Page 5 of The Love Position

‘It’s Professor Thwaites to you,’ she replied, her world smashing into pieces around her. ‘Is this your first time having unprotected sex with him?’

Silence from the back seat.

I’ll take that as a ‘no,’ then… ‘And do you usually smoke heroin at the same time?’

‘What?’ Kiera asked.

Sophia’s eyes briefly closed, then she focused on the road ahead, driving as fast as the speed limit would allow.

‘Heroin. The class A drug you were taking.’

‘That’s opium, not heroin,’ Darcie replied. ‘It’s part of the reenactment.’

‘Heroin is derived from Opium,’ Sophia said, her throat tightening with every word.

‘I feel sick,’ Kiera moaned. ‘Can you slow down?’

Sophia sped up. She needed to get them out of her car before she broke down. The two girls were first-year students, barely legal.

Just like you were, ten years ago.

What if they told other people what they’d been doing? Would someone contact the police? Would she be arrested if they found drugs in the house?

‘Miss—’ Kiera began.

Sophia turned left. ‘I’m nearly there. Darcie, how far along—’

She was interrupted by retching noises.

‘Oh, my god!’ Darcie cried.

Slamming her foot on the brake, Sophia screeched the car to a halt and dashed to open the back door. Vomit coated the back of her seat, dripping into the footwell.

Kiera stumbled onto the pavement and threw up again.

Darcie came to her friend’s side and held onto her.

‘Which one is yours?’ Sophia asked, glancing up the street.

‘This one,’ Darcie replied, dragging Kiera towards a small terraced house.

Sophia waited till they were inside, then got back in her car, wound the windows down and drove away.

The winter air cut into the car like a knife, but the violent shivers wracking her body were not due to the cold. Her life had been a beautiful stained-glass window, years in the creation, but had just been smashed within the blink of an eye. The sharp-edged pieces now lay on the floor around her, and she didn’t know if they could ever be put back together again.

Calm down!

But her breath was coming too fast to control. Swerving the car to a stop at the side of the road, she cut the engine and clutched her head as her vision began to go.

Come on! Come on!

Throwing open the door, she staggered out of the car, made it to the pavement and dropped to her knees, welcoming the cold, hard reality of the tarmac.

‘Breathe with me!’

Her brother’s voice cut through the cacophony, and she clung to the thought of him.

‘You can do this.’

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