L.S. Taylor lives in Hampshire with his soul mate, Penny.

His roles in high street retail, credit management and regularly sitting

in a coffee shop, gave him an insight to people and their

idiosyncrasies.

He enjoys watching films and going walking.

To Penny, thank you for helping me to find the true me, for your

encouragement and patience during the writing of this book your

complete acceptance that inside, I will always be a mischievous little boy.

To Helen, Hugh and my dear dad, my thoughts are always with you.

Copyright © L. S. Taylor (2015)

The right of L. S. Taylor to be identified as author of this work has

been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this

publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for

damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British

Library.

ISBN 978 1 78455 136 0

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2015)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain

LIST OF MAIN CHARACTERS

MIKE ROBINS – PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNALIST

SOPHIE – NEWSPAPER EDITOR

PEOPLE ON CAMP AT HOPESHORE MANOR HOUSE

JAKE – YOUNG HELPER ON

CAMP

ALI – YOUNG HELPER ON

CAMP

ALEX – TEENAGED BOY AGED

17

DEBBIE – TEENAGED GOTH GIRL

AGED 16

CHRISTINA – BLIND GIRL AGED 12

HUGH AGED 08

HELEN – HUGH’S SISTER AGED 11

ANDREW – AGED 10

MATTHEW – ANDREW’S STEP

BROTHER AGED 10

AARON – AGED 08

AMY – AGED 07

LUCY – AGED 12

LAURA – LUCY’S TWIN SISTER

AGED 12

PROFESSOR LESTER DAMIN – OWNER OF HOPESHORE

MANOR

AND CAMP LEADER

LIZ CORNWELL – ADULT HELPER ON

CAMP

COLIN – ADULT HELPER ON

CAMP

PETER WEST – KID ON CAMP IN 1995

AGED 10

OTHER KEY CHARACTERS

D.C.I. GREEN – LOCAL SENIOR POLICE

OFFICER

CONSTABLE JOHN BRADLEY LOCAL POLICE OFFICER

CONSTABLE HICKS – LOCAL POLICE OFFICER

PENNY HICKS – WIFE TO CONSTABLE

HICKS AND SISTER TO

CONSTABLE BRADLEY

DAVID CORNWELL – PUBLICAN OF THE

WHITE HART

PROLOGUE

THE MANUSCRIPT

Mike rushed through the bustling newspaper office, heading straight for the

closed door to the editor’s office. He opened it and burst in; Mike’s excitement

was obvious as he deposited a manuscript on Sophie’s desk, “Soph. I’ve had an

idea for the paper, a weekly serial!” then without another word, he turned on his

heel and closed the door as he left.

Sophie picked up the rather thick document and began to read.

THE BLUE LIGHT

Peter had had enough taunting from the other boys, they all had to hold a

younger kid’s hand, so why were they giving him so much hassle about holding

the little blond girl’s hand, hell she was only six and he was ten, so why were

they teasing him so much? Suddenly, he raced away from the others dragging

little Ali along with him, she was stuck fast to his hand like a barnacle to the

bottom of a boat; they rounded the bend and were gone.

“Oh nice one, lads!” said an exasperated Geoff; he took off after the two

runaways, calling out both of their names as he did so.

On reaching the lake Geoff found Ali stood there alone at the water’s edge,

he was panting hard, but managed to ask through gasps for breath, “Ali, where’s

Peter?” He turned the small girl around to face him, she made no answer so he

pressed her again, “Ali? Peter, where did he go?” The bald patch on Geoff’s

head was flushed red from the exertion of running, but when Ali made no

response the bald patch turned crimson and the colour cascaded down his face,

just as if someone had poured crimson dye on the crown of his head and it had

leaked down his face.

Ali’s face was white, her eye’s wide with fear, “The blue light took him!”

she replied in a faraway voice.

“What?” he was unsure that he had heard the small girl correctly.

“The blue light at the water took him; I want him to come back!” Ali began

to sob uncontrollably.

Chapter 1

18 YEARS LATER

“What’s wrong with your face?” asked the woman seated on the opposite side of

the circular, white plastic kitchen table, but Helen didn’t answer, instead she

chased the peas around her plate with her fork, as if arranging them into a

picture.

“It’s not fair!” Helen suddenly declared.

“Huh, life’s not fair,” replied her mother.

“Why do I have to go to stupid summer camp anyway, Mum?”

“Helen, I’ve told you why, so deal with it, now hurry up and finish, we’ve

got to pick your brother up from football.”

Helen put her cutlery down on the plate and pushed it forward, then folded

her arms in disgust, “Please may I leave the table?” she asked sarcastically.

She was just getting up to leave when Jenny gave her a smile, “Please do,

it wouldn’t look right in any other room.”

Unfolding her arms and returning her silver-rimmed spectacles to the

bridge of her nose, carefully hooking the thin, wire arms over her ears, Helen’s

singsong tone floated back, “Mum!” This prompted both mother and daughter to

laugh. Helen went over to her mum and gave her a big hug, “I love you, Mum!”

She said it as if it were the first time she had ever done so.

“I love you too, now get some shoes on or we’ll be late!”

Helen readily did as she was told and soon, she and Jenny were en route to

the town rugby pitch, which doubled as a football pitch for the ‘minis’ on a

Saturday morning. They arrived just in time to see Helen’s brother, Hugh,

fouled by a much bigger boy. “Did you see that, Mum? That big boy just kicked

Hugh on purpose, that’s cheating!”

Jenny placed a reassuring hand on Helen’s shoulder, “Oh I’m sure Hugh’s

done it to him before,”

“Bet he hasn’t” Helen had pure venom in her voice; her gaze remained on

the cheating boy, who, on hearing the referee’s whistle, had picked up the ball

and thrown it in temper at Hugh, catching Hugh on the side of the head. Enraged

by the bigger boy’s actions, Hugh flew at him fists flailing, the coach come referee broke the two boys up and sent them away early, to join their respective

parents.

The bigger boy ran past Hugh and nudged him with his shoulder, Hugh

responded by calling the boy a very rude name in a very loud voice. As he did

so, he saw his mum for the first time, immediately he wished he had said

nothing, no amount of bullying could compare with that look of disappointment

that his mum gave him.

The bigger boy’s parents were further away beyond Jenny and Helen, so he

had to run passed them to get to his family. As he did so, Helen casually stuck

out her left foot causing the boy to trip and fall, hitting the ground like a sack of

potatoes. Realising he had been tripped by a girl not much older than himself, he

rose gingerly to his feet, put on an exaggerated limp and despite his age he cried

crocodile tears. “Oh, sorry,” Helen sounded as sweet as she could, “are you

alright?” She bent closer to him with mock concern and under her breath, so

only the bully could hear her she added, “I can just hear everyone at school after

the holidays, ‘tripped by a girl!’” The boy wailed even louder and limped over

to his parents, they shook their heads in disgust at Helen, whilst comforting their

son on the way back to their car.

As he approached Hugh grinned, “Thanks Helen that showed him!”

“I don’t know which of you is worse, you or Helen?” Jenny ushered them

both to the car, “Let’s hope you two will learn how to behave at Summer

Camp!”

“He deserved it! And Hugh’s right that boy is a bloody…”

“That’s enough!” Jenny’s tone was stern so they sat in silence all the way

home and on their arrival, Jenny sent them to their rooms to pack, ready to go to

camp later that day.

Chapter 2

SUMMER CAMP OF COURSE!

“Aaron, you are addicted to that thing and you’re not much better!” Kate glared

at both son and Husband. Aaron’s dad, Bob, briefly looked up at Kate, grinned

and then looked back to the game, determined his son would not beat him again.

“I’m just going and don’t forget Bob, Aaron’s got to be at camp by 2:30.”

Without taking his eyes off the television screen Bob nodded, but said nothing.

“Oh I give up,” Kate wagged a finger at her husband, “if he’s late, Bob, you can

sort it out!” Disgruntled, Kate left the room.

“You lucky little rat bag” she heard Bob say as she closed the front door, “I

can’t believe you won again!”

“No such thing as luck, Dad; that was pure skill!” Aaron stood up, with a

look of satisfaction on his face.

Bob gave a sarcastic grin, although not as blond as he had been at that age,

in every other way, it was like talking to an eight year old version of himself,

“Yeah right, where’s your mum? “Kate, where are you?”

“She’s gone out, Dad; she just said that, you know, when you were getting

your ‘butt’ kicked.”

Bob whipped his head around, “Aaron! That’s enough of that kind of talk!”

Bob called out again, “Kate, where are you?” but still he got no answer.

“I told you, Dad, she’s gone out and she won’t be back before we go!”

“Go, go where?” Bob now looked at his son in confusion.

“Duh, to Summer Camp of course,” Aaron cheekily crossed his eyes and

pushed his tongue against the inside of his bottom lip, unseen by his father.

“Summer Camp, what Summer Camp?”

Just then Aaron’s big sister, Emma, walked into the lounge, “Dad, I’m

going out …, shouldn’t you two be getting ready for Summer Camp?”

“There it is again,” Bob scratched his head in disbelief, “everyone knows

about this Summer Camp except me!”

Emma explained that she had overheard her mum telling Bob not to be

late, that’s how she knew.

“When is it then? And more to the point, where is it?”

“I heard mum say he had to be there for 2:30, but as for where, well sorry can’t help with that one,”

“I’ll have to call her,” he grabbed his mobile off the coffee table, dialled

Kate’s number and waited, a few seconds later, he heard the familiar ring tone

coming from the kitchen. “I don’t believe it! I thought the whole point of having

a mobile was to take it around with you, so people can call you – clearly not!”

His rhetorical sarcasm fell on deaf ears.

Emma had gone into the kitchen, “Er … Dad!”

“What?” Then realising his tone had been harsh he apologised, “Sorry,

what is it, Emma?”

“I’ve just found this note on the fridge door,” she came into the lounge

with a smile on her face and a piece of paper in her hand. Bob took the note

from Emma’s hand, read it to himself and then laughed.

“What is it, Dad?” Aaron was by now desperate to know what was written

on the paper that was so funny.

“It’s from your mum, it says ‘Hopeshore Manor, 2:30 sharp – don’t be

late’!” He turned the piece of paper over. “Your mum is one in a million; she’s

even written directions on the back, bless her. Looks quite far, it’ll probably take

a couple of hours to get there.” He glanced at his watch, “Bloody hell, it’s 11:45

now, we best pack your things, come on!”

Chapter 3

HOPESHORE MANOR

“We’re here too early!” Sean said to his wife as they drove up the long, gravel

drive to the big, grey house, “I told you we would be; she’s going to be the first

one here!”

“Better first than last then she can get the choice of beds, isn’t that right,

Amy?”

The little girl in the back of the car said nothing, she didn’t want to take

either side of the debate and decided staying quiet was the best thing to do. She

gazed out of her window at the tall trees that lined either side of the long drive.

She tried to think of what they were called, she had been doing tree study at

school just before the holidays. They were tall, with the branches pointing

almost straight up; the leaves blew in the breeze causing the sunlight to flicker

through them. ‘I wish I were a tree,’ she thought to herself, ‘there would be no

Mummy and Daddy to argue, just other trees to rustle their leaves to me, when I

rustled mine to them.’ “Daddy? Do you think that when trees rustle their leaves,

they’re talking to each other?”

Before Sean could even take a breath to answer Angie did so for him, “I

don’t think so, they are just trees.” Sean looked at Angie and shook his head.

“What?”

“You should be on stage with a ventriloquism act like that!” he replied

sarcastically, “You’d be a big hit; probably win Britain’s got talent!”

Before Angie could reply with an equally sarcastic response, Amy

announced, “Poplars!”

Both parents, completely taken aback by the announcement, seemed to

forget their argument, “What’s that, Amy?” asked her dad.

The small brown-haired seven year old in the back of the car still looking

out of the window explained, “The trees, they’re Poplars, Daddy.”

“Yes they are, well done!” A few moments later Sean stopped the car in

front of a big, ivy clad stately home; he got out, walked around to the boot and

opened it. As he closed the boot and walked around to the passengers’ side, a

young, sporty-looking woman came out of the big, grand house. She wore black

tracksuit bottoms and a bright yellow T-shirt, with the letters ‘H.M.S.C.’ written

in red capitals across her chest. Her long hair, which was dark and yet it had

clearly been blonde when she was younger, danced across the top of the letters

as she descended the wide and weathered, concrete steps, which were flanked on

either side by equally weathered looking concrete bannisters. “And who do we

have here?” asked the young woman in a warm, friendly voice.

Looking past the young woman to the top of the flight of stairs, Amy

noticed the funny looking, oversized stone pineapples at the top of each

bannister rail, she was wondering ‘why pineapples’? But was jolted from her

silent questioning when her dad suddenly spoke, “Hi, I’m Sean and this is

Amy,” he gestured towards his daughter.

“Hello, Amy, and welcome to Hopeshore Manor Summer Camp, I’m

Alison, but my friends call me Ali, so, as we’re going to be great friends, that’s

what you can call me.”

Whilst not removing his gaze from Ali, Sean prompted his daughter, “Say

hello then, Amy” whilst he maintained an odd smile on his face,

Amy very timidly looked in Ali’s direction, “Hello.”

“Well, Amy, no one else is here yet.” Sean shot Angie a glare which was

returned with interest a few seconds later, “So why don’t you and I go and pick

out the best bed in your dorm-room, before anyone else arrives.”

Amy took Ali’s outstretched right hand with her left and was led up the

great concrete steps, twelve in total. As she approached the huge oak doors that

towered above her, she glanced over her left shoulder back towards the car,

where her parents still stood arguing over something. She could hear her dad

saying, “Well at least I spoke to her, you were too busy doing your make-up for

the hundredth time!” Whatever lay behind the doors, surely it couldn’t possibly

be worse than spending another week of the holidays, listening to pointless

arguments. She was only seven, but at times she seemed more grown up than her

parents ever were.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust from the bright sunlight, to the

poorly lit entrance hall in which she now stood. As she glanced around

surveying the panelled walls, she felt as if she and Ali were being watched. In

front of them, around fifteen feet away was the first stair of the biggest, grandest

staircase Amy had ever seen. It had very shiny, dark wooden banister rails on

either side, which came straight down at the same angle as the staircase, each

ending in a large, elaborate, dragon’s head. Amy could just see that on either

side of the staircase, there were panelled doors, their presence only given away

by their shiny, brass doorknobs.

From the extremely high ceiling, hung a very ornate chandelier, which

looked to be made of crystal or cut glass.

“Creepy isn’t it?” Ali’s sudden question caused Amy to jump a little.

“Feels like you’re being watched? It’s the pictures of all the old Dukes of

Hopeshore, looking down from the walls.”

Amy saw the pictures for the first time, each one depicting a different

Duke. The only commonality between the paintings was, that each Duke was as

miserable looking as the next and all were dressed very strangely, “Just a little”

she finally answered. “Are the bedrooms …?”

“Brighter than down here? Yes, come on, let’s go and pick out the best one

for you, before anyone else arrives and beats us to it!”

Ali led Amy up the big staircase and at the top, turned left. They passed

several doors on their right, each looking like the two downstairs either side of

the staircase, dark panelled wood with a brass doorknob. They walked right to

the end where Ali stopped and opened the door in the very corner; sunlight was

pouring through the big lead-lined windows. “If you look out to the left, you can

see the big lake, where we’ll all be going boating on Wednesday, there’s another

lake in the middle of the woods, but that’s much older than the boating lake.”

Amy ran over to the window and saw the lake, “Doesn’t the noise of

children playing in boats disturb the water birds that live there?”

Ali gave a reassuring smile, “No, over the years the birds have gotten used

to the human visitors, we even have a pair of black swans who nest down there,

they don’t seem to be too bothered by us!”

Amy spun around in amazement, “Black swans?! Can I see them now?”

“Not today, Saturday is welcoming day and talking of which, there’s

another car coming up the drive, so we best choose your bed quickly!”

“Can I have this one which looks out towards the lake?” there were six to

choose from, but this seemed to be by far the best.

“A good choice, you know when I came here as a girl, I had the bed over

there” Ali pointed behind them, “I wanted this one, just because of the views,

but I was always just too late!”

“You came here as a girl? How old were you when you first came?” Amy

sat on the edge of her newly selected bed full of anticipation.

Ali sat down next to Amy, “I was six and a half the first time I came and I

was terrified!”

“Why? I’m only just seven and I’m not scared!”

“Well that year, my mummy and daddy were killed in a plane crash, they

had been in France and I was staying with my grandparents in the countryside.

Because they were worried how I would cope with the death of my parents, they

sent me here for a month in an attempt to take my mind off things.”

“My mummy and daddy argue a lot,” interrupted Amy, “they’re probably

arguing about who will bring my things upstairs!”

“Sometimes, parents argue because they have run out of nice things to say,

sometimes children have to remind them that life can be fun.”

“Hello!” Sean’s voice rang out down stairs, “Err, Alison, Amy? Where are

you? I’ve got your things, sweetheart!”

Amy got up from her bed and walked over to the door, “We’re up here,

Daddy!”

“Up where?” he called back as he ascended the stairs.

Amy went over to the railing, which ran from the uppermost parts of the

banister rails forming a square, except for the gap made by the staircase; she

poked her head over the rail, “Here, behind you!”

Sean turned on the stairs and looked up to the right, he saw Amy leaning

over the rail waving, “Be careful up there and get away from that railing!”

“Daaad!” she whined back, “I’m fine, come and see the view from my

window!” With that, she ran back into the room, Ali was still on the bed, but

was facing the window. “It’s only my dad,” Amy explained as she walked

around the bed, Ali’s face was slightly red and with a bit of a sniff, she wiped

her eyes with a hanky. “Are you alright Ali?”

“Oh just a bit of hay fever,” she lied, “it made me sneeze a couple of

times.”

Amy hadn’t heard any sneezing and was about to say as much, but thought

better of it. Instead she placed her arm around Ali’s shoulder and gave her a

little kiss on the cheek.

“I’d best go downstairs to greet the new arrival,” the young woman stood

up and made for the door, “We’ll talk again later!” With that, she left the room

and passed Sean on the landing, she directed him to the room in which she had

left Amy.

Amy looked up as her dad entered the room, “Where’s Mummy?”

“Oh she’s tired and wanted to stay in the car.”

“You mean you had another argument,” Sean tried to think of something to

say, but what could he say, “I think Thumper’s mummy was right.”

“What?” Sean was clearly confused.

“If you can’t say something nice … don’t say nothing at all,” she quoted

word for word. Sean was still lost, “Bambi, Daddy, Bambi! Thank you for my

things, say goodbye to Mummy for me and give her this from me.” She pulled

him down to her height and kissed his cheek, with that she started unpacking

and paid him no more attention.

Feeling very humbled he said goodbye and went back down to the car,

Amy watched out of the window as Angie stood on the cigarette she had been

smoking, Sean walked past her. “I knew he wouldn’t,” Amy said out loud in

anger and frustration, but Sean turned around, walked back to Angie and kissed

her on the cheek.

“Knew who wouldn’t what?” asked a girl’s voice from behind Amy; she

turned quickly and saw a bigger girl than herself standing there. Unlike Amy

who had long, dark brown hair, the new girl had short, mousey-blonde hair and

she wore silver-rimmed glasses.

“Oh it doesn’t matter,” Amy turned again and sat on her bed, with her back

to the new arrival.

Suddenly, a lady’s voice asked, “So this is the room you’ve chosen,

Helen?” The lady had an unfamiliar accent.

Jenny looked around the room, “Which bed do you want Helen?”

Before Helen could answer, Amy suggested, “If you take the bed next to

mine in the window, “you can see the big lake, they have black swans there you

know!”

“Do they, really?” asked Helen.

“Yes, Ali told me.”

Helen gave an excited smile at the thought of seeing some black swans, she

put her stuff on the bed in the right hand window, “I’m Helen”.

“I kinda gathered that,” said Amy as she looked over Helen’s shoulder at

Jenny.

“Oh yeah, sorry, Mum said my name didn’t she?”

“Yes,” Amy gave a big grin.

“Sorry, I’m a bit brain dead ‘cause I‘ve had to sit all the way here, in the

back of mum’s car, next to my little brother. He’s down the hall on the right, his

name’s Hugh, what’s your name?”

“I’m Amy.”

“Who’s Ali?” asked Jenny.

“She’s the lady who showed me this room, she’s very nice, didn’t she say

hello to you downstairs?”

Helen gave a brief shake of her head, “No, a man named Jake showed us

up to our rooms, he’s with Hugh settling him down because Hugh’s as high as a

kite!”

Just then a boy ran into their room, “Helen, you’ve got to see this, come

on!” The boy looked very much like Helen, but had slightly blonder hair and

was shorter than her.

“Was that Hugh?” Amy asked as the boy dashed back out of the room.

“I’m afraid so. He’s alright, but he can be a little bugger at times!”

“Helen!” Jenny looked embarrassed at her daughter’s language.

“Well he is!” the girl shot back, “you said so this morning at breakfast

before he went to football!”

Jenny went slightly red “Yes, Helen, but that was at home, you shouldn’t

say it when you’re out in company!”

Amy looked puzzled, “I wonder what he was so excited about?”

“Why don’t you girls go and find out?”

The girls rushed out of their room and turned left, then right at the corner

of the landing, following the sound of Hugh’s voice they stopped at the second

door on the left. Hugh was knelt on a bed on the far side of the room and was

gazing out of the window, “Look! Look!” he bounced up and down on his bed

and pointed out of the window.

“What are we supposed to be looking at?” asked Amy.

Hugh, not recognising the voice, turned, he looked Amy right in the eyes,

“That!”

“I still don’t see what we’re looking at.”

“Oh, that,” realisation spread across Helen’s face, as she knelt up on the

bed next to her brother.

“What?!” demanded Amy, who was now quite confused.

“You don’t have a little brother, Amy, do you?”

“No, nor a younger sister, but that still doesn’t tell me what you are both

looking at.”

Just then they heard a loud, shrill whistle, “There!” Hugh bounced up and

down with glee, “There she blows!”

Amy climbed onto to Hugh’s bed as well, followed the whistle’s noise

with her eyes and saw what all the fuss was about … “It’s a train!” There was

disappointment in her voice.

“I know!” Hugh couldn’t contain his excitement, “A steam train and we’re

going on it at the end of the week, Jake told me!”

“Come on, Amy, let’s finish unpacking.” The two girls skipped out of the

room giggling.

Chapter 4

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

“I promise you, Aaron, you’re not going to be late we’ll be there before 2.30!”

Bob wasn’t sure if he was trying to reassure Aaron or whether he was trying to

convince himself. Considering they had left late, they were making good time,

although these country roads were quite winding. In an attempt to take Aaron’s

mind off the time, Bob tried engaging him in conversation, “Interesting fact for

you Aaron, did you know these country roads were all once drove roads?”

“What’s a drove road? Is it one which other cars have already been along?”

Aaron asked innocently.

Bob smiled to himself, “Sort of, a drove road is the name given to the

tracks that farmers used to move their animals along, to get from one place to

another, usually from their farms to market.”

“Are the roads still used for that, Dad?”

“Not really,” Bob looked in his rear view mirror, so he could make eye

contact with Aaron whilst talking to him.

Aaron eye’s widened as he pointed forwards, “I guess they aren’t cows

then?”

Bob looked back to the road ahead of him and had to brake hard, to avoid

the herd of black and white cows in front of him. “Phew! That was close!” He

waved a nervous apology to the farmer who had had a bit of a scare as well.

“What type of cows are they, Dad?” Aaron asked with a cheeky grin

plastered across his face.

“Erm, I’m not too sure,” Bob replied still trying to steady his nerves.

“They’re cold cows!”

“Cold cows? Never heard of them,” Bob was totally bemused at this point.

Aaron began to laugh, “It’s because they’re all Friesian.”

“Oh, Aaron” groaned Bob, “that was awful!” But he couldn’t resist

laughing himself. The cows cleared the road and as Bob moved off again, he

called out a ‘sorry’ to the farmer, who waved and smiled.

Chapter 5

THE LATE ARRIVALS

More and more children had arrived at Hopeshore Manor and by now, Helen

and Amy were sharing their room with three other girls, the sixth bed was still

unoccupied. Two of the girls Laura and Lucy, were identical twins and both

wore matching clothes, their shoes and socks were the same, their skirts and tops

matched, even their jet-black hair was cut in the same style. In fact the only way

anyone could tell them apart, was by the name badges they wore, which Ali had

given them all when they had arrived, for ease of identification.

‘Wouldn’t it be fun,’ Helen thought, ‘if half way through tomorrow the

twins changed their name badges’? She was about to say this, but Ali came into

the room wearing the same big smile that Helen had become accustomed to

seeing on the young woman’s pretty face. “Right, girls, are you all settled in?

Where’s Christina?”

Christina was the occupant of the fifth bed; she had come in, dumped her

bags on the bed and disappeared out again just as quickly.

“I think she’s in the toilet,” said Laura, or was it Lucy, Helen couldn’t tell

as both twins stood with their backs to her.

Just then, one of the boys who was sharing with Hugh, whose name Helen

didn’t know yet, came running in somewhat frantically, “Miss! Miss!”

“Jason, where’s the fire?” asked Ali.

“I don’t know about a fire, but someone’s locked the door of the games

room and whoever it is in there, is crying so much, they’re going to flood the

place!” Jason replied frantically.

Helen quickly put two and two together, “I bet you it’s Christina, she

didn’t look very happy when she dumped her things on her bed!”

Ali went along the landing and down the big staircase, closely followed by

Jason, Amy and Helen. The games room could be accessed through the panelled

door to the left of the staircase. Ali tried the door, twisting the doorknob both

ways, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t get it open. “Jason, run upstairs

and find Jake, he’s got spare keys!” Jason took off like a shot and for a small,

dumpy boy, he was surprisingly fast, Helen heard him overhead, pounding up

the stairs and then heard him calling Jake’s name. Ali called gently through the lock, “Christina, it’s me, Ali, unlock the door

so we can have a chat!” There was no response. As the girl might not have heard

her over the sobbing Ali tried again, but still she got no response. She tried the

door again, whilst calling Christina’s name for a third time. By this time, a small