In the wood I find some little pink flowers growing among the moss, and I pick them and place them on the graves, whispering a little prayer as I do. As I finish, I hear Liam calling my name and I locate him after a minute, standing some way off in the woods. I’m about to tell him about the graves I’ve discovered, but before I can he grasps me by the arm. ‘I think I’ve found it,’ he says, gleefully pointing at the grassy mound in front of him.

‘It looks like a hill,’ I say. In honesty, it doesn’t look like anything much.

‘Yeah, but look around here,’ Liam says, gesturing for me to follow. The other side of the hill is covered in brambles and Liam has ferreted a path through them to reveal a small arched doorway held up by giant stones. I peer into the darkness of the cave-like entrance but it’s too dark to make anything out and there’s no way I’m crawling inside for a better look.

‘Come on,’ says Liam, tugging at my arm.

‘Inside?’ I ask, horrified at the thought.

He nods and pulls out his phone to light the way.

‘Is that a good idea?’ I ask as he bends his head and takes a step inside the barrow. ‘What if it caves in?’

‘It’s been around for centuries, it’s not going to cave in,’ he laughs. ‘What’s the matter? Are you scared?’

I nod and he grins, amused. ‘There’s nothing to be scared of,’ he reassures me. ‘It’s only old bones. The dead can’t hurt you.’

‘Can’t they?’ I ask, and he looks at me funny. ‘I’ll wait outside,’ I say, backing off, but he takes my hand and pulls me towards the entrance.

‘Come on, it’ll be fun.’

I sigh and let him lead the way into the barrow. Inside, the air smells loamy and dank, and it’s so dark that I can feel the panic start to breed in me like a virus, threatening to shut down my breathing. My thoughts swirl like a blizzard and all I can think about is being buried alive.

Liam grips my hand tightly and drags me deeper along, and I glance over my shoulder at the shaft of daylight behind us, which is shrinking further into the distance with every step. ‘I don’t want to go any further,’ I say, digging in my heels. I’ve no idea how far back this tunnel goes or where it leads.

‘Just a bit more,’ Liam urges.

A scurrying noise makes me yelp out loud. ‘What was that?’ I whisper, clutching his arm.

‘Probably a mouse.’

He keeps on for a few more paces and then drops my hand so he can hold up his torch and shine it along the packed-earth wall.

The light suddenly extinguishes, and I scream. ‘Liam?’ I whisper.