Eventually, things quietened and a sense of normality returned, the newsmen and women drawn away by newer dramas, and the village closed ranks. Eileen and Bill were in custody now. Rosie had been too young to understand fully what that meant, but her parents promised her neither of them could harm her again. It wasn’t easy though to forget or to feel safe.

The Goldbergs were barely seen, hiding away behind their big front wall. They put their house on the market just months after Miles’s death.

When Rosie eventually returned to school, she was labelled ‘the girl in the box’ and she felt like a freak show, under the constant gaze of fellow pupils, some of them viewing her with open curiosity, while others whispered behind her back. Tash, Lauren and Hannah had stuck close by, but in truth, Hannah was the only one Rosie felt a true allegiance with. Only she understood how it felt to be trapped in the box.

The village was back in the limelight when Eileen Wickham went to trial. She had pleaded not guilty, but luckily the jury had decided she was. She was sent away to prison, while Bill had to spend time in a young offender’s institute for his part in the crimes.

It was over. Rosie was told that repeatedly. But how could it be when she still woke up most nights screaming in terror at the nightmares, scared she was back in the makeshift coffin.

She struggled to accept Miles was gone and when she eventually did, the guilt overwhelmed her. She had been the one who had broken the rules and she had promised Miles it was okay to do so.

Years of therapy had followed. Had it helped? She wasn’t sure. These days, she preferred to self-medicate. Pills, booze, sex. It worked for her and sod anyone who argued otherwise. They weren’t her and they had no idea how it had felt being locked in a box and buried alive. To know she had clung on to a dead boy’s hand, wondering if anyone was coming back for her.

The counsellors she had seen had encouraged her not to blame herself. Eileen Wickham was looking to find fault, wanting an excuse to use her crudely made coffin. It was easier said than done and Rosie couldn’t help thinking that if she had made different choices that night, Miles might still be alive.

She thought about him often. Talked to him too. Telling him how sorry she was and begging for his forgiveness.

Rosie and Hannah had always been close, but that bond strengthened when they learnt they had both been through the same ordeal. They tried to deal with the trauma Mrs W had put them through by sticking together, and it was why Hannah would always be Rosie’s best friend and why Rosie would do anything to protect her. They understood each other.