Abs found the kitchen and ran out the back, and across the lawn. He called Jez’s name again, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Bethany’s parents boasted they had acres of woodland behind their house. Despite the mud and mulch and the uneven ground, Abs raced into the trees. Under the dark canopy of leaves, it was cool and quiet, but he felt very alone and anxious. Abs’s natural environment was a bar, a club, a spa, places with recessed lighting. He had never been, and never would be, a fan of Mother Nature, with her wildlife, bugs and filth. Walking further into the dense wood, he looked around frantically, but couldn’t see Jez anywhere. He tried to identify some features – a tree stump, a slope in the ground, a clump of mushrooms on a log – that he could use to find his way back.

‘Jez,’ he called, wondering if maybe his friend had doubled back around the side of the stables.

And then he saw the chalet. It was a dilapidated old hut that he remembered Jez telling him about, which had once been used as a summer house for guests, but which had long been abandoned. Jez said that when he visited Bethany’s parents, he often came to this place to smoke a spliff in peace. He liked to sit on the porch, he said, and gaze at the light shimmering at the top of the trees.

Approaching the chalet, Abs saw how the wooden structure was rotting and warped, and the windows were all boarded up. It was utterly quiet now, except for the squirrels scuttling along the branch of a tree, and the hoots and calls of various birds.

But Jez wasn’t sitting on the porch, and when Abs walked towards the building he heard a voice inside. He put his ear to the door and heard the soft lilt of Jez’s voice, but not what he was saying. Abs stayed like that for a moment, trying hard to listen, and then the voice suddenly came nearer; it was just on the other side of the door.

‘…again tomorrow,’ he heard Jez say, and Abs scrambled away from the door and around the corner of the hut to press himself against the wall. When Jez came out, Abs flew around the corner with his hands raised and clawed, growling. ‘Grrrrrrrr.’

Jez nearly pissed himself. He almost jumped out of his skin and keys flew out of his hand and hit the dirty wooden porch with a thunk. Abs laughed as Jez slammed the door shut behind him. He looked sick.

‘Gotcha,’ Abs said. ‘Made you jump.’

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Jez snapped. He put a hand to his chest, and for a moment looked really angry. ‘You nearly scared me to death.’

Abs couldn’t stop giggling. ‘Your face, mate.’

And then even Jez had a little laugh, as he picked up the keys.