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The door shifted inwards just a fraction, just far enough to convince Kelly that, no, in actual fact, she hadn’t locked it after all.

She sat up again, and there, glinting in the glow from the moonlight creating a stripe down the middle of the room, she saw the little key lying on her bedside table.

The door rattled again, this time opening enough to make the hinges creak.

Kelly wanted to pull the blankets over her head and hide. But if there was someone out there trying to sneak into her room, hiding under the blanket would achieve nothing. They would easily see the bulge of her body beneath it.

She had no choice but to get up, dart for the door, and lock it shut before whoever was outside, toying with the handle, figured out how to get in.

At this point, she was beginning to doubt herself. Perhaps it was something strange after all. Because surely, if it was a person, they would know how to open it. They would just push it inwards and step into the room.

But it kept creaking open slightly and closing again, as though it were some kind of presence trying to figure it out.

Her heart was thundering by now, and Kelly could hardly think straight. It didn’t help that she was probably still a little drunk, but she forced her hand to stay stead as she reached out, picked up the key, and swung back the covers.

The carpet felt cold beneath her feet, as though a draught were coming up through the floor.

The door handle shuddered again, and she let out a gasp as this time the door opened a couple of fingers’ widths, enough that something could begin to peer in.

The crack between the door and the frame was a black line.

The light in the hall was off.

Kelly remembered it being on when she had gone to bed, both last night and the night before, and Martin had told her that he always left a night light on in case customers got up in the night to use the bathroom.

So maybe someone had—

She let out a gasp of horror.

The black shifted, a moving shape, and she caught a glimmer of light behind it.

Nothing more than a black shadow, it was standing right there, peering in through the crack at her.

‘Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,’ Kelly whispered under her breath, gripping the key tightly in one hand and pressing her fingers into the mattress with the other, trying to propel herself forwards.

Just then, the door slammed shut, but before she could move, it cracked open again, this time wider than before.

For a moment she saw a glimmer of the night light in the hall, then the black shadow was there again, blocking everything.

Kelly let out a wail of horror, leapt up, and dashed for the door just as it began to swing open.

She was screaming as she struck it, slamming it shut, pushing the key into the lock, and twisting it tightly until she heard the lock click.

As she turned away, she let out another gasp of horror.

The curtain billowed wide, the window apparently having been left open, the face of the moon shining there like a ghostly figure.

She squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them again, the curtain had gone still.

She stood up, went to the window, and found that it was closed after all, just as she’d thought.

So how on earth had the curtain managed to billow?

She turned away and let out a blood-curdling shriek as she found her door standing wide open, revealing a gloomy view of the hall and a figure standing at the far end, at the top of the stairs.

She rushed over to the door and slammed it, only to find that the lock bolt was still poking out, causing the door to bounce back off the frame.

She twisted the key sharply with trembling fingers, slammed the door shut again, and then engaged the lock properly, this time pulling the key free.