Hannah had finally managed to unstick her legs and make her feet move back, but her exit wasn’t as quiet as her approach and she must have stepped on the wrong floorboard.

She froze again, not daring to breathe, fear rattling through her as Mrs W and Bill both looked in her direction.

Bill’s face was red and tear-stained as he locked eyes with her, and the horror and humiliation in his expression burned through her. Meanwhile, Mrs W looked shocked.

As the seconds ticked by, no one speaking, fury twisted Mrs W’s features. Stepping away from Bill, she crossed the room in quick strides and slammed the door hard in Hannah’s face.

Terrified Mrs W might open the door again, she found the use of her legs and they shakily carried her down the stairs and out of the house.

Part of her toyed with going straight home, but her stuff was at the pond.

As she made her way down to join her friends, she wondered whether to tell them what she had just seen.

Would they believe her? Mrs W had always been so nice.

They were all in the water when she arrived, Tash calling out to her.

‘Hey, I thought you were going to borrow a towel?’

Hannah hesitated. ‘I couldn’t find Mrs W.’ There it was. The decision had been made. ‘I’ll just sit on the bank and watch you guys.’

Settling herself on the grass, lying flat on her back, Hannah closed her eyes, the sun on her face and listening to the sound of her friends splashing in the water. Her thoughts remained inside the farmhouse though, as she tried to rationalise what she had seen. What had she just witnessed?

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she must have slightly drifted off. She was woken by voices chatting excitedly close by to where she was laying.

As she opened her eyes, sitting up, she heard Mrs W’s voice. ‘Oh, there she is, Miss Sleepyhead.’

Hannah immediately remembered what she had seen upstairs, but Mrs W’s tone was so friendly again, she actually wondered for a moment if she had dreamt it.

‘I brought ice creams,’ she told Hannah, handing her a wrapped cone. ‘I know all this swimming can be hungry work.’

Hannah accepted the cone with a meek thank you, but she really didn’t fancy it. Her friends were all eating theirs, though, and it would be rude not to do the same.

She peeled off the sticky cardboard and licked at the cone, the ice cream cold and heavy as she swallowed.

‘How come you’re not in the water, Hannah?’ Mrs W asked.

‘She forgot her towel,’ Lauren answered for her. ‘We told her to come and see you, that you’d let her borrow one, but she said she couldn’t find you.’