‘You thought you saw it. Sent us all off on a stupid wild goose chase. We split up to look for it, and Lucas thought he saw it too, but there was nothing there.’

They split up. They left Bex and split up. Any of them could have raped her.

‘When we came back it had started raining. You were passed out. You looked terrible. We had to get you home. Daniel decided to drive us home, and Lucas said he’d come too. To help with you.’ The last sentence stabbed into Bex.

The door pushed open and their dad walked in with a tray. He placed it carefully on a low table, poured with a shaking hand, and passed cups to Bex and Kirsty, before sinking down onto the sofa next to Kirsty. Nobody said anything.

Bex sipped her tea. Her lips wouldn’t work properly and she spilled it down her front. Opposite her, Kirsty took one sip of tea and then slammed the cup down on the table, splashing tea all over it. ‘I don’t want fucking tea.’ She jumped up and stormed out of the room.

Bex sat with her dad, desperately aware now that they were strangers. The silence between them was too solid to break. Bex looked at the tea on the antique table and wondered if she should mop it up. What a stupid thought, with everything else that was going on.

‘I’m so sorry, Dad,’ she eventually said.

‘It’s not your fault.’

But it was her fault. Kirsty clearly blamed her. She’d seen the Pale Child, sent them running off. She’d passed out, got too cold and wet, made Daniel drive despite him being drunk and stoned. It was her fault. And what about the rest? Was that her fault too? Was it her fault that she’d been raped? She couldn’t tell her dad about that.

‘Why don’t you go and check on your sister?’ her dad said.

Bex stood. She was no comfort to him, that was clear. She left the room and climbed the stairs. Knocked gently on Kirsty’s door and pushed it open. Kirsty was on her bed. She looked up. ‘Oh. Hello.’

‘Can I come in?’ Bex said.

Kirsty waved towards a chair beside an old dressing table. ‘Sit down.’ She looked a little better.

‘Are you okay?’ Bex said.

Kirsty nodded. ‘I’ll cope.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Kirsty sighed. ‘I know. It’s not really your fault. We shouldn’t have let you get so drunk.’

They sat in silence. Bex couldn’t think what to say. She hoped being there might help Kirsty but there was no indication that it did.

Eventually Kirsty said, ‘Seriously, Bex, don’t look so tragic. I shouldn’t have said it was your fault. You didn’t force Daniel to drive. And they could have dropped us and then left the car here.’