-15-

Maggie

I rush out of the door into the yard with such ferocity that I slip on the fallen leaves, landing hard on the concrete. I lay there in silence a few moments, my heart beat thumping against my chest, waiting to see if mother or father heard me fall.

No-one stirs inside and I feel a wave of relief.

What is going on here? What is wrong with my family?

I think back to what the groundskeeper said.

Do not eat from the apple tree.

Are the apples doing something to them?

It seems crazy to even contemplate, yet could it be true...?

I roll myself onto my stomach and am about to push myself up when I notice something. I brush away the dead leaves in front of me and reveal four deep lines in the ground. My stomach lurches. They looks like finger tracts made through wet concrete – as though someone, at sometime, was dragged, struggling, across the floor.

The police constable said that murders took place here, that all they found was blood and tracts in the ground. The groundskeeper implied that the reason for the deaths was the apples in the orchard.

My eyes flicker back to the house. My parents are still in the kitchen, I can hear them talking. The jug of homemade apple juice will still sit in the centre of the table.

What happened to the previous family? Is the same fate in store for us?

Pushing myself to my feet I hurriedly brush away the leaves coating the floor, following the finger marks in the ground. They stop at the iron gates leading into the orchard.

Everything leads to the orchard.

It's then that something catches my eye, glinting from below one of the apple trees.

I approach – the air thick with the scent of decay. The ground where father buried the cat has been disturbed. And right in the centre, poking out from the dirt, is a gold necklace. I recognise it instantly.

This is Ginny's necklace.

I bend down and pick it up, brushing off the dirt. A coldness seeps through my bones.

Did Ginny really leave our manor house? Or is she buried under this tree?

Suddenly I feel a prickling on my neck. Someone is watching me. Slowly I turn. Mother is stood motionless in the yard, looking right at me.

I feel a wave of relief that it's her, not father.

"What is it, darling?" she says.

I pocket the necklace. I won't worry her until I know for sure.

Father can't have killed Ginny. Surely he can't have.

"Nothing," I reply.

She nods.

"Good, now come inside. Stop this silliness." She makes her way back toward the house then turns and smiles sweetly. "You know we're only here because of you, don't you, darling?"

The words sting me.

"Yes, mother."

I glance at the grave once more then head back towards the house. 

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