The Wilds by Kit Tinsley Page A

know.’
    She smiled. She looked like a schoolgirl who had just been praised by the teacher.
    ‘Yes, sir,’ she said.
     
     
    Jason pulled up in the layby that Phil’s car had been found in. As they stepped out into the fresh air, the strength of the wind hit them full in the face. Its slight chill brought a solitary tear to Karl’s eye as he looked out at the flat expanses of fields around the road, the landscape broken up only by the odd spattering of trees. He had always hated it there, it was so flat, so desolate. Sometimes when standing looking at a view like that, he could easily feel isolated from the rest of the human race completely. The landscape of the area around Darton was as much to blame for his being desperate to get away from there. He had left as soon as he could.
    Phil had loved it, though; he had always liked feeling alone. When they were children, he would spend whole days just wandering the countryside on his own. Karl, on the other hand, used to spend his days playing on his Nintendo. He never connected with the place or its people the way his brother had. It sometimes hurt that his brother was such a loner, and yet so much closer to their mother than he. She had loved Phil’s company; whereas Karl, who had always needed to be around people, she kept at arm’s length.
    The thoughts made more tears run from his eyes. He dropped his eyes to the floor and tried to discreetly wipe them dry. When he turned round, though, he saw Jason looking at him. The compassion was clear on the other man’s face.
    ‘Are you okay?’ Jason asked.
    Karl nodded.
    ‘He could be okay you know? This could all be a wild goose chase,’ he paused then smiled. ‘Well, a wild cat chase.’
    Karl managed a smile at the joke. Jason did seem to really care; this wasn’t just about the story for him. Karl sensed that the reporter wanted to prove the danger lurking in the area to help save lives and not just sell papers. It was something that Karl admired; the few journalists he had met in London would have all fed their grandmothers to a big cat for a good story.
    ‘I’m okay,’ Karl said. ‘Just being out here is really making me think about Phil.’
    Jason looked ashamed.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Here I am filling your head with thoughts of big cats killing people when your brother’s missing. I’m such an insensitive twat.’
    ‘No it’s fine,’ Karl said. ‘It’s giving me something to concentrate on, and at least feel like I’m doing something, and it gets me out of the house.’
    ‘How’s your mum holding up?’ Jason asked.
    This was a question that Karl wasn’t sure how to answer. His mother had barely spoken since he got back. Her eyes were constantly red with tears, but her sobbing seemed restrained, and discreet. He wished in some ways that she would let it all out, he would prefer to see her screaming and shouting than this almost catatonic wraith she had become. Would she have reacted the same way if it had been him that disappeared? Somehow, he doubted it. She would been worried and upset yes, but she would have managed; she would have coped without completely withdrawing from the world.
    ‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘Not good.’
    ‘I guess that’s to be expected,’ Jason said. ‘What about your dad?’
    ‘Fucked if I know,’ Karl said bitterly. ‘I doubt he even knows what’s happened. He left when I was very young.’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Jason said again, then added, ‘I know more than most what it’s like not to have a father.’
    Karl looked at him. At first, he didn’t know whether he should ask what Jason meant. They had only met that morning, and perhaps that was too personal a conversation, but Jason had brought it up.
    ‘What happened to your dad?’ Karl asked.
    ‘It’s a long story,’ Jason said.
    ‘I have time.’
    ‘My dad wasn’t from around here,’ Jason started.
    ‘I guessed as much from the name Flynn,’ Karl said. ‘It’s not exactly a common