It was only when he actually dropped his newspaper on the floor that Meggy jumped off the roundabout and took a tentative step towards him. Not that he was paying her any attention. He had one hand pressed to his mouth and the other clutching the wooden slats of the bench as if to stop himself from collapsing.

‘Excuse me,’ Meggy tried.

The coughing only became louder, drowning out any hope of being heard from that distance. She walked closer still.

‘Are you okay?’

The man nodded – at least she thought he nodded – at her. But the coughing continued.

‘Shall I pick up your paper for you?’ she offered.

It was a pathetic thing to say, she knew that. He couldn’t possibly finish reading anything in that state, but still, it felt like the polite thing to offer.

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and put it to his lips, wiping sideways when the hacking abated for a moment. That was Meggy’s chance. She constructed a smile on her face, determined to give the appearance of being reassuring, and moved forward towards the paper just as the man deposited his handkerchief on the bench next to him.

Blood.

Tiny splatters, but blood nonetheless.

Meggy froze.

She didn’t do blood. Not her own and certainly not anyone else’s. The man paused his noise and stared at her, where she had frozen, mid-step, one leg raised slightly off the floor, looking at the handkerchief.

‘Don’t be scared,’ he said. ‘It looks worse than it is. Why don’t you sit with me for a minute? That would make me feel better.’

He reached out for the bloodied cotton and pulled it back into his pocket.

Meggy shook her head. His eyes were bloodshot too, and she couldn’t stop staring at them.

‘Come on,’ he said softly. ‘I don’t bite.’

He smiled and she saw gaps where there should have been teeth.

‘My dad’ll be waiting,’ she said.

‘Then why don’t I drive you home?’ He stood up, dropping the paper to the floor. ‘I can get you there quicker than you can walk.’

She stared at the newspaper. He made no effort to pick it up. Meggy got the impression he’d never really been interested in it at all. She suddenly felt as if she needed to pee urgently, and she was cold. He reached a hand for her shoulder, only it wasn’t shaking now. It was sure of its target, and those long fingers and yellowed nails looked perfectly strong to her. Strong and wrong.