The winter you arrived, we had just moved to our second flat in the building, a flat four floors up. Kole had moved us there, because he wanted to make the first one his office.

A few nights before, Kole had hit Ma again and she was stuck in bed. Blue was with Viv from two floors down. She’d take him for the morning if I brought her things. Anything silver – saltshakers, single forks. Stuff I got from the houses.

It was November, around then, but that day was the hottest in a week of hot days. The sun was like a whip. I went out to smoke, only chose roads where there were shadows.

I sat in the shade on the roof of the Flamingo for a while, used a stick to play xylophone on broken arcade light bulbs, then wandered into town. I cut through one of the shops that had run between the seafront and the high street – a headshop, abandoned now, both doors open, missing floorboards making it feel like a bit of a tightrope walk.

Back out on the street, I heard the sound of you running before I saw you. The sound of feet hitting the pavement at almost the same time. I did a full circle to see which way it was coming from.

And bam, just like that, you flew into me. You came so fast you smacked all the air out of me, like when you clap open a bag of crisps. I almost had time to grab your arms, but almost as quickly as you bumped into me, you pushed past.

A second later, I saw why. You were being chased. Four boys. They dodged me, three on one side, one on the other. One didn’t have a top on. I didn’t recognise them.

It was a silent chase. That was the thing that worried me. And so I couldn’t not follow. I turned around, and ran to the corner so I could see what was happening.

When I got there, the footsteps had stopped. You were walking backwards, longish blonde hair, tall body moving back towards a wall, and the boys were walking towards you. Still no one said anything. You accidentally knocked an empty bottle with your feet, the kind of sound you feel most in your spine.

I saw you looking up at a rusty metal ladder next to you. Don’t, I said to you in my head. They’d pull you down by your legs.

Then the closest boy made a grab at you. The crunches as they crossed glass and rubbish to get to you. You looked up, and that must have been the first time we saw each other. You looked terrified. And something about your eyes caught me – caught me in them like a net.

A few metres away, I heard you saying that you didn’t have anything. Then them saying what you had was enough. The one with the longest hair grabbed your arm.

‘Oi, stop,’ I said, and they turned around.

‘Who’re you?’ he said. ‘Didn’t ask for you.’

‘Doesn’t look like asking bothers you.’

I kept walking towards him. He leaned down and picked up the bottle you’d kicked. He held the neck of it, the base had broken into a long, sharp jag. Then he started to pull up his T-shirt over his face.

‘Don’t bother about that,’ I said. They were younger than they looked. Fresh-shaved heads. ‘What are you even doing? You’re like five years old.’ Then I called over their heads, said something straight to you. ‘Does Kole know you’re here?’

You looked confused. Started to say no.

‘He does, doesn’t he,’ I said. I turned to the boy coming towards me with the bottle. He was almost touching distance now. I could smell his breath. Chewing gum, crisps, kem. I could have run, it might have made sense to run, but I made my body relaxed, kept my shoulders down. ‘Just trying to help you, that’s all. You don’t want to do that… not with her. Not if Kole’s going to find out.’

‘The fuck’s Kole?’ he said. But his friend reached for him and pulled him back.

‘He was joking,’ the friend said. ‘Nothing serious. She’s fine, look.’

‘Ohhh,’ I said. ‘Are you a funny man? Seems a good joke. Seems like she’s cracking up there in the corner.’

‘Mate, come on, let’s go.’ He held his friend’s T-shirt. ‘She’s not even fit. Fuck’s sake, come on. Not worth it.’

The one with the bottle turned to me again. He spat his T-shirt out of his mouth and for a second I thought he might take a jab at me, but the others pulled him away. He threw the bottle at the wall as he left.

I walked slowly over to you. You had your head down, you wouldn’t look up.

‘They’re gone,’ I said. ‘The lovely gentlemen.’

You started to say something, but I couldn’t hear you. I squatted down a little.

‘I don’t know a Kole,’ you said. And that was when you looked up. And that was when our eyes met properly. With a bang is stupid to say, but it did feel like that.

A sweep of your hair fell in front of your face. You looked different close up. Some people look the same from far away but you made sense best when your face was up close. There were your eyes, there was your nose, there was your mouth, and it felt like a lock opening. I didn’t think that then – it was how I thought to say it later, but that was what it felt like. When you turn a key in a padlock and the arch pops open.

I looked at your legs, your knees. Knees are supposed to be darker. Yours looked like all the other skin. Cold, too. White mixed with purple under there. I’d forgotten everything. If I was supposed to say something. ‘Sorry, what?’ I said.

‘I don’t know a Kole.’

These clear, clean words. A kind of buttery sound. You weren’t from round here.

‘That’s okay,’ I said. ‘You don’t want to, either.’ I reached for your arm, but you pulled it away. ‘I’m not going to bite. I mean I do… I can. To eat food and everything. But I won’t.’

You looked up at me.

‘Not unless you ask, anyway.’

And then you smiled, and it just – I don’t know. It wasn’t all at once. It hit me in moments.

‘I’m sure you know this more than anyone,’ I said, ‘but you’re sitting in a pile of glass. Can I help you up?’

You looked down, then you reached for my hand. I took your arm and pulled you towards me. Your knees were still a little shaky; they buckled a bit as you stood.

‘Thank you,’ you said. ‘Thank you very much.’

No, you were definitely not from here.

‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘My pleasure.’

Sometimes, I wonder if the way we met is the reason why we got into the situation that we did. When I helped pick you up, the weight of your arm in my hand, the cool of your skin against my fingers, I felt this little rush in my chest. A spike, a kite, I don’t know. It felt like I could save you.