She walked tentatively over to Jason’s car, looking around her as she went. There was no one else about at all. The whole area was dark and eerily quiet. Isolated.

She headed on past Jason’s car to the main door of the unit it was parked by. She tried the handle. It was unlocked. She opened the door. It was dark inside and she could see and hear nothing. With the wrench at the ready in one hand, she took her phone in the other and turned on the torch. It did a lousy job of lighting up the space in front of her.

‘Jason?’ she shouted out. Nothing.

She shone the torch up to her left and right, looking for a light switch. There it was, just a step away on the right. She moved to it, flipped on the lights…

Then noticed the shadow creeping over her shoulder.

Dani spun around, ready to attack with the wrench.

‘Whoa! Dani?’

Jason. Her arms flinched but she held back from smashing his head with the wrench. Just.

‘Jason, what the hell are you doing here?’ she said, ready to collapse from fright.

‘Me? What are you doing here?’ His tone was scathing.

‘Tell me what’s going on. Please.’

‘Why are you here, Dani?’

Was there any point in lying? She quickly explained. The look on his face went from one of confusion and concern to one of outright anger.

When she’d finished he didn’t say a word. He just stood there, glaring and shaking his head.

‘It’s not in here,’ he said after a few moments. ‘Come on, this way.’

He walked out. Dani hesitated, but only for a moment. She flicked off the lights and closed the door behind her. Outside, Jason was hanging by the corner of the unit in a veil of darkness. She’d never before thought Jason had anything even close to a dark side. Was it the situation or Jason that was creeping her out now?

‘Jason, please, just tell me what’s going on. You’re scaring me.’

‘I’m sorry. I’m not meaning to. But you have to see this, Dani. Before anyone else does.’

Jason disappeared around the side of the unit. Dani cautiously followed, though she realised the wrench was now wobbling in her shaky hands.

When she rounded the corner she saw there was a side entrance to the unit.

‘It’s down here,’ Jason said, then headed on through the doorway.

‘What’s down there?’ she asked, her words as shaky as her hands.

‘Come on,’ he called, his voice echoing.

Despite her nerves, Dani followed him in, down the steps and into a basement level underneath the unit, glancing over her shoulder every other step to make sure there was no one else behind her. There wasn’t.