July 1998
Ninety minutes before…
Wiping her wet hair out of her eyes, Neve dropped low and ducked under the barbed wire. It was harder than she thought it would be not to catch her skin, and she had to drop further, fully prone, to crawl through. The rain started only fifteen minutes before, but it was torrential, and the ground was already completely sodden. Confident she was far enough past the razor-sharp wire to not get caught, she stood and wiped her muddy hands on her jeans. She noticed the air on the other side of the fence felt different, charged.
She turned to look at the rest of the group who all stood on the other side of the crude fence, wet through, with excitement and fear in their eyes. Behind them, she could just make out the lights coming from the village. She couldn’t help but feel a shiver run up and down her spine. She hoped that as she spoke, her own fear didn’t show. It was because of her that they were all here.
‘Come on, guys, it’s easy. Just do what I did, you’ll be fine.’ She waited for someone to say something in protest. No one did. The silence acted as her cue, and she turned and walked away from the six friends who stood frozen, her steps taking her towards the entrance of the old mine.
‘Wait, Neve—’ called Holly from the other side of the fence. ‘Are you sure we should be doing this?’
‘If we don’t go down and have a look now, we never will.’
‘Yes, maybe we have gone too far?’ chirped in Georgia.
‘Georgia,’ replied Neve, ‘you agreed it would be fun.’
‘I know, it’s just…’
‘Just what? Don’t you want to know what’s down there?’
‘Yeah, I guess.’
‘So, let’s do it. Chloe? Are you coming?’
Chloe nodded, but didn’t move. She was struggling to pluck up the courage to take the first step.
Neve turned and looked towards the mine. Her friends’ fear was contagious and had crawled under her skin. She thought of Jamie’s story – the trapped miner – and swore she could hear tapping. She stared at the entrance to the mine, its mouth agape, dark, cold. She felt herself hesitate, and jumped when Jamie, who had crawled under the fence, came and stood beside her, touching her arm.
‘Fuck it, let’s do it,’ he said quietly.
Looking back, Neve saw Georgia helping Holly, whose top had snagged on the wire as she crawled under the fence.
‘Shit. My mum is gonna kill me.’
‘Don’t worry, I can fix it with a bit of thread,’ replied Georgia.
Then, Baz and Michael dropped to the floor, giggling, and as Neve turned a torch onto their faces to tell them to shut up, she could see their eyes were bright pink.
‘Hey, you promised you weren’t gonna get too stoned before doing this?’ she hissed.
‘Chill out, Neve,’ said Michael. ‘We’ve only had one spliff between us.’
‘Yeah, Neve, we’re good,’ chirped Baz, still giggling.
Neve rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop herself from smiling as the pair crawled, pretending to be commandos. Baz had even taken it upon himself to cover his face in mud, and when Chloe looked at him quizzically, he responded.
‘Camouflage, innit.’
‘Shut up, you two,’ Jamie snapped. ‘You’re making enough noise for the whole village to hear.’
They ignored Jamie and continued to pretend they were in the army, rolling towards the shadow of the old colliery. Their silliness broke the tension, and everyone smiled. That’s why everyone loved them. As Jamie ushered them towards the entrance and told them to sit, Neve looked to see Chloe wasn’t smiling, and she hadn’t crawled under the fence either. Her best friend pleaded with her with her eyes, begged her, and Neve knew Chloe really didn’t want to do this. So as not to embarrass her, Neve walked back towards the fence.
‘Come on, Chloe, it’ll be fine.’
‘Neve, is this all because of your mum leaving?’
Chloe’s question took Neve aback; she hadn’t expected her friend to understand, and yet, she did.
‘I’m just trying to make memories,’ she replied, deflecting the truth.
‘I’m shitting myself; you know I don’t like things like this.’
‘Nothing is going to happen, Chloe.’
‘Yeah, but people died down there.’
‘People die in their houses. I bet someone has died in yours once.’
‘Oh, great! Thanks, Neve, I’m not going to be able to sleep ever again now.’
‘What I mean is, nothing happens in your house, does it?’
‘There are no stories about my house.’
‘Chloe, they’re just ghost stories, they aren’t real.’
‘What if he is down there?’
‘He won’t be.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Trust me, OK.’
‘Neve, what if he is a ghost? What if the Drifter is haunting us?’
‘Chloe, there is no such thing as ghosts.’
Behind them, there was a smash as Baz threw a stone through one of the old windows. Jamie dashed across to stop him throwing another. Neve turned back to Chloe who was still on the other side.
‘Chloe, nothing will happen here. I promise. Besides. Once we have had a few drinks, we’ll be fine.’
‘Are you scared too?’
‘Yeah, just don’t tell the others, especially Jamie.’
With a knowing smile, Chloe lowered herself to the ground and crawled under the fence, just like everyone else had. The wire snagged her shoe and pulled, catching her ankle and making it bleed.
‘Ouch, shit.’
Neve helped Chloe to her feet and the pair joined the rest of the group who were hiding in the shadows of the colliery tower. Chloe sat down and looked at her leg. A thin line of blood could be seen running into her shoe.
‘Are you OK?’ Baz called, his stupid games momentarily halted.
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’
‘Right, guys, are we ready?’ asked Neve. Georgia and Chloe nodded. Jamie offered her a wink. Michael grinned at her. ‘Don’t be a prick down there. All right? You too, Baz?’
‘Yes, boss,’ Baz replied as Michael gave a salute.
Neve shook her head and laughed before stepping into the mouth of the colliery. Although she didn’t believe in ghosts, she couldn’t help feeling the hairs on her arms stand on end. Slowly, she began to walk, her friends following closely behind as they entered the abandoned mine.
And as she disappeared into the darkness, she thought about the Drifter.