I don’t know who you are anymore, Elena. Your father would be so disappointed in you.”

That hurts. “Just get in the car.” She hisses.

We drive back home in silence, I look over at her, her jaw is set, she looks furiously ahead, her fingers white from holding the steering wheel so tight.