I look at the clock on my phone. It’s now past three a.m. and I still haven’t slept.
I lie first on one side, then the other, then on my back, then on my front. Mam says she sometimes reads if she can’t sleep, but that would involve turning the light on, which would mean accepting my wakefulness, so I’m definitely not doing that.
Twenty minutes later, I’ve switched the light on. Lying on Seb’s bed is Kobi the Cave Boy.
Just looking at the pictures gives me butterflies. The empty, sandy landscape on the first page is a bit like looking at an old holiday photograph. And the words too are so familiar.
In the shadows of the cave, the fire flickers red,
And Kobi lies down with a rock beneath his head,
And pulls the fur blanket until it tickles his nose
While outside the cave mouth, the cold wind blows.
Kobi feels sleepy and his eyelids close.
Slowly, slowly, like Kobi’s fur blanket, the book sinks down and touches my nose and I don’t even notice.
And then I’m awake again. Dammit! What was that noise? A thump! behind me.
There is it again. Thump!
I look at my phone again: 03.42. Just then a message from Susan flashes up on the screen.
Thump!
The window. It’s coming from the window. Somebody is throwing something at the window. I shake off my duvet and open the curtain at the exact second a foam dart hits the glass and makes a much louder thump, making me jump back, startled.
In the little backyard, I can make out a figure with dark hair and a buttoned-up jacket, about to fire another missile. Susan sees me and lowers her arm. She’s holding Seb’s Nerf gun that he left under the hedge. I open the window.
‘I wasn’t sure whether to disturb you,’ she hisses.
‘I was nearly asleep,’ I whisper back, trying not to sound angry.
‘Good,’ she says. ‘Catch this. Then go back to sleep. It might help. Good luck.’
She fishes in her jacket pocket and pulls out something. Her aim is good and I catch it first time. I look down at the small packet tied with string, and by the time I look back she’s gone, the yard door slamming behind her.