It was the first good night's sleep he'd had in a long time. 

Between all the revision and all those nights he'd spent searching the internet for information about his father, he hadn't noticed how much his lack of sleep had really taken a toll. For once, he felt awake. Refreshed. Perhaps a little more alive than he'd been before. He'd had been so obsessed, so weighed down by the mystery of the parent that he'd never known that he'd forgotten about the parent he did. So that was why he went to bed and woke up half an hour earlier to make his mum a cup of tea.

"What have I done to deserve this young man?" He didn't bother to mention that the tea was almost cold. As she took a sip, he looked away.

"Have you packed all the DVD's?" she asked. He gestured to one of the many boxes by the door.

"Yeah. All of them" he said.

"All the CD's?"

"Yeah".

"Those vampires in the attic?"

"Yeah— What?"

His mother chuckled.

"Just checking you were listening". She smiled, setting down her mug on the countertop. Smoothing her brown hair back into a ponytail, she peered at the clock on the wall.

"Right. It's half past eight now, so we'll get there at about ten o' clock. If the traffic's kind," she added. "And we both know how likely that'll be". Jake nodded, but the words drafted through him. As his thoughts turned to Max, he debated whether to text him and tell him he was leaving. Maybe they could say goodbye or whatever it was that best friends did after digitally ghosting you all night. Suddenly from his pocket, his phone pinged.

"Someone's popular today," Mum said, setting the cup into the box labelled 'Books'. Quickly, he fished it out and placed it into the kitchen box. At least she hadn't dunked her phone in her tea instead of a biscuit. Again. They were leaving most of the furniture behind for the new owners as his mother wanted to save money by not hiring a moving van. At least, that's what Jake hoped. He was just glad that she hadn't tried to force his great-grandma's cabinet into the boot of their Kia. As he checked his phone, he saw that he had a text from Max.

Do you want me to come over? I messed up yesterday. I don't want to leave it like this. Percy says hi, BTW.

Jake thought for a moment, tapping his fingers on the kitchen table. Eventually, he texted back:

We're leaving soon. Don't worry about it. I'll call you when I get to Crazyville.

"Who was that?" Mum asked curiously. "Girlfriend?" Jake almost coughed up his breakfast.

"No. No, just Max. He wanted to come over, you know. To say goodbye or whatever," he said.

"Goodbye? We're only two hours away. Honestly, I keep telling you Max is always welcome here, no matter what his parents say. He needs to get out more and coming from me, that's saying something". She chuckled absently. Jake found that he couldn't laugh with her. He frowned. Something about that text, it bothered him. It wasn't like Max to be so eager to come over, regardless of whether or not he was moving out. When they'd been younger, Max had said he was never allowed round other people's houses.

"I'm too precious, what can I say?" he'd smirked when Jake had asked about it. It had been a few years back and Max had been unable to come to his house for a party. At the time, Jake had just thought his parents were a little overprotective, but as they'd gotten older, the rule had stayed the same. So why was it different now? Why now?

"Jake!" Mum snapped him out of his daze, raising her eyebrows at the boxes on the floor. "These aren't going to pack themselves you know".

"I wish they would" he grumbled and started on the first box. Somehow, he managed to find the heaviest one possible. His muscles seemed to numb as he left the house. By the time he reached the car, his very bones were on fire. Mum directed him towards the boot and helped him dump the box in amongst the others: a selection of football memorabilia and paperwork. It wasn't glamourous, but it was all they had. Just those boxes and each other.

"Did your friends say goodbye yesterday at the match? With a small party or something?" Mum asked. This was the second time in the past five minutes. He was really considering asking her to go the GP. Indulging her, Jake shook his head.

"I wouldn't want them to," he said. He passed her another box and she placed it with the others. She shut the boot.

"Why not?"

Jake shrugged.

"I don't think I really liked it at Cheadle anyway. I don't think I really liked them. They were good friends sure, but... I don't know. I just didn't feel like I belonged there". He bit his lip, unsure why he'd even started in the first place. Standing at the edge of the drive, staring at the house where he'd blended in, thinking about the friends whose opinions had become his, he realised he wanted to move. Perhaps more than even his mum did. Turning away from the boxed white windows, he stuffed a bag of football kits into a fragmented corner of the boot. Then they began to load up the back seats of the car. When the two of them had finished packing, Mum checked she'd locked up the house, and with her black rucksack slung over her shoulder, she flopped into the driver's seat.

"Are you ready?" she asked. Jake raised an eyebrow but smiled and slid into the passenger seat. Mum took that as her cue, so he immediately stretched to plug in his headphones.

"I don't think so," Mum chuckled. "I didn't buy all these Alanis Morriset CD's so you could escape the suffering". She pulled the headphones down to his neck.

"Get off". He grinned. Mum was just about to turn the keys in the ignition, when she grumbled and lowered her hands. Checking the backseats, she let out a groan.

"What's up?"

"I've left some of the paperwork for the new house on the kitchen table," she muttered, shovelling herself back out of the car and towards the front door. Jake took the opportunity to reshuffle his own music. As he peered out of the window, he saw what he had been trying so hard to forget. Sprawled into the backdrop of his life, was the shadow. All of a sudden, everything came flooding back. The match, the nosebleed. The shadow. Following him. As he tried to blink it away, it seemed to cock its head and wink at him, though he couldn't see its face. It was perched on the garden wall, swinging its legs to and fro like a child in a playground. A silhouette with a smile. This was exam stress, it had to be exam stress. It wasn't allowed to be anything else.

"Right. That's that done. Now I've got everything," Mum said to herself as she emerged from the house, carrying a small envelope and a stack of papers. She set them down and began to lock the door again.

"Mum," Jake began, never taking his eyes off the shadow.

"What's wrong?" she asked but she didn't turn around. She seemed to be struggling to pick up the papers.

"There's..." he trailed off. What did he think he was going to say?

Hey mum, there's a creepy shadow sitting on our garden wall. Any thoughts? Instead he kept his mouth shut and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the shadow had vanished, and his Mum was staring at him, crow's feet pinching at her skin.

"Are you sure you're alright Jake?"

"I..." he started. Mum slid back into the driver's seat, dropping the paperwork into the passenger seat's foot well.

"Oh, that was it. I was supposed to tell you something," Mum began, clicking her fingers. She thought for a moment. Then Jake saw a little line of blood drip from her nose onto her jeans.

"Mum," he said. Pointed.

"Oh!" She cursed, reaching into her pocket for a tissue. Jake passed her one from the glove compartment.

"Thanks Jake. What would I do without you, eh?"

"Not a lot," he said, ignoring the eye-roll that followed. Finally, his Mum put the car into gear and finally, they drove away from normal.

In the darkness – always darkness - something snapped. Something snapped, something awoke and suddenly he felt different. Anew. A sharp, yet loose connection hung over him, tethering him to something which he never knew existed, yet he'd always known was there. He—

Jake shot up with a start, rubbing his head from where he'd hit it on the window. He was still in the car, which was parked outside a small Farm Shop. As he looked up, Mum came dashing out of the doors, and held up a sausage roll as if it was medal in the Olympics. Jake was sorely tempted to pretend that he was still asleep.

"Got this for you," she smiled, dumping the pastry on his lap. Jake groaned and turned over.

"You've drooled by the way," she added, and he jolted awake again. Mum laughed.

"Just messing".

"Ha, ha. Very funny," he mumbled, ignoring the sausage roll. For some reason, he'd lost his appetite.

"Cheer up, we're nearly there. It's only down the road".

"Exactly". Mum fell deathly silent and restarted the car. As they pulled out of the Farm Shop entrance, he expected to see the shadow perched – like before – on the nearest wall or car bonnet. But he saw nothing. That made a nice change.

"Max called by the way, while you asleep," said Mum. Jake nodded, but his mind went into overdrive. Why couldn't he just leave him alone? The car bounced over a pothole, throwing him up into a sitting position.

"Aren't you going to call back?" she asked as they sped past a road sign.

"No, not really," he murmured. He was glad when Mum didn't press the issue. She just kept her eyes on the road, while he stared out of the window until she abruptly turned off, heading down a side road and towards a small cul-de-sac.

"I told you we were nearly there" Mum said, steering the car up to a small semidetached on the left side of the pavement. Jake stared at it in surprise.

"Is that it?" he said.

"Yes," Mum replied softly. Her neck swivelled, while her eyes sharpened into that motherly stare.

"Why? What were you expecting? A run-down church?"

"Kinda, yeah". He smirked, and she shook her head, pulling into the driveway. At first glance, the garden wasn't pretty. A fallen gnome lay in the gutter, its eyes staring glassily across the grass. The front door needed a new coat of paint. Or several.

"It will look much better after my Succulents move in," Mum commented, cutting the car's engine and stepping out to admire the view. View was an overstatement.

"Great" Jake mumbled and was tempted to put his headphones back on. He was just glad the new house looked normal. Well, normal-ish. Semi-normal. Sort of normal. He sighed, sluggishly moving out of the car.

"Can you take your boxes into the hallway? I'll just call Steph and ask her when she can come around with the final bits of paperwork". Mum turned away and walked down the street a little to try and get a signal.

Of course there's no service here, Jake thought. He strode around to the boot of the car and yelled for Mum to unlock it. Ignoring the pounding of his blood, he reached in, hauling up a heavy box with a grunt. He was just about to carry it inside when one of the footballs came tumbling out and rolled along the pavement until it hit a small cream Dori shoe. Instantly, Jake discarded the box and ran over. He was just about to apologise, when the owner of the shoe picked up his football and held it out to him.

"I take it this is yours," said the girl stood in front of him. She looked to be around his age, if not older. Her nut-brown hair hung loose around her shoulders, a long fringe covering one of her eyes. The eye that he could see was hazel. She had a kind face, but her skin looked as if it hadn't seen the sun in months. So just your average girl from up north.

"Uh. Yeah. Yeah, that's mine," he stuttered. What was wrong with him? He accepted the football and threw it back into the box. As bad timing would have it, Mum came barrelling back across the pavement.

"I can't get a damn signal here"—

"Oh," she said, stopping in her tracks. "Who's this?"

Jake fought the blush that crept onto his cheeks. Mum must have noticed because she followed up her interruption with,

"Wait a second, I do have a signal. Isn't that strange?" She held the phone back to her ear.

"Stephanie, hello..." Her voice became lost to the wind.

"Your mum?" the girl asked, smiling.

"How'd you guess? My name's Jake, by the way," he added. Just in case she wanted to know. Or something.

"Lilly Jacoa," answered the girl. "I'm guessing you just moved here".

"Am I that obvious?" Jake grinned, and she laughed. Her voice sounded like the old wind chimes his mother used to have in her garden.

"Well, you haven't turned into a ghost or a werewolf yet, so you must be new". He couldn't stop smiling.

"How long have you lived here?" Lilly thought for a moment.

"Three"—Three-hundred, three-hundred— "years".

"That long?" Jake asked in horror. "I've been here for two minutes and I can't stand it". He looked around at the drab little houses and the overgrown weeds by the lampposts. And as he looked, he realised he couldn't see the shadow anymore. It just wasn't there, no matter how hard he tried to see it. It had gone.

"Something wrong?" Lilly asked sweetly.

"No. No". He started to wonder what was wrong with him. He was sweating in places he didn't even know he had. She took one look at him and burst into giggles.

"God, you're so easy to fluster," she cried. "I'm not even trying here". Immediately, he felt his shoulders sag. For a moment, they fell silent and stared at each other. Stepping closer, Lilly said,

"It was nice to meet you, Jake. Maybe you could come round mine sometime – if you need any help settling in. My house is literally next door. I'm just glad someone normal has shown up here for once. It's totally Gothic City around here". He laughed, and she shook her head.

"Seriously, we have creepy rituals on a Friday night and everything. In fact, you could come along to one with me if you want".

"I'll keep that in mind," Jake said and turned away to pick up the box. He really wouldn't have been surprised. Finally, the rational part of his brain kicked in.

"Oh, Lilly," he started, but by the time he'd turned around, she'd vanished. It was as if she hadn't been there at all.

Mum was in the kitchen, unpacking. She scrutinized the new cupboards and cursed the size of the mugs and glasses they'd brought with them. Jake sat down at the foot of the stairs, checking his phone. There were two more miscalls, both from Max.

"This'll be great research for your English Essay. Moving here" Mum spouted lightly from the kitchen. Jake got up, walked through the archway and folded his arms. Unfolded them.

"What do you mean by that?" he said. Mum looked away, then busied herself with emptying the old cutlery into the new draws.

"Mum," Jake pressed.

"Well," she began. "I did some research before we came and found out there's an old manor in the woods not far from where we are. There's police tape all around it and they say no one's been in for years. I thought it could give you some inspiration. Don't go in". Her voice altered, tinged with something he couldn't identify. Jake rubbed his face. He loved her, but this was the last thing he need right now.

"Maybe you could take Max and leave him in there for day or two", she said. He thought for a moment, but he wasn't thinking about Max. He was thinking about Lilly. Maybe they could go and...and what? He barely knew her. Besides, it didn't sound like the ideal spot for a date.

"How old's the manor?"

"Old," Mum replied.

Spectacularly vague, Jake thought with a sigh.

"Why hasn't anyone done it up or something?"

"Who knows? I heard it nearly burnt down once, but otherwise I have no idea," she said and reached down into another box to pull out a table cloth.

"Thanks anyway. I'll check it out sometime before the holidays are over," he told her even though he knew he'd do no such thing. Wanting to change the subject he said,

"So, what do you think of Lilly? You know, that girl who lives next door. She seems okay". Mum paused, her eyes darkening a little at the edges.

"I..." She found that she couldn't finish. In the end she settled with,

"I just want you to be careful. Girls are, well, girls are girls". Jake nodded and thumbed the corners of his jacket.

"Anyway, do you want to see your new room? It's upstairs on the left" she tried. He stood up, winching two boxes full of clothes and picture frames under his arms.

"Really? I thought we were sleeping in coffins in the basement".

"No, no," Mum said. "That's just me". He smiled and began the ascent up to his new bedroom. It was a good size. Better than he'd hoped. His window looked out onto the woods behind the cul-de-sac. The woods where Mum had said the manor had nearly burnt down. Jake shoved the boxes onto his bed and flopped onto the floorboards. It wasn't even lunchtime yet. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, his mind forever fixed on Lilly. The sharpness of her cheekbones, the wit and charm sparkling in her eyes. She was nothing like Melanie. Nothing at all. Nothing like any girl or person he'd ever met. He couldn't wait to tell Max about this. He was just about to reach for his phone, when—

Crash!

The sound of breaking glass. Jake was already up and running. He bolted out of the room, down the stairs, then came to a halt in the kitchen. Breathless. Mum was leaning on the countertop, a hand pressed to her nose. It came away bloody.

"Mum, are you okay?" he said slowly. She nodded, and he passed her some kitchen roll. His hands shook, and he fought to keep his mind from spasming. Mum bent down to pick up the remnants of the glass, but he stopped her and grabbed her hands.

"You should sit down," he said, and she glanced at him. Her eyes were narrow slits.

"Oh, Jake..." Again, she never finished. But she understood. She pulled out a chair and sat down, while Jake picked up the pieces of glass. One. By. One. It didn't matter how long it took or how many times the glass scraped or cut his fingers. He just wanted to know. To know why. Why was his mother hiding things from him? They'd always shared secrets before. That was why he wasn't like other people his age. That was why their relationship worked so well. Because they had trust. And now... Now he didn't know if he could trust a word she said. He finally finished picking up the pieces.

"Thanks Jake, I'm such a klutz sometimes". He didn't respond.

"Jake? You okay?"

"No, I'm not," he snapped. She sat back, holding the kitchen roll to her nose.

"Why won't you tell me anything? I deserve to know if there's something wrong with you. I'm your son."

Mum's eyes flashed, and she stood up from the chair.

"It's none of your business Jake. There's nothing wrong me," she shouted, before sitting back down with a thud.

"Mum, you've had at least two nosebleeds today. You won't answer my questions and... Is this about Dad? Is that why you won't tell me anything about him"—

"Jake!" He fell silent. Mum sat back, breathing heavily. He would've been angrier if he hadn't seen the look in her eyes.

"Please" she whispered. "Just stop". He stopped.