The shock of the fall had made me forget how freezing cold I was, but now the chattering of my teeth reminded me. It was like when we were kids and I used to make the sound of a machine gun. It was hard to speak. But I got the words out.

“That way, Kenny,” I said. “Follow the stream that way, until you can climb up. The road can’t be far. You can almost hear it.”

And I did think that if I tried really hard I could pick out the sound of cars roaring somewhere in the distance. It was probably just the water thundering down the gorge, and the pain and the cold playing tricks with my head.

Kenny hesitated.

“I’m scared,” he said.

“Don’t be daft. I was just joking about the gytrash. It doesn’t exist.”

“Not of the monster.”

“What then?” I asked Kenny. “That you’ll get lost?”

“No.”

“What?” That word came out more like w‑w‑w‑t‑t‑t because of the chattering.

“I’m scared you might … you might …” Kenny started saying but couldn’t finish. Then he hugged me again, and I felt his hot tears wet on my cold face.

“I’ll be fine, our Kenny,” I told him. “But you’ve got to move yourself.”

“I don’t want to be on my own.”

“You’ll never be on your own, Kenny. We’ll always be together. But to be together, you’ve got to leave me now. Please. Please.”

And then Kenny got up and walked away. Tina stood, too. She looked at Kenny and then looked at me. It really seemed like she was trying to work out who needed her more, but it was probably just her trying to decide what her best chance of surviving was. Anyway, Tina made her mind up and trotted off after Kenny. In a few seconds they had gone round a bend and I couldn’t see them any more.

I was about to let out a huge scream of agony and fear, the scream I’d been holding in ever since I fell. Then Kenny came running back.

“Here,” he said. “You need these.” He took the scarf and the gloves off.

“No, Kenny, you have them. I bloody hate Leeds United.”

“Put ’em on anyway,” Kenny said. “I won’t tell anyone.”

I think he’d forgotten he was wearing the hat, or he’d have given me that, too. I didn’t remind him. He wrapped the scarf around me and even stretched the gloves out while I slid my hands inside. The gloves were wet from his attempt to climb out, but they still felt good.

“I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” Kenny said, which was something my dad used to say when he was off out to the pub.

And then he was gone, and Tina with him.

Thirteen

Thirteen