Lily Alone Read online

  ‘Shall I try carrying Pixie for a bit?’ said Bliss.

  ‘Oh, you’re a darling, but Pixie’s almost as big as you. Thank you, though, Bliss – you’re a gold-star sister.’ I saw that she was limping a little. ‘What’s the matter with your foot?’

  ‘It’s sore,’ said Bliss. ‘But it’s OK.’

  I made her take her shoe and sock off. Her sock had slipped down under her heel and her trainer had rubbed her ankle raw.

  ‘Oh Bliss, you should have said. Look, take your other shoe and sock off, give your toes a treat and run around barefoot,’ I suggested.

  ‘No, it’s all dirty.’

  ‘It’s just grass.’

  ‘And lots of animal poo!’

  ‘No, there isn’t. Well, teeny tiny rabbit poo every now and then, but that’s nothing to be scared of.’

  ‘I am scared of it.’

  ‘Well, all right, don’t go barefoot, but pull your sock up. here, wait a minute, put my sock on too, that will protect it better.’

  My own trainer started rubbing after five more minutes but I just had to ignore it. We kept on trudging. Baxter was the only one of us with any energy left. He found another branch and played a mad tree-whacking game, pretending they were all enemy soldiers. At least it kept him moving forward in the right direction. If it was the right direction.

  My heart started banging in my chest. I thought we were going the right way, but how could I be sure? And how on earth were we going to find our special hiding-place tree when there were hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of trees in this vast park? Well, we’d just have to find another hollow tree. No, wait, what about all our food, our blankets, our special things? What about Pixie’s buggy? Why hadn’t I kept a careful note of where we were going? I should have left a little trail of bread or stones like the children in fairy tales.

  I was getting so anxious now that I could barely breathe, and I was close to dropping Pixie altogether. The others didn’t seem to notice. Bliss limped along, Baxter bashed his trees, and Pixie crooned sleepily into my chest. ‘Little, little, little.’

  I kept looking all around, trying to get my bearings. We were walking near a road, and I didn’t think that was right at all. The road itself wasn’t right – it was completely empty. Where had all the cars gone? The park gates must be closed, like the café. It meant we were all alone in the park.

  ‘We’re absolutely safe now. There’s no one around to be nosy,’ I said. ‘Look, we can walk in the road, we can shout at the tops of our voices, we can strip off and wander about stark naked!’

  ‘Yeah!’ said Baxter, tearing off his T-shirt and shorts.

  ‘I didn’t mean literally,’ I said, but I decided to let him be silly just for the fun of it.

  He even took his funny little underpants off, running along totally naked apart from his trainers, taking great leaps and whooping at the top of his voice. We three girls shrieked with laughter at him. Then of course Pixie started tugging at her own clothes and had to do her own totally bare prancing. Baxter and Pixie wanted Bliss and me to strip off too, but we felt too bashful – which was just as well, because a whole bunch of serious runners suddenly thudded past. Their faces were grim with effort but they all cracked up when they saw my brother and little sister.

  ‘Put your clothes back on. We’d better stay away from the road,’ I commanded.

  ‘Aren’t we nearly there yet?’ said Baxter. ‘My feet hurt.’

  ‘Mine do too,’ said Bliss, who was in a far worse state.

  ‘And mine,’ said Pixie, which was monstrous, because I’d carried her most of the way.

  ‘I’m not sure I really like it here without any cars or people,’ Bliss said.

  ‘Yes you do. It’s great fun,’ I said, trying to wrestle Pixie back into her clothes. ‘You’re having fun, aren’t you, Pixie?’

  ‘You bet,’ said Pixie, charging off with her jeans inside out and one arm still not properly in her T-shirt.

  ‘And you’re having fun too, aren’t you, Baxter?’ I said, as he whirled around, still naked.

  ‘Not really, not any more,’ said Baxter. He sat down and put his pants on his head.

  ‘Oh ha ha,’ I said. ‘You’re not really funny doing that, chum.’

  Pixie found him hilarious, however, squealing with laughter and pointing at him.

  ‘His pants, his pants!’ she shouted.

  Baxter smirked at her.

  ‘I am funny,’ he said.

  ‘The joke’s on you, Baxter, putting your smelly pants on your head.’

  Baxter’s smile faded.

  ‘Then I’ll put them on your head,’ he said, trying to cram them on my hair.

  ‘Get off, you moron,’ I said, struggling with him. My fist shot out and somehow connected with his nose.

  ‘Ow! You hit me!’ Baxter yelled, punching and kicking me.

  ‘Stop it! Put your wretched pants on. And the rest of your clothes.’

  ‘I don’t have to do what you say. You’re not Mum,’ said Baxter, rubbing his red nose.

  ‘Yes, she is, Lily’s like our mum now,’ said Bliss.

  ‘She’s just a kid, like us. She doesn’t know anything. She’s scared because she’s a stupid girl. And she’s got us lost!’ said Baxter, stepping into his underpants and jeans.

  ‘No I haven’t!’ I said.

  ‘Yes, you haven’t got a clue where we are, admit it,’ said Baxter.

  ‘I do know. I’m sure we’re quite near our tree. And anyway, even if we’re not, it might be fun to sleep in this soft ferny part. We could make another camp here,’ I said. I lay down there and then.

  ‘Oh, it feels lovely,’ I said, making little purring noises of appreciation, as if I’d just got into a big comfy bed.

  I didn’t fool any of them, not even Pixie. They stood staring down at me as if I’d gone mad.

  ‘Come and join me, Bliss,’ I said.

  She hopped from one foot to another.

  ‘We’re not really going to sleep there, are we?’ she whispered. ‘What about Headless? I can’t sleep without him.’

  ‘Well, you’re maybe going to have to,’ I snapped, sitting up. ‘Because all right, I don’t have a clue where our wretched tree and all our stuff is.’

  They looked shocked, even Baxter.

  ‘I want my buggy,’ Pixie howled, though she always struggled to get out of it.

  ‘I want my brand-new fork-lift truck,’ Baxter snarled.

  ‘I want Headless,’ said Bliss, and she crumpled up.

  ‘OK, OK, I was only kidding. Of course I know where the tree is,’ I said, staggering to my feet and brushing myself down. ‘Come on, it’s this way, I think.’

  We blundered on. I carried Pixie, and then for a while I got Baxter to give her a piggyback while I carried Bliss on one hip because she was limping so badly now. She kept making little gulping noises, trying hard not to cry. I felt so bad, wondering why I’d dragged the kids into this huge park instead of keeping them safe at home. I kept looking desperately for familiar landmarks, but all the park seemed strange and alien now.

  ‘We’re lost, aren’t we?’ said Bliss, in a tiny voice.

  ‘No, we’re not lost,’ I said. ‘Well, maybe just a little bit. But we’ll find our way. If we get to the park gates we’ll know we’ve gone past our tree and we’ll simply have to turn round and go back the way we came. Now think, Bliss. You were the one who found our tree, when you ran away from that dog. Keep your eyes peeled and maybe you’ll find the tree for us all over again.’

  Bliss obediently opened her eyes wide and swivelled her head, looking all around.

  ‘Maybe – maybe it’s that one!’ she said – but when we ran over to it, it wasn’t hollow at all. We tried another and another and another, peering at every large tree we saw, without any luck at all.

  ‘Headless will be so lonely without me,’ Bliss mumbled. ‘I think he’s crying.’

  ‘How can he cry if he hasn’t got his eyes any more?’ I s