Sophie shrieked, and threw herself back to get away from the insect. The whole tent shook.
She tried to hide in a corner, making herself as small as possible. The cranefly swung from side to side in the air, like it was trying to block her escape.
“Go away,” she begged it. But the insect stayed put, fussing about like it couldn’t decide whether to go up or down or whatever.
Then suddenly it was gone. She had only taken her eyes off it for a moment and now it had vanished. But she was almost certain that it hadn’t gone out. That meant it was still in the tent. It was somewhere between her and the flap. It was perched on someone’s sleeping bag, or on top of a discarded hoody or pair of shoes.
“Okay,” Sophie said with clenched teeth, “It’s just a daddy-long-legs. I am not going to be beaten by a spider with wings.”
All she wanted was for it to stay in one place, so she could get out and get on with her day.
Sophie held her breath and started to crawl for the flap. She moved an arm. Nothing happened. She moved a leg, then another arm. She shifted forward a bit. Still no daddy-long-legs.
Maybe it had gone to sleep?
She moved her other arm, and the cranefly took off right in front of her.
Sophie flung herself back without thinking and with a scream. The tent shook again.
This was ridiculous. She had to be about a million times bigger than the stupid insect. Why was she so afraid?
There was nothing for it. She didn’t want to hurt it, but she didn’t have a choice if she was going to get out of the tent that afternoon.
Sophie picked up a heap of clothes and flung them over where she had last spotted the cranefly. Then she crawled forward as quickly as she could, ploughing her way through the other girls’ things to get to the entrance.
But the flap had closed. The Velcro tabs had got stuck together. Sophie almost sobbed as she scrabbled to get it open. She was sure it was behind her, ready to crawl down her neck …
She tugged at the flap so hard it almost tore, but then it was open. Sophie shot out of the tent like fizzy drink out of a bottle. She only just remembered to grab the clean top for Fatima on the way. It would have been too bad to forget it and have to start all over again.
Once she was safely outside she wanted to kick something. She was so angry with herself. Why did she always do this with bugs? Why? Why? Why?
Sophie drew several deep breaths to calm herself down. But, deep down inside, she wanted to burst into tears. She hated this! She hated feeling so helpless. She knew a daddy-long-legs was harmless.
But stupid spiders and insects just made her feel sick, and there was nothing she could do about it. She hated them all. Spiders, wasps, bees, beetles, caterpillars, earwigs …
“I mean, what is the point?” she shouted. She wasn’t shouting at anyone in particular. Just bugs in general. “Bees … okay, bees make honey. But, you know, you could probably grow honey in a lab or something. What about all the others? What is the point of stupid insects that buzz around in the way?”
That was when she realised a boy was there, looking at her. She turned bright red.
Normally, when someone saw her being frightened of an insect, she tried to make a joke of it. She would say something like, “Wow, that gave me a shock, I thought it was something else,” and give a little laugh.
It was too late for that now. He would have heard everything. He must have wondered what all the fuss was about.
“What do you want?” she snapped.
He looked at her like she was weird in some way and he was too polite to point it out. Now she remembered seeing him before. They’d been gathering logs to build dens at the woodpile, and she had screamed when she saw a spider. He had heard her then as well … Sophie felt her toes curling with embarrassment.
“I just want to give you this,” he said gently. “It’s a gift.” He held out his hand with something in it.
“What is it?’” Sophie asked.
“Your adventure,” he replied.
Sophie was still annoyed, but she was curious, so she took what he was offering. It was a small plastic pocket compass. Nothing special.
“Uh – thanks, I guess.”
“I mean,” he added, “it helped me. It really did.” He gave her a hopeful smile, and then hurried off.
Sophie stared after him. Then she shrugged, and stuck the compass in her pocket.
She had the new top for Fatima, which was the main thing. But she was still furious with herself and those stupid insects.