‘Wait till later.’ Tilly shook her head and laughed. ‘Have you got any tissue or a make-up wipe?’
Katie nodded and began rummaging through her bag. ‘Here you go.’
As she cleaned the wound that the splinter had left, Tilly noticed her phone lighting up. ‘And queue the smarmy comments. Thanks, friend. I hate you sometimes.’
Katie giggled and opened the cider. ‘Did you hear the story about these woods? I think it was years ago, probably fifteen years ago or twenty years ago or more, I don’t know.’ She took a swig and offered the bottle to Tilly.
Tilly shook her head. ‘I don’t want to know while we’re in the woods. Tell me later when we’re at the party.’
‘You’re going to hear it anyway. Watch where you step. I know it’s a Halloween party and all, but I don’t want you to turn up covered in real blood or even dog muck. Right, the story. It was Halloween night, years ago, like proper olden times. A farm boy found out that his young love had been secretly seeing his older brother and his world fell apart when she told him that she’d accepted his proposal. He loved her more than anything but she didn’t feel the same. His rage built so much that he dragged her out into the woods where he’d already dug a hole. She said she didn’t love him and she also said that he was mad, so he buried her alive right where we’re standing. The story doesn’t end there. He not only took her life, but he slashed his own throat with a knife and died on top of her grave. Some people say that he rises every Halloween to look for another girl to bury, taking his revenge, over and over again. Logan told me that this happened only a few years ago; he’s heard the stories. A girl who looked just like the farm boy’s love is buried somewhere in these woods, trapped with her killer’s spirit forever. She roams on Halloween, along with all the other girls he’s exacted his revenge on. They don’t know they’re dead and search for a way out, but they can’t leave the woods. Imagine those poor girls, banging and clawing at the coffin as the oxygen was sucked out of the air. They never found his recent victim or any of them. It’s as if the earth they’re buried in fed on them; fed on their fear and misery. They still lie buried in these woods. I can feel them.’
‘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.’
