A Litter of Bones

by J D Kirk

  Mind you, she would quite happily listen to him reading the phone book, she thought.

  He was from just outside Oxford, less than a hundred miles away from where she lived. They’d already made plans to meet up back home the night before, arranging the details via Snapchat. Lolly had lain awake in her sleeping bag for hours, listening to her parents snoring through the dividing canvas wall as she and Nathan swapped messages and photos.

  His GIF game was top-notch, and when he’d sent a version of the ‘distracted boyfriend’ meme to her with one of her own photos superimposed over the face of the attractive passing woman, she’d felt her heart skip half a dozen beats.

  It had been momentarily concerning, in fact, before she realised that she wasn’t about to go into cardiac arrest and that instead this – this – was what love must feel like.

  “Yes, we are. But it’s freezing!” Nathan yelped, placing a bare foot in the water then immediately yanking it back out again. He kicked off his other shoe and tugged on the end of his sock. “Come on, hurry up before I get frostbite!”

  “You’re not exactly making it sound appealing,” Lolly told him, but she pressed the toe of a trainer against the heel of the other shoe and prised it off.

  The rocks were smooth and rounded, and she was able to stand on them in her bare feet without too much discomfort. Nathan already had his t-shirt off, and she spent a moment just staring at his exposed top-half, partly in admiration but mostly in shock.

  Was this actually happening? She glanced nervously back in the direction of the campsite, still expecting to see that lighthouse-beam of her dad’s head torch sweeping out over the water. When she didn’t, she wasn’t sure if she felt relief or disappointment.

  Nathan covered his nipples with two fingers of each hand and fluttered his long eyelashes. Lolly laughed despite her nerves. Or perhaps precisely because of them.

  “Don’t laugh! You’ll make me all self-conscious,” he told her.

  She stifled the giggles, and he saw the look of uncertainty that moved in to replace the smile on her face.

  “You OK?” he asked, dropping his hands to his sides. He reached down for the t-shirt he’d discarded on the rocks. “Want me to put this back on?”

  Lolly took a moment, then gave a shake of her head. Her fingers went to the buttons of her shirt and she fumbled with them, her hands shaking through cold and nerves and… something else. Anticipation, maybe. She couldn’t give a name to it, but she liked it, she thought.

  Mostly.

  Her skin goosepimpled along her arms as she folded them across her chest and wished that she’d brought a nicer bra with them on holiday, or that she better filled the one she had on.

  Nathan didn’t seem to mind, though. She heard his breath catch in his throat, and hoped that he wouldn’t notice her blushing in the darkness.

  “Wow,” was all he said, then he set to work unfastening his jeans and wrestling his way out of them.

  Once he had struggled his way free, he tossed the jeans down next to his t-shirt and held his arms out, presenting himself like a gameshow prize.

  “Ta-daa!”

  He grinned at her, showing none of the embarrassment or self-consciousness that Lolly felt. His underwear was tight enough to reveal a bulge that turned Lolly’s anticipation into something more apprehensive.

  Was she really going to do this?

  Nathan noticed where her gaze was pointed and shifted awkwardly. “It’s cold out here, alright?” he said, still smiling. “That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.”

  He flicked his gaze to her lower half. “Your turn,” he said, indicating her cut-off cargo pants.

  She kept her arms folded, hugging herself in an attempt to stop the shaking. Her mouth felt dry. She felt like she should say something, tell him this was a mistake, but the words wouldn’t come.

  What was wrong with her? She liked him. Really liked him. And he liked her. So, it was fine, wasn’t it? This was how it was supposed to happen. Better here with him than back home at some party with someone she had no interest in six months from now.

  Right?

  He stepped in close, derailing her train of thought. The heat of him warmed her. Melted her.

  “Hey, it’s OK, it’s OK,” he soothed, placing his hands on her shoulders. He looked so calm, so serene in the moonlight. Angelic, almost. His skin, unlike her own, was smooth and near-flawless. She felt an urge to run her hand across it, to check if it was real.

  “It’s just swimming, that’s all,” he assured her.

  Lolly’s voice came as a series of unsteady breaths. “Is it?”

  “If that’s what you want, then yeah,” Nathan promised. “I’m not going to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, OK?”

  Lolly swallowed. Nodded.

  “OK, then. Good.” He leaned a little closer until she could feel his breath on her skin. “Trust me, alright?”

  She shivered as his fingertips trailed delicately down her arms. Almost spasmed as they tickled down her ribcage, his palms brushing the sides of her covered breasts.

  He kissed her. His lips were soft, but the shock of them suddenly pressing against her own hit her like a sledgehammer. She ejected an, “Umf!” of surprise right into his mouth, which made him draw back, a puzzled expression furrowing his brow.

  “Sorry,” she whispered, flushed with embarrassment. “I was just… You just… I wasn’t expecting…”

  She tensed and closed her eyes as he kissed her again. This time, to her relief, she was able to avoid making any involuntary sounds of surprise, even when she felt his tongue pushing its way into her mouth.

  His tongue. His tongue was in her mouth.

  On purpose.

  Was this nice? She wasn’t sure. Probably. It wasn’t not nice, exactly. Strange, definitely. It wriggled around like a worm in there, brushing against her own.

  She wished she’d brushed her teeth before coming out.

  She was so focussed on the tongue-waggling, and so worried about her dental hygiene that she didn’t notice him working the buttons of her shorts until they dropped down around her ankles.

  He was kissing her neck now, less tenderly than he’d kissed her lips. She felt his hand on her bum, kneading one buttock through the thin cotton of her underwear.

  Another hand pushed one side of her bra up, briefly exposing her breast before his fingers clamped over it, concealing it again to everything but his touch. He grunted and pressed himself against her, the bulge in his boxers making its presence felt.

  “Wait,” Lolly said. “Stop.”

  He paused just long enough to whisper an, “It’s fine,” in her ear before he brought his hand around from her bum and moved it between them. She felt it press against her belly, felt the fingers slide down inside her underwear, stalking down through her pubic hair.

  “No, I said stop,” she objected, more forcefully than she’d intended. It got the message across, though.

  She pushed back away from him and saw a flash of frustration screwing up his face. It lasted only a moment before he masked it behind something kinder and more gentle.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “What’s the matter?”

  Lolly repositioned her bra and pulled up her shorts.

  “What are you doing? Come on,” Nathan said. “It’s just a bit of fun.”

  “I don’t want to,” Lolly said, not meeting his eye. “Sorry.”

  “What? Why not? I go home tomorrow,” Nathan told her, struggling to hide the impatience in his voice. “This is our only chance.”

  Picking up her shirt, Lolly pushed an arm through the sleeve. “We can meet up back home. Get to know each other a bit before… Before we… You know. Before we do anything.”

  “For fuck’s sake. What are you, twelve?” Nathan spat, and the tone of it hit her like a slap to the face. “We live a hundred miles apart. We’re not going to meet up. This is it.”

  “But, I thought we said…”

  “Jesus Christ
, you actually thought we were going to… what? Become boyfriend and girlfriend? Have a long-distance relationship?” Nathan said. The scorn in his voice made Lolly’s cheeks sting with shame. “I hate to break it to you, but that’s not going to happen. This is it. This is our only chance. It’s now or never.”

  Lolly swallowed down her embarrassment and began buttoning her shirt. To her surprise, her hands didn’t shake this time. Not one bit.

  “Never, then,” she told him.

  The firmness in her voice surprised her. From the look on Nathan’s face, it surprised him, too.

  “Hey, wait. Come on,” he said, his voice softening again as he moved to close the gap between them.

  “I swear to God, come near me and I’ll cave your head in with a rock,” Lolly warned.

  “OK, OK! Jesus,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. Honest. I got carried away. I overstepped the mark. It’s just…” He motioned to her. “I mean, look at you. You’re beautiful.”

  Lolly said nothing. The breeze coming in across the water toyed with her hair.

  “Of course we’ll meet up back home. I can get the train over,” Nathan told her. “We can get to know each other, like you said. Or you can come to me. I’ll introduce you to my mates. They’re all dicks, though. I feel I should warn you.”

  “What, like you?”

  “Worse than me,” Nathan said. “If you can imagine such a thing.”

  Lolly sighed. She should be walking away by now, she knew, and yet her feet hadn’t yet found their way back into her trainers.

  “Just come swimming. That’s all. Just swimming,” Nathan pleaded.

  “No thanks,” she said, although not with same conviction as just a few moments before.

  Nathan backed into the water. He was all smiles again, back on the charm offensive. “But what if Nessie gets me?” he asked. “You’re not going to let me face a big scary monster alone, are you?”

  Annoyingly, Lolly felt herself smirk as Nathan kicked back through the waves, his eyes and mouth widening into three circles of surprise.

  “Shit! It’s cold! How can it be this c-cold?”

  “It’s Scotland.”

  “But it’s July!” Nathan said, slapping at his bare arms.

  “But it’s Scotland,” Lolly reiterated.

  “I know, but s-still,” Nathan continued through chattering teeth. The water sloshed around him as he forced himself back a few more icy-cold steps. “You’d think that it’d at least be a little bit—”

  He went down suddenly, arms flailing, face twisting in panic. There was a yelp, then a splash.

  And then silence.

  And then nothing.

  “Very funny,” Lolly said, watching the spot where he’d gone under.

  Ripples expanded lazily across the loch’s surface, moonlight dancing across each undulating peak as they steadied back into stillness.

  “Nathan?” she said, as loudly as she dared. “Nathan, this isn’t funny.”

  She took a step closer to the water, then cried out in shock when he exploded up from below, eyes wide, breath coming in fast, frantic gasps. He grabbed for her. At first, she thought he was trying to pull her in with him, but then she saw the fear on his face and the panic in his movements.

  “What? What’s the matter?” Lolly yelped, her voice becoming shriller as Nathan’s terror awoke the same response in her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  Slipping and stumbling, Nathan dragged himself clear of the water, clawing his way up onto the rocks on hands and knees, coughing and wheezing. Lolly saw a dark shape following, sliding out of the water right behind him. He kicked out at it, squealing now like an injured animal, but a long blue tendril was tangled around his foot, attaching him to the shapeless mass.

  No, not shapeless. Not exactly.

  As the dark water fell away and the moonlight played across the thing, Lolly saw a hand, fingers curling upwards like the legs of a dead spider.

  She saw an arm, cold and blue.

  She saw a face. Eyeless, yet somehow staring at her from within the folds of a tarpaulin shroud. Begging. Pleading.

  Accusing.

  With the dark water lapping around her feet, and the cool night air swirling around the rest of her, Lolly screamed and screamed and screamed.

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  Acknowledgments

  This book would not have been possible without the support of a whole range of incredible people. Instead of paying them for all their time, I’ve decided to briefly thank them in the back of the book, instead. I feel this is just as good as money. Better, even.

  No, OK. Not better, obviously, but as good.

  In no particular order, then, a massive thank you to: Bob Brews, Suzy Lewis, Hanna Elizabeth, Penny Willow, Cal Carver, Vanessa Robertson, L.J. Ross, M.A. Comley, Rachel Abbott, Adam Croft, James Farler, Bob Carolgees, Spit the Dog, the Harlem Globetrotters, my wife and children, Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2, any two members of The Monkees (you choose), and anyone else who knows me.

  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

  And to reiterate – no, you can’t have any money.

  Go Behind the Scenes

  Want to get a closer look at the world of A Litter of Bones? Author, J.D. Kirk has prepared a photo gallery of images showing locations from the book, accompanied by his notes on each photograph.

  See locations such as Glencoe, Leanachan Forest, and the Fort William Police Station for yourself in an exclusive, ever-growing gallery of images and videos.

  Get access to the Behind the Scenes gallery here