The Diary of Holly Campbell

One

It was dark. Cold. The frosty air stung her legs as she unlocked the front door and hurried down to the mailbox. She pulled out a stack of letters and sifted through them as she quickly walked back to the front door. Turning the lock, she got to the last letter and frowned as she saw her own name scribbled on the front in messy writing: 'Holly Campbell, 16 Tee Lane, Darwin.'

'Mum?' she called uncertainly as she walked down the dark wooden floor and into the old-fashioned kitchen that had black and white tiles and wooden cabinetry. Her mother sat at the bench, shovelling pasta into her mouth as she listened to her true crime podcast. As Holly walked into the kitchen she looked up and took her earplugs out. 'What's up, Hol?' Tiff asked with a smile, which morphed into a frown as Holly approached her with confusion painted across her face.

'There's a letter for me,' said Holly. 'I never get letters. And do you know who Peter and Alice Woods are? Because that's who the letter's from.'

Tiff knitted her eyebrows together as she took the letter from Holly. 'I don't recognise the writing. I don't think I know those names, either. Let's just forget it, okay? Not sure if we can trust it.'

Holly nodded, gave her mother a kiss goodnight, and her light feet tiptoed up the stairs to her room. Her room was the colour of a pale sage green and she had a wooden bed frame covered in fairy lights that had ivy leaves attached to them. Blu-tacked to her wall was a poster of Taylor Swift, next to a shelf stacked with books of all different genres. She went straight to her desk, which was a standard one from IKEA that basically everyone had and opened the drawer. She smiled as she pulled out her new diary that she had got just two days ago, for her fourteenth birthday. It had a brown leather case with a lock and key and pale yellow pages. It felt so old-fashioned, and she loved it. She launched herself at her bed and unlocked the diary. She lent back against her forest green pillows and climbed underneath the matching doona.