I'd just walked through the door to my room, when my mobile started ringing. I took it out of my pocket to check who it was: No Caller ID.
"OK, No Caller," I muttered. "Who are you?"
I answered the phone. "Hello?"



"Ellie," said the voice on the other end. It sounded very quiet – I turned the speaker volume up. "It's me, Julian."
I was surprised. "Uh, hi, Julian," I said. "How'd you get my number?"
"I, uh, got it off Amelia a little while ago," he said. "Anyway, I've got a bit of a problem."
Julian was calling me about a problem? "Why are you calling me?"
"You were the first person I thought of," he explained quickly. It was then I noticed he was deliberately speaking quietly, and I felt a little worried. "Listen, I—I just found the gun."
My heart thumped. "What gun?"
"The gun! The gun that killed Lou! And—"
"Where?" I asked quickly.
"Um, in their car - Lola and Adrianna's -"
"Have you called Chris?" I demanded.
"I can't!" Julian protested, his voice beginning to rise. "It's a full moon!"
I swore, and rubbed my head with my free hand. This was all happening too quickly. "OK, um…oh, god, are you touching it!?" I panicked, my own voice rising dangerously.



"What? What's wrong?"
"Are you—"
"Yeah, I'm holding it by the—"
"Put it down!" I cried hysterically.
Julian sounded affronted. "I'm not stupid, I'm not going to shoot myself—"
"It'll have your fingerprints all over it!"
"Ah—" Julian broke off suddenly, alarmed. There was a pause. "OK, I put it back."
"That's good," I said.
"Should I try to wipe my fingerprints off?" Julian asked doubtfully.
"No!" I said quickly. "Um, no. Just leave it there and we'll tell Chris that you found it, and you had to pick it up to check what it was…and that's not even lying or anything—hey, how did you find it?"
"I was going to Lou's place, like I said," he said, "to talk to Adrianna and Lola, you know. I was walking past, and I saw the boot was open on their car, and there was all this stuff inside - suitcases and boxes and stuff - and I was just curious, you know, why was it like that? So I, I looked and on top of all the stuff, there was a gun, just lying there, and I thought, well, it must be it… So I called you. I think they did it."
"Who, Adrianna and Lola?" I asked. "Wouldn't surprise me."
"Yeah. Hey, um—"
His voice cut off sharply. My heart started to race again.
"Julian?" I said, my voice cracking. "Hello?"
I heard heavy breathing, but nothing more. I tried again. "Julian!?"
A very soft 'shh' came through the line. I paused, then whispered "What's going on?"
"A light just came on upstairs," he whispered softly. I heard him inhale.
"Who's there?" I whispered. "Do you know who—"
"It's Lola, I just saw her face," Julian whispered. "I have to get out of here."
"Can you do that without being seen, though?" I whispered, then checked myself. "God, move!" I hissed.
"I—I don't know if I can!" Julian whispered, sounding terrified. "It's the full moon, there's plenty of light, and—and they'll see me! And they'll know it's me because of the mask—"
"Take the mask off!"
"They'll still see me walking off! I'm next to the shrub thing near the—"
His voice broke off again. I nearly started crying. "Julian!"
"Oh god, they saw me," Julian hissed sharply.
"What!?" I nearly screeched.



"Shh! Lola – she was looking out the window, and—and she stopped, and then turned and—oh my god, I have to run!"
There were some sharp, scrabbling sounds on the other end of the line, accompanied by sudden rapid breathing. Meanwhile, I was clutching the phone in terror, with my other hand in my hair.
"Where are you going?" I asked urgently.
Breathing. Then—"The hall."
"I'll meet you there," I said.
"No, Ellie, don't—"
"I'll bring help!" I promised rashly. "Bye!"
"Ellie—!"
I snapped my phone shut, grabbed my jacket, and flew out the door.
As I ran, I quickly scrolled through the contacts stored in my phone, searching for the one person I was absolutely sure would try to help us. I found the name, and hit 'call'.



Still running, I pressed the phone to my ear, waiting desperately to hear the ringing on the other end. It started - one ring - two rings - three...
"Come on!" I hissed pointlessly. "Pick up!"
...four rings...five rings...six...
I was getting closer and closer to the hall.
...seven rings...eight...
With a strangled cry of frustration, I stopped the call, and instead tried another contact.
The ringing started again: one ring...two rings...three rings...four...
I swore. "Do none of you ever answer your mobiles!?" I growled.
Five...six...seven...
No answer. I ended the call. By that time, I'd arrived, breathless and sweating, at the hall. Usually, it's a five minute walk. I made it in two.
It seemed incredibly dark. I knew it was night time, and that was one of the primary reasons it was dark, since the sun wasn't actually in the sky. But it seemed even more dark than usual, despite the glare of the moon up above.
I looked around, searching for Julian, while rapidly flipping through my contacts in my phone again in a last-ditch effort to reach someone.
"Julian?" I hissed softly. Since calling for help hadn't worked, I stood next to the big tree and quickly started texting. It didn't take me too long to tap out the required message, which I sent, and then stuffed my phone in my pocket to resume my search.
I kept searching around the hall. Something was nagging at me, though.
The dark…
"Julian?" I breathed, looking all around me.
Why so dark?
I rounded the corner to the back entrance.
The hall always has a light on in case of an emergency…
My eyes caught sight of the smashed back light a few seconds before my brain made the connection. But by then, something hit me hard in the face, my head snapped backwards with a blinding pain, and the darkness consumed me completely.