It was a Friday afternoon when Harvey Forest first strolled into his life.
The first week of September was mercifully coming to an end. The sun had already deserted the day and retreated amongst the clouds, leaving a few rays of pinkish light to stream through the gaps in the leafy ceiling, long glittering tracks catching the swirls of dust that the sixteen year old’s footprints had made as he stomped through the harmony of Conleight Forest.
Sasha threw his schoolbag down on the forest floor with a ‘thud!’, and collapsed on a rotten tree stump in the middle of a sudden clearing, sighing and loosening his tie.
Blinking, he let his eyes become accustomed to the haze of chirping birds and overgrown woodland whilst he mulled over the heavy thoughts that pressed his head, running his hands through his hair. He’d been sitting there, quite alone for little over five minutes when something sharp and bright caught his eye, a few yards away hanging on a branch of knotted oak tree, bent down to age.
Getting up, he took a few steps forward in interest. Blinded by the sharp break of light, he reached up and closed his fingers around the mysterious object.
It was a key. Heavy and old fashioned, Sasha felt a sudden jolt of fear like a note from a violin string strike through him as he held it in amazement.
Two words were neatly carved down the key’s neck, in slightly curling writing.
‘Sasha Ross’
‘What’s that you got there, then?’
The voice from behind caused Sasha to jump and spin around so quickly, he was sure he’d managed to pull a muscle in his neck. Rubbing it with one hand, a thrill of wonder exploded in his mind.
A boy was standing beside his schoolbag, a year or two older than himself, which such a pale, white face it gave him the appearance of someone who’d been recently spooked. He had shiny black hair, crooked teeth and eyes the colour of burning earth. He wore a magnificent emerald green jacket complete with polished brass buttons running down one side, his body poised and alert like a soldier’s.
He might have stepped out of a rather ambitious nightmare.
‘In your hand,’ he prompted, his tongue curling over a northern Scottish accent that could only have come from a remote place ‘Ye dinne need to worry mate, I’m nah about te mug you or anything,’
Sasha said nothing. He would have been able to, if he had wanted to. Which he most certainly didn’t.
‘Ach come on,’ said the boy again ‘I’ve only bin watching yea for a while, don’t be going all shy on me ‘cause ye think I’m a stalker’.
The boy kicked Sasha’s bag roughly aside and sat down on the tree stump. Perhaps to fill the now almost indecent silence, he unbuttoned his jacket and began to rummage in an inside pocket. Producing a pack of cigarettes, he clicked a dark black lighter up, trails of smoke now hanging over his head as he watched Sasha closely, inhaling with a sigh and a sickly cough.
‘Where ye going now?’ he asked when Sasha pulled on his blazer and crossed over to pick up his bag. If he’d learnt anything in his life, it was to keep his mouth shut.
When he went to grab it however, the boy’s arm shot out and touch his, a trace of desperation in his voice
‘What’s the rush? I only come te talk’
‘But I have to-’
‘My name’s Harvey Forest by the way,’ he said, thrusting out a pale hand. Sasha stared at it, then took it grudgingly, still perplexed
‘Sasha Ross,’ he replied, averting his eyes away. The pack of cigarettes was then pushed under his nose
‘Want one?’
He shook his head
Harvey laughed
‘Wise, very wise- what’s that in your hand then? You gonna show me at all?’ It was at this point, when the boy replaced his lighter in his inside pocket, that Sasha saw a flash of metal that starkly resembled a knife. Fear engulfing him, he held the key up
‘I just found it…’ he said dully ‘I don’t really know what it is…’
Harvey coughed, and took it in his hand. He smoothed his fingers over it, carefully examining it with his lips parted, smoke hanging above his head.
‘Nice place, this is,’ Harvey admired, now looking around
‘You’re not from here?’ Sasha asked
‘No,’ said Harvey cheerily ‘You ever heard of Salt Island?’
‘Um…no, can’t say I have’ he said
‘That’d be about right,’ said the boy ‘It’s far up in the North Sea, so not so many people know about it,’ he leant forward and whispered ‘It’s a secret, you see’
Sasha nodded slowly. He was beginning to get a clearer picture of just why this boy was here. Either he was having what his grandmother would call ‘a bad turn’ and was imagining things, or he was in fact conversing with an escaped patient from some secure place. Grappling at his own dwindling self respect, he chose the latter.
‘Right,’ he said, adopting a relaxed tone ‘so- you’re here on holiday, then?’
Harvey smiled
‘Ne Sasha. I’m here to see you’
Now Sasha felt downright terrified. He was going to be murdered, right here in Conleight forest at the tender age of sixteen. As news lines with his last school photograph flashed across his eyes, Harvey stuck his cigarette between his two front teeth, shoved his hands in his pockets, and stood up.
‘B-but,’ began Sasha in spite of himself ‘where’re you going?’
The boy gave a shaky laugh
‘Steady on now lad, first you’re asking me where I’m from…next your looking te follow me! We’ve only just met you know’
He’d almost reached the worn path that led back onto the country road when he stopped and said
‘Whoops, here, catch! I’ll leave ye te get home, your mam will be starting te worry’
The gold key flew through the air, landing at Sasha’s feet. Picking it up, he strained his eyes out at the wilderness, but the stranger was gone, his cough still rattling like a distant echo.
