his bike light on the jetty. I grab it, shine it on his leg and recoil in horror.
‘Is … is it ba-bad?’ he says.
I nod. A huge, treble-barbed hook has embedded itself into his calf and has ripped out a long portion of flesh as he struggled. Somehow his leg got entwined in our fishing line and as he swam it hooked him as securely as any fish. Blood, mixed with the water draining from us, forms a red channel trickling back into the water. He reaches his hand down and moans again when he feels the warm blood.
‘Ca-call my mum,’ he croaks.
‘Sure, Iggy. Hang on. You’re going to be fine.’
I fumble in my soaking jeans pocket for my phone.
It’s not THAT bad, I keep telling myself. He’s not going to bleed to death right here on this jetty.
I jab the start button on my phone.
Smartphones and water are not a good mix. I try again. And again.
‘Where’s yours?’ I ask Iggy, whose breathing has become shallow, little pants.
‘My mu … mum’s confiscated it.’
That I can believe.
In desperation, I get to my feet and shout, ‘Help! Help!’ while Iggy pants and moans, lying on his back on the jetty.
‘No … no one’s going to hear you,’ pants Iggy at my feet, then he groans in pain again.
‘I’m going to run up to the road,’ I say. ‘There might be a car I can stop. Wait here.’
What am I even thinking? There are hardly ever any cars on that road, just forestry trucks now and then. Am I panicking? I am halfway up the steep path to the road when I realise that leaving an injured person, soaking wet and freezing cold, on a jetty in the dark is just stupid.
For a few seconds I actually hop from one foot to another, trying to work out what to do, until eventually I turn and scramble back down the path towards the beach. I can see Iggy lying where I left him, and then I stop and let out a small yelp.
Someone has just appeared on the jetty before me.
I know that sounds crazy, but it’s just like a magic trick or a special effect. One minute there’s only Iggy lying there. The next, this … this figure is there as well. It can’t have come from anywhere. I mean, there’s no other approach to the jetty than the route I took, and I didn’t pass anyone.
It is quite dark, though …
I am standing on the shore-end of the jetty when I hear the person speak. He or she hasn’t heard me approaching, is facing Iggy, and I don’t think Iggy has noticed me coming back either: he’s got other things on his mind, what with freezing and bleeding half to death. The person makes a weird snuffling, squeaking noise, followed by words.
‘I heard you. I will help.’
Iggy, who’s been facing the other way, propped up on his arm, spins round and then scuttles back in shock, slipping in his own blood.
I hurry to Iggy, passing close to the person on the jetty, who seems to be wearing a shaggy fur coat, but that’s all I notice at first: I’m more interested in getting to Iggy.
‘You OK?’ I say. ‘Sorry I left you. This person can help. That’s good, eh?’ I’m gabbling a bit and I don’t really understand the look of terror on Iggy’s face as he squints past me through his smudged, wet glasses at the figure who is still standing there.
Iggy can’t speak: ‘Tai … Tait. What … what …?’
His gaze is fixed on the person behind me and so I turn to look as well. What I see shocks me so much that I too stagger and slip, falling hard on my backside. I continue to scramble backwards to the end of the jetty, unable to take my eyes away from what I see, and – at the same time – desperate to put as much distance between me and it as possible.
Iggy cranes his neck around, but is unable to move as fast as me and so lies there, panting with terror.
This thing has a head, with a shining mass of long, silvery hair and, below it, a face. A human face. Well, human-ish: it is face-shaped, except hairy, with widely spaced pale eyes and a huge nose, twitching like a hamster’s.
I’m so scared that I think if I’d been a bit younger I’d have wet myself, but I don’t, thankfully.
It is definitely like a human. It’s got two legs and two arms for a start. Apart from the long head hair, the rest of its body is covered in a light, greyish, downy fur that seems to be standing up. From its back curls a long tail that moves like a cat’s. So, both like a human, and not at all like a human.
It stares at me with its large eyes for a bit and then casts its gaze about the forest, raising its nose to sniff the air. Then it turns back to us and takes a step nearer. Iggy and I both cower but it stops and carries on staring and sniffing. Then it shakes all over: a massive shiver that ripples its fur. Its top lip draws back, revealing long, sharp, yellow teeth.
I hear a whimpering sound. I don’t realise at first that it is me.
Iggy speaks first. ‘Who-who are you? What do you want? P-please don’t hurt me.’
The person-creature steps forward, and we creep backwards till we’re right at the end of the jetty and there’s nowhere else for us to go except into the water again. Even Suzy has backed away, after shaking as much water as she could from her feathers.
The creature leans forward till its head is only about a metre away. It takes a deep sniff then makes the same grunting and whining noise with its mouth and nose as before. That is immediately followed by: ‘You are alreatty hurt.’
The thing has a voice that is a strange combination of throaty and high-pitched. It pronounces the ‘r’ in words like are and hurt like Scottish Sheila in the village, and each word is precise, as though the language has been recently learned. It holds out a thin, hairy finger and points at Iggy’s bleeding leg.
Iggy can’t speak for fear.
‘To you want me to help?’ comes the voice again, after another brief snuffling and squeaking.
I can smell its breath: it’s like a dog’s – sort of sour and a bit fishy. Now and then it licks its lips with a long grey tongue.
Help? I’m not so sure. I’m thinking that I could scramble to my feet, and push this thing into the water, then run up the path for the bikes … Only Iggy is in no shape to run. I’d be leaving him here at the mercy of this … thing. He wouldn’t do that to me, I don’t think.
Iggy nods.
We both flinch when the creature raises both
