So what is this ghost hunting thing?' Clara asked Bucky as they both left the restaurant.

'I booked us two tickets to do that ghost hunting tour at Illingham House. It's that old haunted one at the top of that hill. This company do ghost tours there and I always thought it'd be a cool idea. You know, explore some creepy old rooms; that kinda stuff.'

Clara slowly turned to stare at him as they walked down the street and he noticed her make-up in the glowing of the streetlight. A twisted wry grin indicated something didn't feel right for Clara.

'What's up with you?' he said to her.

'Are you seriously considering this? I'd rather not go cavorting around haunted houses and using Ouija Boards to entertain myself. If I was going to do that I'd buy the 24 boxset and watch it all day.'

'Well it's paid for now,' he grinned.

Walking through the desolate street, one of the lamps was flickering; the light slipping into nothingness. Clara shivered and so Bucky glanced at her outfit. A small blue dress accompanied by a thin blue jacket was not the most suitable of attire for such a tempestuous night. Thunder roared loudly in the night sky.

'This kid I have to see,' she began. 'Lucy told me he was terrified of the dark and she can't even convince him there's nothing to worry about.'

'Good luck with it.'

'I told her I'd speak to him for five minutes and that's it. She's a qualified therapist yet she still needs a schoolteacher to tell her how to do her job. It's absolutely Ludacris. I'm going to end up smacking that woman.'

Turning the corner, Bucky turfed out his pocket to reveal a £5 note. Staring at it in confusion, his girlfriend asked what he was doing with it.

'If you're going to go and spend some of the night talking to some terrified kid then I am going to get a pizza.'

'Bucky,' she slapped his arm. 'You just had a three course dinner with wine. It's no wonder you've put three pounds on in the last two weeks.'

Just as he was about to say something, Clara recognised the street name on the other side of the road. Jameson Avenue. Saying goodbye to Bucky she walked off, her high heels creating a noise in the street. Noticing an adjacent pizza shop, her lover ran across the road to reach it.

James Avenue was very eerie. The thunder crackled again and the fog made it hard for Clara to see her environment. The odd streetlight bled through the mist as she examined the houses, trying to find the one Lucy was in.

Eventually, she spotted the house with '13' written on it and so she quietly opened the gate just in case it wasn't the right house. Passing a broken gnome, she made her way up the three stone steps until she arrived at the green door. Knocking on it with her right hand, she patiently waited. It soon swung open.

A small woman who looked about 50 was stood there. She had blonde scruffy hair and possessed the face of a sad bulldog. She showed no emotion whatsoever and it was up to Clara to break the uncomfortable silence.

'Hey,' she awkwardly waved at the woman. 'I don't suppose there's someone called Lucy in here is there?'

'LUCY,' the woman shouted up the staircase and so the English teacher held her ears for a short while. 'THERE'S SOMEONE HERE FOR YA. You a friend?'

'Yeah,' she forced a smile. 'You know what these people are like. They're always inviting their mates over.'

'Clara,' Lucy Charles said from the top of the staircase dressed in a red jumper with a black collar.

'I'll leave you two to it,' the woman said and went back inside her red living room.

As Clara came in and shut the door, Lucy began making her way to the bottom of the staircase. It was quite warm in the house and so Clara took her jacket off.

'So the kid's called George,' she said as they both made their way up the stairs. 'I've told him you were on your way. He hates the dark so much he's got lights almost everywhere in his room.'

Opening the bedroom door, Clara walked in and was about to speak to Lucy when she realised her friend had shut the door. Rolling her eyes, she spotted George in the bed. He was only about 8 or 9 and seemed a bit scared.

Sitting down on the side of the bed, Clara folded her arms and grinned.

'Hi. I'm Clara. Lucy told me you're afraid of the dark.'

Nervously shaking his head, George then glanced at the corner of his room. Located right beside a white wardrobe, the corner was dimly lit with a small chair. Turning back to look at the young boy, Clara thought of what to say.

'The dark can't hurt you,' she adopted a more comforting tone of voice. 'All it is a place with no light.'

'I'm not really scared of the dark,' the kid said which evoked puzzlement in Lucy's friend.

'Well what are you scared of then?'

'I'm scared of what's in it.'

A little shiver went up Clara's back but she dismissed it.

'The only thing in the dark is particles and gas. There's not much more than that.'

'Can't your hear it?'

'Hear what, George? I… can't hear anything.'

'You can't hear the darkness? All it ever does it whisper and tease and taunt. I can hear it sometimes if I listen. Listen. Just listen. You can hear it laughing almost like it's teasing you and messing with you. Don't you see things in the dark sometimes?'

As George prevailed his sentences, Clara felt a little nervous. She could feel the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

'There's the odd shadow that you see. Then sometimes for a split second you can see someone standing there.'

As a flash of lightning went off outside, Clara turned around and in the flash of light, she saw someone in the dark corner. The outline was of a male figure and it was only there for a second. Not wanting to alarm George she pretended to be fine after he asked her what was wrong.

Bucky was sat in the apartment on the leather sofa. He was watching a comedy TV show with a bowl of popcorn and chuckled at one scene when he heard the latch on the door. Muting the television, he rotated himself to see Clara walk through the front door. She was holding her shoes in her hands and she threw them on the floor.

'You look a bit shaken,' he said.

'None taken,' she took her jacket off and placed it on the coat rack. Walking over to the kitchen, she plonked her handbag on the side and so Bucky approached her.

'Are you excited for tomorrow's ghost hunt?'

When Bucky said that, it made her think about the figure she saw in George's bedroom. She bit her lip and shook her head.

'Listen,' she said. 'Something weird happened tonight.'