His dirty fingernails, passing over the fresh scabs, made a rasping sound in the utterly silent restaurant.

His nose was swollen, and his lip was lumped and crusted with fresh scab.

WHAT can you say about a 19-year-old girl who likes to chew on fresh scabs from the knee of a 12-year-old boy?

Sam found her there six hours later, unconscious on the kitchen floor, a fresh scab forming on her shin.

He fell, his right hand dragged across gritty sand and shells, the stumps of his fingers screamed as fresh scabs were scored away.

Six pairs of sharp eyes watched her without seeming to, noticing the lines of control bracketing the usually mobile mouth, the fresh scab on her temple.

"I work here," she said dryly, noticing several fresh scabs on his face where he'd been cut by the flying debris the day before.

It probed its most recent memories, in much the same way that one might scratch a fresh scab.

Seeing Hassan's picture again tore the fresh scab off his death.