All I can hear is the crunch of the dirty old gravel as I make my way up the drive towards the delapadated old manor.

I have no interest in being here, this place holds too many memories of childhood. A time I’d rather forget. I’m here to meet the realtor and finally get this place shifted off the estate’s books. In and out, that’s the plan.

As I turn the key in the lock I feel a sudden chill run up my spine. Against all of my instincts telling me to turn and run, I push open the old door. Dust fills my nose as I enter the foyer. I’ll wait here, I think to myself, no need to venture any further than I have to.

I stare around taking in how much the place has changed from the days of myself, Lou and Mol tearing down the stairs, through the dining room and out the kitchen door onto the back lawn that led down to the woods.

The woods. A small gasp catches in my throat as I think about the woods and the last time the three of us ventured there. Only one to return.

I shake my head trying to clear the haunting remembrance. In and out. I’m not being pulled back to 20 years ago now.

Then I hear it. Footsteps upstairs on the landing.

“Hello?” I call into the echoing empty house.

The footsteps continue across the floor above me.

Ok, I think, I’ve seen enough horror movies to guess where this is going. I decide to wait outside for the realtor. I turn to pull the door open but it’s not cooperating. It’s an old door, I think, it’s just jammed. I give it a good push and then a pull…. Nothing.

More footsteps. Louder.

The kitchen door, I decide. I have a key for that on the keyring with me. I make my way briskly through the dining room, my gait more unsteady than I’d like given the sudden rush of adrenaline. I am trying not to take in more of the space than I have to in order to make my way to the kitchen. I pull open the kitchen door and I’m out on to the back lawn.

The bright sun hits me hard as I step on to the grass. Everything looks the same. Nothing seems to have changed. The grass is cut. Hedged manicured. Even the old shed looks kept just as it was.

Then I see something that makes my blood run cold.

I see Lou standing at the edge of the tree line of the woods staring at me. She holds my gaze for what feels like an eternity and then turns and runs into the thick wood.

Before I can even think of what I’m doing, I’m running after her. Just like I did on that day. I’m panting, swotting back tree branches and flies as they obscure my view of Lou winding her way through the trees. I bash back a large leafy branch and burst into a clearing.

Molly and Louise sit stoic on a fallen tree trunk, their eyes dilated and fixed. Then in unison they lift their left arms and point towards a hallowed out tree.

“Get in” they say together in monotone.

Oh god I think, not again.