‘You’re not frightened of me, are ya?’ The lady was looking at me in the road and ignoring Busola, so I shook my head and ran. ‘Your friend, Susan ... Is she a ghost?’ Busola looked up at me, and turned over and didn’t answer. Manus and Connor were still at my aunt’s, so it was me and Busola on our own. I was in Connor’s bed and she was in the bottom bunk in the dark. My mum and dad were sleeping in the front room because he moved up while she was in hospital to be near us and she didn’t want him to change back till she was strong enough to sort out their bedroom and help him do the wallpaper that was falling off. There was a strip of moonlight in our room coming down over the edge of the curtain where it sagged and another smaller one on Busola’s side lighting the floor where the curtain caught on the ladder and didn’t fold back properly. It wasn’t completely dark, but I didn’t want to move because it was me lying on my own and I didn’t want anything to come and get me. I didn’t want to be on my own. I wanted someone to talk to. ‘You know she’s not real.’

Only I wasn’t sure. What if it was the Susan who burnt in the fire? I bit my finger to tell myself it wasn’t true, but I had to pull away because my teeth were sharp and I suddenly wasn’t sure it was me. I couldn’t sleep any more because I’d have to close my eyes and I had to keep them open in case anything moved. What if the handle turned and the door opened? I was straining my eyes in the dark.

‘Susan’s gone,’ Busola said.

I looked but she was still facing away from me to the wall.

‘She’s not coming back.’

That’s all she said. Even when I asked her, Why not? She wasn’t answering. I lifted up on my elbow to see what she was doing. She wasn’t moving. It was just me and her in the dark. There was scratching going on, but that was mice. I looked up at the crack in the curtain and got the moon in one eye. It was high and white and blinding.