He knew they were following him. A shift in the shadows as he entered Figgate Park. He pressed pause on the Self Esteem track he was listening to but kept the headphones over his ears. If he dropped them round his neck they would know he was onto them. He kept his stride regular, changed his grip on the skateboard from the deck to the wheel axis, so he could swing it better.
He heard whispers, the scuff of trainers. He sped up. The path split round the pond and he had to choose which direction. Left was quicker but darker so he went right, into the light overspilling from the railway sidings up the hill. He cut across the grass between trees, then left around the water. The sky was clear, sprayed with stars, full moon like a coin pressed into the dark. Lennox spotted the resident heron standing on one leg on the island, hunched over, waiting for prey. He sensed movement behind him, gripped his board tighter.
He reached the wooden platform for feeding the ducks, saw something ahead to the left, coming round the pond from the other direction. Two guys, and he knew them. He sped up but they were too close. They loped into a casual run to cut him off from the path by the burn. They emerged from the shadows. At the front was Blair, thick neck and shoulders, grey top and joggers. Behind was Kai, one of his simpering minions, taller than Blair, mouth-breather. Lennox turned and saw two more of Blair’s gang behind him, Carson and Cal, little and large. Lennox turned back and Blair was only a few feet away, scratching his chin and smiling.
‘Sup, Scarecrow.’
Lennox swallowed, didn’t speak.
Blair stuck his chin out and tapped at his ear. ‘Lose the cans.’
Lennox pushed the headphones down round his neck, felt his hair spring up where the headband had been.
‘That’s better,’ Blair said. ‘Let that beautiful mop free.’
He looked at the rest of them and they sniggered.
When Lennox started at high school he was self-conscious about his Afro, kept his hair buzzed short. But he gradually got more confident, helped by some girls starting to notice, and when he turned sixteen he grew it out. Most kids loved it, and girls like to touch it without asking, which made him feel weird. But it also attracted attention from bottom feeders like Blair.
These four were in Lennox’s year at Porty High, but not in his classes. Lennox wasn’t exactly academic, but he did OK. He liked physics and engineering, how things worked. But these guys were in the bottom classes, treading water until they could leave at the end of the year to become drug dealers or join the army.
‘You not saying hello, Scarecrow?’ Blair was performing, leading the gang. Without him they were nothing, he made them feel part of something.
Lennox shuffled his feet, looked at the path beyond Blair. ‘Hey.’
Blair smiled and held his hands out. ‘There you go. And where you off to so fast?’
Lennox shrugged.
‘We could hardly keep up with you, right, lads?’
‘Just heading home.’
Blair took a step forward. ‘Past your bedtime in the Kiddy House?’
The truth was it was hours after curfew at the children’s home where Lennox stayed, but he was almost an adult, they didn’t give a shit.
‘Watch out going through Junkie Town,’ Blair said.
This was what Blair called Northfield, which was fucking rich, given the number of junkies around where he lived.
Blair took another step forward and Lennox could smell his breath – weed and energy drinks. Lennox saw Carson and Cal closing in behind, Kai on Blair’s shoulder. He was used to getting shit from arseholes because of his hair, brown skin, the poor-little-orphan bullshit. But that didn’t make it any easier.
‘Leave me alone,’ Lennox said, and tried to walk past.
Blair blocked him, the rest closing in. Blair raised his hands like he was affronted. ‘We’re just talking, Scarecrow. Just talking.’ He nodded at the two guys behind.
Lennox began to raise the skateboard but felt a thud of pain in his ear knocking him sideways. His arms were pulled behind him and he dropped the board. Blair threw a fist into his stomach, winding him, then punched his cheek.
‘We’re just trying to be friendly, fuck’s sake,’ Blair said, punching Lennox in the gut again.
Lennox wheezed, tried to suck in air.
‘You think you’re fucking better than us,’ Blair said. This was his standard bullshit, anyone smarter or better-looking thought they were some fucking elite. Bullying 101, pick an easy target and find a reason.
Another fist to the face made Lennox’s knees buckle, and his shoulders burned as he slumped, still held by Carson and Cal. Kai was leaning over Blair’s shoulder, laughing, eyes shining.
Blair picked up Lennox’s skateboard and swung it against a park bench, splitting the deck, splinters flying. He threw the pieces on the ground in front of Lennox and grabbed a fistful of hair, pulling his head back.
‘Try showing off your fucking tricks now, Darkie.’
‘Fuck you, Dick Breath,’ Lennox said.
Blair’s eyes hardened and he swung his fist hard into Lennox’s eye, a burst of pain and light in his mind, tears on his face and blood from a cut on his brow.
Then the light seemed to get brighter. Lennox closed his eyes, sensed brightness against his eyelids, opened them again.
The park was bathed in shimmering blue-green light, odd shadows moving round the trees. It was brighter than daylight, a hundred floodlights in weird colours, like they were underwater.
A crackle came from the west, above them, and Blair let go of Lennox’s hair. They all stared at the sky as a fiery throb of light swept over them. There was an enormous hiss, mixed with an underlying scream and rumble, and Lennox felt the air vibrate, the ground shudder. It was shimmering, impossible to say how high, and it was fast, shadows sweeping around the park, making Lennox dizzy. The noise and the blue-green wash faded as it thrust eastward, leaving a trail of colourful sparks which floated and danced in the air.
Everyone was still staring after the ball of light. In the silence the world seemed different, a residual throb in the air.
Lennox stood and Blair turned to the others.
‘What the fuck was that?’ He was met by shrugs.
Lennox smelled something, like baking or an experiment from his chemistry class, acrid but with an underlying sweetness.
Blair stared at him, shaking his head. ‘Where were we?’
Lennox braced himself. But Blair swayed like a sapling, lifted a hand to his temple. He cricked his neck and looked at the others, his eyes glassy.
‘What the fuck?’ he said, then his knees crumpled and he fell like a bag of sand, cracked his head on the concrete. Kai did the same, keeling over like a comedy pratfall. Lennox turned to see Carson and Cal reach out to each other then faint, falling hard on the ground.
Lennox looked at the four flat-out guys. He stared at the sky where the ball of light had gone then the world started spinning, trees spiralling, the park and the pond racing around him. He leaned over and vomited hard, hands on his thighs, then he slumped to the ground and let the darkness overwhelm him.