I finally got in. I hung about outside the house, kicking a football against the wall, just waiting for them all to leave. It was sunny and it got me away from that stupid dance programme Mum watches. Well eventually they all piled out of their house and into that BMW he drives. He pulled away and I could see Julie looking at me from the back seat. I'm sure she suspects something.

I waited for about ten minutes after they'd gone, just to make sure they weren't coming back, then I pulled the key out of my pocket and walked over to the house. I tried to look as casual as I could, just in case anyone was watching, but my heart was pumping like it was going to pop out. I held my breath as the key turned in the lock, but the door swung open no problem at all.

Inside the house was all dark, and man did it smell! It was worse than my Grans. It was kinda damp with a mixture of seaweed and sulpher. I don't know how I didn't throw up. I managed to get my torch out of my pocket and turn it on and after that I had to walk round with my hand over my nose. I don't know what I was expecting to find but I definately didn't expect that smell. I mean, their house is joined to ours and it doesn't seep through the walls.

Well I wandered around, quietly, looking into all the rooms, and everything seemed normal. Except, and this didn't hit me at first, there were no photos at all. Now my mum has photos all over the place, including a particularly embarrasing one of me as a page boy at her best friends wedding (the less said about that the better). But here - none at all. I mean, don't they have a history?

That wasn't the worst thing. I didn't get to go upstairs cos I found something downstairs that had me running for the hills and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I'd done the kitchen, the living room, the dinning room and the study. That left just one room. In our house it's the utility room, I went to open the door and it was locked. So I rattled it about a bit, just to make sure - no, it wasn't going to open. But the top half of the door has a glass window in it. Frosted so you can't see through, but I could make out shapes. I shone my torch through. I could make out something dark that looked like it was the shape of an armchair. Then I heard a voice. A dark, unfriendly sort of voice, if you know what I mean. It made my blood run cold. And all it said was, 'Back so soon?' I heard something in that room move. I scraped itself along the floor like chalk down a blackboard and it was moving towards me. That's when I ran.

Now, what I want to know is - were they keeping that thing in there to keep it safe, or to keep us safe from it?

Finally got to the end of the week. Julie's practically ignored me every day on the bus and in the lessons we share too. But then she did that before we started studying together. She came round Tuesday night and again Thursday. I mentioned the holes in the garden. Just out of curiosity I said. She gave me that look again, the one where she seems like she can see right through to your underwear. Then she said, "Dad's thinking of building a conservatory and wanted to know which bit of ground would be better." That is so crap. Like anybody's going to believe that!

I haven't had chance to get in their house yet but I reckon tomorrow might be it. It's their Saturday night out and Mum's already said she's going for a meal with her new bloke. So keep watching this space, people. Tomorrow night I become a burglar.

Back to school today. Crap. Not long to go before exams and boy do the teachers bang on about it a lot! Anyway. I got on the bus and sat behind Julie. She sat next to one of her mates and started gossiping straight away. I listened for a bit then got bored of conversations about nail varnish and how to straighten your hair without ruining the ends. I'm trying to save the world here, don't they have anything else they can worry about? So eventually I plugged myself in to my MP3 and stared out the window at the green hedges and sheep. Then just as we were pulling into school she leaned back over the seat to talk to me.

"Have you seen my keys?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure," I replied, all innocent-like. "I think you must've dropped them at my place the other day." I fished around in my bag for a bit then gave them back to her.
"Thanks," she said. And that was it. Got away with that one then.

But getting off the bus, her friend is taking the piss out of her, yeah, and she went all pink and giggly, like girls do. The next second, she looks over at me, cool as a cucumber, and stares - like she can see right through me - not a trace of a blush. And I was the one who had to look away first. She can't know - can she?

Julie came round yesterday and I put my plan into action. We sat in the front room, Mum went into town and left us to it, and got all our books out all over the dinner table. Julie does English, Maths, and Chemistry with me. We both do History but with different tutors. The other subjects she does, I don't, so we didn't bother trying to revise those together. Well, after about two hours of going through notes and talking about stuff like the Korean War and Pythagoras my head was beginning to ache. (Who am I kidding? After about ten minutes of that stuff my head was beginning to ache! But I waited til we'd done two hours.) So I suggested we stop for a break. All that time I'd been drip feeding Julie with drinks. There was a coffee pot on the table and I brought out cans of coke and bottles of orange juice. So when we stopped she needed to go to the loo, real bad.

I sent her upstairs and while she was out of the room I went through her bag. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would pop out. I didn't know what I was going to find in there and at any minute she might come back in. God kows how I'd explain myself. Anyway, I didn't get caught but I did get her keys. I dashed into the kitchen and hid them in a cupboard. When she came back I was just coming out of the kitchen with a plate of biscuits. She smiled at me and looked almost normal, not like a nutter with a family who keep digging empty graves in thier garden. She certainly ate a lot of the biscuits like a normal kid. And I thought I could put a lot away!

We did about another hours work after that then her mobile went and she said it was her Dad telling her to come back home. She packed up and went off none the wiser. I went into town later and got a copy of all her keys cut. The guy in the shop looked at me a bit weird so I said they were my keys and Mum was mad at me for loosing them all the time so I had to get spares cut all at the same time so she could keep them. He grinned and rolled his eyes so I guess he must have a freakishly 'in control' mum too.

Julie and her family went out for thier usual Saturaday night family outing last night but I wasn't able to go and let myself in. Mum's got a new man in her life - Paul. And I had to spend the whole evening round his house getting to know him and his geeky kid. More of that another day.

Just got up. Well actually just got dragged out of what Mum calls 'my pit'. I'm sure she's got better things to do with her time - like sorting out her recycling, but there you go.

There was another hole dug last night. I heard them. They thought they were being quiet but they obviously don't realise noise travels at night. Thump, scrape, thud. It went on for hours. I turned off the lights in my room before I opened the curtains, ever so slightly, just to see what was going on. The bloke and his son were out there. In darkness. Digging. And this morning (OK, its afternoon now) the hole was gone again.

I've given up on my dead body theory. There was nothing in the ground when I went to ivesitgate, after all. Any why dig so many? So I reckon they must be looking for something. Not buried treasure or anything like that cos they'd use a metal detector, right? So what is it?

Oh, and I spoke to Julie yesterday. She completely blanked me when I asked to come round, but she said she'd come round to me anytime. What use is that? I don't actually want to study with her - she's a freak. But don't worry. I have a plan. So she'll be coming round tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes. I am going to get into that house. I was going to say if its the last thing I do, but I don't want to tempt fate.

So, been busy with Easter. Had to go the grandparents on Easter day, and suffer one of their awful roast dinners. Why is it old people can't cook vegetables - they always turn to mush. And thier houses stink of boiled cabbage, even when there's not a boiled cabbage in sight.

Anyway, survived that ordeal, but came back to find yet another hole in the next door neighbours garden. I mean, haven't they got anything better to do at Easter but dig holes? Shouldn't they be eating eggs like normal people? Get this - the hole was exactly the same size as the other one - exactly. And this one was right next to the old one. Well I didn't bother going to investigate this time. Mum would've had me digging a complete new vege garden. But I did watch out my bedroom window for, like, hours. Just to see what would happen. I drank loads of coffee. I was buzzing round my bedroom. And Mum keeps looking at me like I'm on drugs or something.

Well it was practically midnight when something happened. Tom, that's the Dad, and Sam, Julie's older brother, both came out with spades and just filled the hole in! No shit! That's weird right? But why wait to do it until midnight?

They've been quiet since then, nothing much happening. But I still haven't managed to catch Julie to ask myself round. Perhaps tomorrow.

Its been raining so nothing much to report. Every now and then one of the neighbours comes out into their garden and glances up at the sky, but there's been no let up of the rain. On the plus side, I've done loads of revision. But I was thinking - I might pop next door and ask Julie if she wants to be my study buddy. It would be a way in and I'd get to do some serious snooping if I was clever about it. I'll keep you posted.

Mum's had me busy for a couple of days. I'm posting this now before she has me at it again. I spent all day yesterday in the garden - digging. Mum said as I was so fond of it I could make myself useful and do some planting for her. Man, she can stay mad for so long! So never mind my revising. That obviously doesn't bother her. I can fail all my exams, just as long as I pay for my one little excursion into the neighbours garden!

Anyway, it gave me a good position to watch them from. While we were digging (Mum helped - she might be mad but she wasn't going to let me completely wreck her vegetable garden) they weren't. Well they weren't going to arouse suspicion, they're not stupid. But... (and here's the weird thing)... one of them was watching us all the time! No kidding. I kept looking over to the back of thier house and there was always someone looking out of the windows. At one point Julie, that's the daughter, the one who's in the same year as me at school, came and sat outside with a cup of tea and a Science revision book (just to rub my nose in it). Only it wasn't really warm enough for sitting outside. The sun was out, sure, but there was a cold wind. And she didn't even show the first sign of a goosebump.

So I sneaked out in the dead of night. Well, after it had got dark and when Mum watching the 'Strictly Dance Fever' results. I did what I had to do and now I'm in deep shit. I got a bit of mud on Mum's bathroom carpet! And she freaked. At least I had the good sense to leave my muddy boots outside the door. OK, maybe I was a bit stupid to think she wouldn't notice, but honestly, talk about over-react!

So I've spent most of this morning cleaning the stupid bathroom when I should have been revising for my GCSE's - still, plenty of time, right?

Anyway, the point is, that after all that grief, what did I find? Absolutely nothing! There was nothing at all in the ground where they dug that hole. Now that's even weirder than finding something. What's the point in spending all that time digging a massive hole only to fill it in again with more mud? I'm telling you, there is something very strange going on next door. I'm going to be watching them very closely. I'll keep you posted.

They say truth is stranger than fiction, right? Well it doesn't get any stranger than living round here. My Mum is a recycling freak, yeah. Desperate to save the planet. She thinks she can do it single handed by sticking old bits of cardboard into a green bin and shoving her decaffinated tea bags in a composter. She is really living in a dream, man.

The planet needs saving alright, but not in the way she imagines. She should wake up and smell the coffee. She doesn't see what's under her own nose. The people who are wrecking the planet aren't the ones who throw all thier rubbish in the local landfill site. They are the ordinary everyday people who smile politely and wish you good morning, who put thier empty milk bottles out every night and send thier children to the local state school even though they can afford private education. People like our next door neighbours.

I caught them at it the other day. They were digging in the back garden. A perfectly innocent activity in spring time I hear you cry. Yeah, except thier hole was six foot by three, and easily six foot down. Grave size, right? And what did they want it for? Who knows, cos the next morning it was gone. Covered over as if it had never been there. Well I'm not having that, so tonight, when they go out, all happy-family like, as they do every Saturday night (as if that was creepy enough) I'm going to investigate.

Something very strange is going on in this forgotten corner of North Devon and I'm going to find out what.