‘If we phone up and tell them the truth about what happened – shit, if we tell our parents the truth – they’ll probably react the same way. Only they won’t laugh, because this time people are missing. This time they’ll get angry, and if we stick to our story they’ll make us tell it to lots of policemen and doctors and they’ll all get angry too, and everyone will think we’re either all lying or that we’ve all gone crazy.’

‘But they’d have to believe us, wouldn’t, they?’ said James. Matt could hear the desperation creeping into his voice. ‘If we all say it exactly like it is.’

‘If we all say it exactly like it is,’ said Tim, ‘They’ll probably lock us away. They’ll shut us up and do tests on us and they won’t let us out until we start saying something that they think sounds real.’

Matt wanted to protest – he wanted to believe that what Tim said wasn’t true, they were talking about their parents and of course they’d believe their own children, they’d have to – but deep down he knew Tim was right. Because adults didn’t believe kids, not when they came out with wild stories like this. They’d listen and they’d smile and nod, maybe even pretend they believed at first, but they never would.

‘I know what we’ll do,’ said Matt suddenly. Up ahead, he thought he could see a distant line on the horizon where the purple heather finally ended. He thought it might be Creek Lane. Matt felt for the weight of the mobile phone in his inner pocket. ‘I know what we’ll tell them.’

They walked on through the heather, into the morning sunlight, as Matt explained his plan.

News Cuttings (2002)

From the Devonshire Herald, 19 August 2002

Two teenagers and one adult missing after sudden storm sweeps Rutmoor

Police have launched a search for two teenage boys and an adult who became separated from their walking group during a storm in Rutmoor National Park over the weekend.

Three 13-year-old boys, Matthew Fisher, Timothy Stevens, and James Tramper, were rescued by emergency services on Sunday afternoon after they called for help from Creek Lane using a mobile phone. All three were taken to Rutmoor Community Hospital where they were treated for shock, and James Tramper received additional treatment for exhaustion and a sprained ankle.

Two of their classmates, Thomas Carpenter and Gareth Roberts, and Timothy’s father George Stevens, are still missing.

Police, together with the Rutmoor Search and Rescue Team, began a sweep of the area surrounding Creek Lane on Sunday afternoon.

‘The people we’re searching for became separated from their group during a storm that swept north Rutmoor on Saturday night,’ said a spokesperson from Rutmoor Search and Rescue Team.