I nod, hopping down from the hammock and skipping into the kitchen. I spin in a circle. I think I’m dreaming. This is the kitchen we had before we renovated. Something feels strange. There’s a crying sound outside. Mum goes to Dad’s rescue, a tea towel in hand. He’s probably just burnt himself. I decide to stay in the kitchen.
I want to venture further into the house full of happy memories. A place I can’t reach anymore in real life. I want to soak it all in and stay for a while. But my feet anchor me to the floor.
Mum calls for me. I can’t reach her though. It’s like I don’t even have feet to move. I’ve faded into a bodyless being. A sleep-induced blob.
I try to shout back but my voice doesn’t work.
When she finally reappears at the door, the sun-bleached garden casting her into a silhouette, her arm is linked through— I blink. It should be Dad. Dad was outside. When the other person appears alongside Mum, his smile is as terrifyingly jubilant as it always is.
His pale skin and ghostly eyes catch on mine. Despite knowing exactly who he is, it sends my pulse reeling. I’d stumble backwards if I could. Run and scream. Why is Mum holding arms with my boss?
Michael’s grin doesn’t fade as he yells, “Fliss!”
I judder awake, clenching my fists around anything I can to ground me. My soft sleeping bag fills my palms. This world is in total darkness. I’m inside the tent. I thrust around, looking for James. Where’s his heat gone? We fell asleep with our sleeping bags zipped together. I had my back to him – he promised not to physically touch me unless I started shivering.
Where’s he gone? I sit up, blinking into the night. Has he abandoned me?
My heart launches into a vicious beat as I clamber out of the bag, unzipping the tent with frantic fingers. I emerge under a drizzly sky, a whisper of moonlight pushing through the clouds. The fire is down to a lightly glowing ember. Smoke billows upwards lazily. Neither offers much in the way of light. It’s silent apart from the menacing cry of an owl in the distance, the trickle of water nearby and the constant swaying of the long grasses and bracken branches up here.
“James!?” I call.
“Fliss.” I hear my name muttered quietly. It’s almost eerie.
I climb up from the ground, patting my knees as I rise to a standing position. The ache from my injured shin makes me wince. I can’t see any sign of life around me. “I swear to god, James, if you’re messing with me, I will murder you and feed you to the otters.”
“Can you hear me?” he croaks. His voice is muffled, as if he’s in pain.
“Yeah!”
“I’m behind the tent,” he breathes. “But be careful, ok? There’s a drop just to the left. The other side of the grass.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, walking in exactly that direction.
“Stop!” he shouts, his voice echoing in the dark. “Listen.”
“I am,” I insist, standing absolutely still for a beat.
“You need tonotstep through the grasses or you’re going to land on me.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Just walk behind the tent to the right. Follow it round the slope and you’ll find me.”
I do as he tells me, exasperated to be out in the dark with just a (still) slightly damp top and knickers on. It’s making me shiver already. With bare feet, I’m cautious to place each foot down carefully to prevent impaling myself on a sharp rock or spiky twig. I should’ve clambered around in search of my trainers. That would’ve been smart.
“Stop,” James croaks again. I pause, my hands out in front of me as if that’ll help me find my way through the darkness somehow. “Down here.”
I squat down. Behind what I assume is a sort of rocky edge, we’re in total darkness again. A hand grabs mine. I squeal, batting at it.
“It’s me, you ninny,” James says.
“You made me jump! Why’re you on the floor? If this is all some stupid game, it’s not funny.”
“Don’t be daft! I fell.”
“Why did you do that?”
James coughs a laugh. “Because I fancied taking flying lessons and I wanted to see if I was any good at it.”
