'What a cheap piece of shit.'

Claire gave her cellphone one last violent shake, hoping the movement would give it at least one reception bar before shoving it angrily into the back pocket of her jeans. She opened the clasp on her purse and began rummaging around for some loose change to catch a bus but to no avail. There was nothing else for it; she would have to walk home.

Home wasn't far but still Claire hesitated. The quickest way meant cutting through the cemetery which wasn't at all an ideal path to be taking in her favorite three-inch-heel boots. Not to mention the place gave her the creeps. She sighed in a defeated sort of way and with a quick flick of her long auburn hair she crossed the road to the gates of the cemetery.

It was already past five o' clock and the sun was setting quickly, casting tall shadows off the tombstones across the unkept grass. The temperature seemed to drop dramatically as the sky darkened and Claire found herself absently tightening her scarf around her neck to warm up. A twig snapped nearby. She stopped dead in her tracks and listened intently.

Silence.

Claire shook her head and told herself it was only her mind playing tricks on her. She resumed her walk, a little more briskly now, across the graveyard.

'Oh, Claire.'

Claire stopped again. She was certain this time she'd heard it, a smooth female voice coming from somewhere very close-by behind her. She spun around on her heel and peered into the darkness, unaware that her hands had begun to tremble.

'It's not polite to creep up on people, you know.' Her voice echoed into perfect silence. She shifted her weight uneasily.

'I know you're there!' Claire tried again but this time her voiced croaked with fear. A shadow moved to her left and she quickly whipped around to catch it.A silhouetted figure stepped out into the moonlight from behind a stone statue of an angel and Claire felt her throat seize up briefly before scowling as she recognized the stranger's now moonlit face.

'What the hell are you doing, skulking around the cemetery at night like this? You scared the living shit out of me!' Claire snapped angrily and raised her eyebrows. It was Mary Turner, a girl from her year at school; a nerd, no less. She was staring at Claire with a dreamy expression on her face, leaning against the statue and twirling one of her long red ringlets of hair around her fingers.

'I could ask you the same question, Claire.' She replied coyly. Claire took an uneasy step backwards as Mary started to walk towards her.

'Get away from me, you fucking freak!'

Mary's smile widened but she did not stop advancing. She appeared to be hiding something behind her back with her left hand.

'I said stay away!' Claire was yelling now.

'Don't be like that, Claire. All I ever wanted was to be your friend.'

Claire's hands were shaking violently. Before she could move Mary's left hand whipped out from behind her back, too fast to see whatever it was she was holding, and Claire felt a white hot burst of pain in her forehead before crumbling into an unconscious heap on the ground.