by M S C Barnes
fault.” It was Alex this time, her little freckle-face pushing between Nat and Scarlet at about their shoulder height. She was tiny, in every way, except for her thick, bushy, chestnut-coloured hair, which was tied into submission in two long plaits.
“Alright girls, I brought you here to see the jumper, not to stand up for my infamous brother!” Scarlet was obviously a bit disappointed that her new friends seemed to find Seb interesting rather than annoying.
A whistle blew and Zach grabbed Seb’s arm, dragging him up off the tree stump to head for the cafeteria. “Come on, I’m starving. You coming, girls? We can talk some more inside.”
“We left our lunch bags in the classroom. Have to go back and get them,” Scarlet answered with a satisfied smile.
As Seb followed Zach he heard a couple of giggles. Scarlet walked up to him and brushed moss and other debris from his backside.
“You actually need a nursemaid, Seb Thomas!”
Seb looked at the three girls watching his sister pat his bum down and received a reassuring smile from Nat.
Fortunately the rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful and Seb headed home, thankful for the weekend but already nervous about Monday.
The Weekend
With his first step into upper school a disaster, Seb was grateful for the weekend. He had managed an undisturbed and dreamless sleep and enjoyed lying under the warm duvet as the morning sunlight filtered in through the curtains. Then he heard his mum’s mobile ring. After a few minutes she came upstairs.
“Come on, Seb. I know we said we were going to have a pyjama day but we’re now having Zach and Gretel round. Julie has to work. You need to get up and dressed; they’ll be here in half an hour.”
Seb was actually pleased; he might get a chance to discuss everything with Zach. But Gretel? That was a different matter – she was a female version of The Taz: a Tazette. With those two together the day would be chaotic.
Scarlet mooched into the room, rubbing her cheeks, and groaned as she heard her pyjama day had disappeared, and not because one of her friends was coming over.
“I thought we’d all go to Sandy Lodge for a walk.”
Their mum’s words brought a groan from both Seb and Scarlet and then The Taz’s little head popped round the door. “Yippee!”
When they had been there last time with Gretel, he had spent a crazy half hour rolling down, climbing up and rolling down again a steep hill near the heath area of the RSPB protected reserve.
That actually would be fun, Seb thought. If they went today he and Zach would probably join in.
Scarlet scowled. “That’s not fair, Seb will have Zach and The Taz will have— ”
“I’ve told you both not to call him that!” their mum scolded.
The Taz ran across the room and did a flying leap onto Seb who was sitting on the bottom bunk. Seb howled as he felt the full force of the four-year-old’s knees impact on his stomach.
“I rest my case!” Scarlet crossed her arms.
“No, seriously, don’t call your brother that. Use his name,” their mum said.
“Yes, you can’t call me that. I’m A-D-A-M, Adam!” his little voice chimed in.
“A-D-A-M, Adam – get off me!” Seb raised his voice.
“The fresh air will do you all good.” Their mum stared at Scarlet whose face was now fixed in a petulant frown. “I don’t want any moaning from you, Scarlet. Go and get ready. You know you’ll enjoy it once you’re there.”
Scarlet huffed and stomped off to her room. In spite of her mother’s instructions, she moaned throughout breakfast and was still moaning an hour later when they noisily piled out of the car at the RSPB reserve.
The Taz and Tazette shot off along the roadway that bisected the vast woodland and Scarlet chased after them, suddenly becoming Nanny McPhee to the pair. Seb and Zach chased after her and before long they were all shouting and laughing and drawing a few frowns from the serious birdwatchers, wandering about the place with their £500 binoculars and fancy oilskin jackets. They drew more smiles, however, from the family groups or middle-aged couples, all out to just enjoy the sights and sounds of this beautiful place, and that included children exploring and having fun.
They all negotiated the cattle grid on the road as though they were tightrope walkers and then took the track that led to the heath. Within five minutes they were scrambling up the high embankment The Taz had named ‘The Roly-Down Hill’. This sheer hillside rising up from the footpath was the best playground a four and five-year-old could hope for. Seb grinned and followed Zach and Scarlet as they chased the terrors up the incline.
Seb’s mum found herself a suitable place beneath an oak tree where she sat, leaning against the trunk, watching them.
One by one they began rolling and tumbling down the hillside to come to rest, laughing hysterically, at the bottom, before climbing up again. The laughter and antics continued for a good forty-five minutes.
Seb stood at the top of the hill catching his breath, waiting for his little brother to clear out of the way, watching as Scarlet veered off to the left in uncontrollable giggles with bits of twig and leaf sticking out of her hair and hanging off her jacket. A cracking sound behind him made him turn and he nearly fell down the hill as he found himself face-to-face with a huge stag.
A full two feet taller than Seb the beast had the biggest set of antlers. Its soft, dark eyes watched him but other than the odd twitch of its ears it didn’t move. Seb could smell its pelt, the dampness of sweat. He could hear its breathing as the creature just stood and looked at him, a slight layer of mucous around its nostrils.
Seb guessed he should probably run down the hill and hope that the stag couldn’t follow and gore him with those huge antlers. He could see the soft velvety coating on them, a silvery-grey tinge to it that shone as it caught the sunlight. The stag lowered its head and there it stayed, an arm’s reach from him.
It seems so tame, he thought.
Suddenly he heard scrabbling and panting from the hillside. It drowned out the short, fast breaths of the stag. Seb reached an arm out. The beast remained still, allowing him to stroke its soft forehead.
The scrabbling was really close now.
“Seb, what are you doing? OMG, a stag! OMG how lovely; let me stroke it!”
Scarlet came bounding towards Seb. As she did, the deer raised its head, let out a huge, guttural bellow, turned on its hind quarters and darted into the nearest copse of trees. Its crashing could be heard for several minutes as it disappeared into the safety of the thickly wooded area.
Seb felt desperately sad. That had been the most magical moment of his life. As his hand had touched the soft fur of that wondrous creature he had felt its warmth, its life, its energy. He didn’t want to let the moment go. And there was Scarlet, tapping him, hitting him on the shoulder.
“What were you doing? What on earth were you doing? Why didn’t you let me touch it?”
“Stop it Scarlet,” he spoke quietly, sadly. “It was you who made it go, bounding in here and rushing at it. You scared it away. Can you never just be quiet?”
There was a pause and Seb heard more scrabbling up the hill. Their mum called out, asking if they were okay. She had obviously heard the bellow and was worried about them.
Scarlet stepped to the edge of the incline. “Mum, we’re fine, but you’re never going to believe what Seb just did!”
She chattered about the deer as they trudged to the bottom of the hill where The Taz and Gretel, having been told not to climb up again and stay with Zach, had decided to poke sticks down a nearby rabbit hole they had found. Zach supported them in their endeavours and as Seb and his mum and sister rejoined them the three had their backsides stuck up in the air and arms thrust down the hole right up to their shoulders. Seb’s mum gave Zach a lecture on how dangerous that was if there was a cornered rabbit in there: sharp teeth, claws etc., and how cruel too. Zach blamed the four and five-year-old, who then burst into outrageously e
xaggerated tears while Seb’s mum told Zach she was surprised he had been so easily led by children so young. That chastened him and he became sullen and withdrawn for a few minutes until Scarlet started jabbering on about the stag incident, at a pitch above the wailing younger children.
Seb dawdled off down the track, keen to distance himself from the commotion.
Eventually, Gretel and Adam stopped sobbing and the group set off on their walk. The youngsters found a large stick each which they dragged along, leaving spindly, serpentine imprints in the sandy dirt behind them as Zach and Scarlet ran to catch up with Seb. Zach wanted more detail to the stag story and, more importantly, to know why his best mate hadn’t called him to see the creature.
As they came to the top of the quarry, in the corner of his eye, Seb caught a glimmer of silver, but when he turned to look he saw only trees.
Walking towards the sliding bar gate leading back to the main track there was a sudden fluttering to Seb’s right. From a mass of jagged holly leaves at the centre of the quarry a small creature flew straight at him. It leant back and its tiny legs, with sharp, gnarled claws at the ends, thrust out to impact on his head. Digging its razor-sharp claws into his scalp it began stabbing, lifting and stabbing each foot repeatedly. Seb became rigid and then in a quick, smooth movement Zach grabbed the tiny attacker with one hand and threw it back into the holly bush. A small screech was heard and then silence.
Seb looked at Zach, stunned.
“It’s only what I saw Miss West do!” Zach shrugged.
“Seb, there’s no poo this time!” Scarlet laughed. Then as the younger children joined them she leaned in closer to Seb. “Did you see that thing?”
“What thing?”
“Duh, what thing do you think? The one that landed on your head!”
“No of course not – it was on my head!” Seb rubbed his scalp.
“Did you see it properly, Zach?” she hissed, grabbing Zach’s elbow and making the three of them drop back.
“Yup, a little starling or something. I might take up birdwatching.”
“No it wasn’t a starling; it didn’t even look like a bird, Zach. It was a bat! How could you not see that?”
“So what? You do get them round here!” Zach grinned at her.
Seb started to puzzle over the different species he had read about. He didn’t like the thought of the vampire ones and decided he had never read of any being found in the UK so it was highly doubtful it was one of those. He rubbed his scalp again, this time feeling to see if the skin had been broken. It hadn’t and he trudged on silently, anxious to get back to the car now.
As they left, Seb’s palm tingled and he rubbed it gently. He gazed out of the window and said nothing as the car whizzed past a silver figure standing beside the road between two bushes in the hedgerow.
Aiden
Seated at the breakfast counter on Monday morning, Seb tried to force down his Weetabix. Sunday had seen the realisation of the promised pyjama day. Scarlet dedicated her time to searching websites to find a picture of the bat she had seen scraping at Seb’s head the day before. She struck gold when she found the Bat Conservation Trust website. Excitedly she called Seb to see one small picture titled Noctule.
“That’s the one Seb, I’m sure of it. It was brown and about the size of an apple.” She opened up the fact sheet. “Yes, and it had that funny-looking nose.”
“It’s not a nose, it’s a tragus.” Seb pointed at the screen.
“Okay, that funny looking tragus. It was definitely one of those on your head.”
“Are you sure? You can’t have seen it for more than a second.”
“Certain.” She crossed her arms triumphantly. “I told Zach it wasn’t a bird.”
They spent the next ten minutes reading the fact sheet then Scarlet lost interest and wandered off, leaving Seb cutting and copying pictures which he pasted onto a Word document.
Pondering the sludge in his bowl in front of him now he decided he’d had enough. He went to print off the document and crammed it into his satchel.
The journey to school seemed endless and Seb felt butterflies in his stomach as they got closer. Once more he wore his fingerless gloves with his sleeves pulled down past his wrists. The day was cheery and bright, hardly a chill and certainly no clouds. The warm sunlight was causing the remaining dampness in the earth and on the roads to evaporate quickly, but not before forming a low-lying mist that covered the fields.
Seb studied his now clean jumper for signs of the droppings of Friday. He didn’t want people reminded of the incident with Miss West, though he did wonder whether it was bird poo he had been decorated with or bat poo. Thankfully his jumper was clean and his mum’s delicate stitching made the tiny holes in it all but disappear.
The Taz was playing with his window button, opening the pane as far as it would go and leaning his little head out as far as he could from the confines of his booster seat. He giggled as the wind, whipping past the car, forced his eyes to close.
Seb could smell hedgerows and vegetation and then— tarmac! It made his nostrils flare and almost made him gag.
“Oh Adam, shut your window; that smell is disgusting!”
His brother just smiled at Seb.
“Mum, that stink – you know I hate it!”
Scarlet, back in the front seat, turned to look at him. “I think he’s going to puke.”
“Do I need to stop, Seb?” his mum asked.
“No, absolutely not here. Get us away from that awful smell and Adam, WILL YOU SHUT YOUR WINDOW!” He couldn’t help shouting. He could feel his heart pounding and desperation rising as they zoomed past the roadworks to blame for the smell of fresh tarmac.
“Alright Seb, calm down.” Their mum put the window up.
Seb sat back and stared out of his own window, trying not to breathe too deeply until the stench left the car. His mood calmed as the miles rolled by and the smell dissipated. And then they reached the school driveway.
With a heavy spirit, Seb got out of the car. Scarlet, looking around for any of her girlfriends, nudged him and pointed to a pair of black-toed shoes and the side of a green sleeve sticking out from one of the larger trees.
“Zach’s waiting to jump out on you.” She giggled.
That made Seb smile and suddenly the day didn’t seem so full of dread.
Grinning, the two of them veered off the main path to walk along the grass. Seb led the way and, unseen, they made it to the tree behind which Zach was hiding. On the whispered count of three they leapt round the trunk, shouting. The poor lad on the other side jumped so high there was daylight between his feet and the ground. His freckled face blushed bright red, particularly his nose, and he looked like he was about to burst into tears.
Seb and Scarlet were stunned and a voice behind them made them hang their heads. “What are you two mortals up to?” Zach came striding along the verge, holding The Taz’s hand.
Scarlet pushed Seb on the shoulder, knocking him into the trunk of the splendid oak beside which the freckly boy was struggling to regain his composure. His face was vaguely familiar to Seb, but he couldn’t place him. The boy, however, knew Seb.
“I never made fun of you for peeing your pants, or for getting splatted by a bird. Why are you picking on me?” His cheeks had turned as red as his nose but at least the tears had not come.
Scarlet took The Taz’s other hand, leaving Seb to answer. When they came his words were neither convincing nor intelligible, “It, er, Zach was— you’re not. Sorry!”
Picking up his bag, the red-faced boy walked off, head down.
“Nice one, Seb.” Scarlet followed him with The Taz repeating her words, “Nice one, Seb.”
“What? How do I get the blame for that? It was you who said it was Zach!”
Scarlet, not listening, continued walking. In the dappled sunlight under the tree Seb was aware Zach was stood, arms crossed, just behind him. As he turned Zach had the biggest g
rin on his face. “You thought it was me and you tried to get the jump on me! It’ll never happen!”
“Shut up, Zach.”
Seb turned towards the school entrance. As he did so, a small object fell down the back of his shirt. It was cold and smooth and he dropped his bag, fearing he had been christened again by a bird. Thankfully, whatever it was didn’t feel wet. He tried to put his hand down his back.
“What are you doing now?” Zach pretended to be exasperated.
“Something fell down my back.” Seb had his left hand rammed down as far as it would go but the object had fallen to his waist and was balancing on the ridge of his belt. Zach helpfully thrust his own hand inside Seb’s shirt as a group of Year Ten students bimbled past and mutterings of “Not in front of the preschoolers please,” were cast in their direction.
“Got it,” shouted Zach, yanking his arm out. “Oh, it’s only an acorn. How boring.” He tossed the object in the air, leaving Seb to catch it as he walked off. The outer coating was shiny, pleasingly smooth, and as Seb spun it, it glinted in the sunlight. A quick scurrying to his right was followed by a dead weight landing on his forearm and in a furry flash the acorn was seized between the little front paws of a grey squirrel. It sat momentarily on Seb’s arm before jumping onto the trunk and clawing its way noisily into the branches.
“Did you see that?” Nat approached him and gazed up into the branches, trying to spot the squirrel. “Seb, that was amazing – that squirrel came to you! I didn’t know they were so tame.” She was still looking up and Seb noticed, under the yellow and green shading of the oak leaf canopy, her eyes looked turquoise.
“I think it wanted its acorn back,” he said.
Her nose wrinkled slightly as she giggled. “Maybe I should try and find one to feed— ”
A yell from the school gates distracted Nat and she waved at Scarlet who was now wandering back towards them.
“Come on Seb, you can nature watch later!” Zach called.
Having joined Scarlet, the four dropped their phones off and took the main corridor to the playground. Nat told Scarlet about the beautiful squirrel. Scarlet was annoyed she hadn’t seen it.
“First a deer and then a squirrel; you’re becoming quite the Dr Doolittle aren’t you, little brother?”
“What deer?” Nat asked.
Scarlet brought them all to a halt as she began recounting the story with helpful interjections from Zach, the four facing each other in a huddle. Then Seb looked up as he heard raspy, wheezy breaths. A familiar hulking figure, its shoulders nearly grazing the ceiling, was lumbering slowly towards them.
“Who is that?” he whispered to Scarlet.
She ignored him, engrossed in her storytelling.
“Um, we’re on our way to the playground— ” Seb spoke to the ogreish shape, trying to convince himself this was a member of staff and tapping Scarlet’s arm to get her to look up. She pulled away.
“In a minute, Seb; let me finish!”
The figure was now only six feet away from Nat who suddenly stared at Seb. She turned her head to look behind her and then