“Tim’s youngest. You might have guessed that. And you’ve obviously guessed that we were mates, the three of us. Did everything together for as far back as I can remember.” He screws up his mouth like he’s tasted something bitter. “The first tithe we were old enough to take part in, be conscious of—I don’t know what the right word is—we were all seven. Andy was a bit older, bit braver. He had a certain swagger. For a little kid anyway.”

Matty grins now, laughing to himself.

“He … I don’t know what possessed him, but he went out to ride his bike on the heath. Hollered down the island for us to come with him, but it took some time for Hugh to sneak out of Alder House, and for me, there was no chance. My mum was too protective. We didn’t even eat on the Day when I was growing up, just sipped cold water and read books and played cards and went to bed when the bells rang up at the church to let us know it was done. Anyway, Hugh was the one who found him.”

He scratches his forehead, his back rising as he breathes. I wait, my own breath held.

“Andy’s wheel had caught a rut, maybe. He was thrown a few meters and snapped his neck. Just like that, gone. His face had turned green, Hugh said. He’d had sweets in his pocket to share with us—Andy, that is—and the goats were swarming him, biting at his clothes to get at them, and Hugh started to fight them. He panicked, might have gotten it into his head that they’d killed Andy. He ripped the throat out of one with his hands. He was covered in blood when he got back to the village and didn’t say a word to anybody, not even me, for weeks after that.”

He never said a word to me either. Never even mentioned the name Andy.

A muscle works in Matthew’s jaw.

“I know why he runs. We all know. We all feel what he feels. We all have stories like his, and that’s the truth. First body you see, first time the Day becomes real—you don’t forget it. But Hugh’s the only one with the luxury to make so many bloody excuses. He’s had to sit exams or he missed the train or was too ill or hungover to come back. And maybe there was a reason for it last time, like Sally says, maybe he was meant to meet you out there and bring you back.”

My cheeks go hot, and he’s not even looking at me anymore, just staring down at his dusty boots.