Page 18 of Knights Game

I’d thought I was okay, well, as okay as I can be. But one moment, one heartbeat, and I’m back in that car wreck, trapped and staring at the twisted, broken bodies of my parents. The sound of the loud equipment being used to cut me from the car, the sound of metal screaming against the pressure of the machinery.

I pour more bleach, even though it has plenty, shaking my head as the memories fight at me.

The nightmares are back, and its hell. My screams wake Katy, the first night she came running into the room with a shoe raised in her hand ready to rain hell over whoever was attacking me.

Except there was no one, just the demons of my memories. No shoe would help me.

I stand and arch backwards, my muscles screaming from having spent the last hour deep cleaning the bathroom. I flush the loo, wash my hands, and put away the cleaning products and head back into my room.

Cleaning gives me a sense of control, but my room is spotless. Already having been given the treatment when I woke last week unable to get back to sleep. My eyes fall to the cuddly bear that had been given to me by the firefighter who saved my life that day, but instead of the kind firefighter, it’s Luca Knight I think about.

Who is he? What does he do? How dangerous is he?

There was coverage of the crash on the local news, for a day, about how two men had fled before police arrived on the scene…but then nothing. It was like it had never happened. Did they have something to do with that? They obviously have contacts.

Power.

No one from work has noticed the missing antibiotics, no one noticed anything out of place. I’ve gotten away with it, which makes the whole thing even more exciting.

Yup, cart me off to the asylum.

“Layla?” Katy's voice breaks into my hazy brain, I glance behind me. “Jesus, I was worried you’d gone deaf, where did you go?”

“Sorry, what did you say?”

She kicks at the door frame where she’s been lingering waiting for my reply. “I have something that will make you feel better.”

I can’t think of anything that will make me feel better, but I raise my eyebrow as she skips into the room and leads me to the bed and pushes me on it, before leaping excitedly. Thewhole thing bouncing as she gets comfortable and then pulls something from behind her back.

“Look.” She thrusts a glossy piece of paper into my hand, it looks elegant and posh, but she’s floundering it around so much that I can’t make out what the damn thing says.

“Stop bloody flinging it about.”

“It’s a spa day.” She squeals. “I won a competition, which is weird because I can’t remember entering one.” She shakes her head thinking, then grins again. Katy is organised in some aspects of her life, but a complete floozy in others. “But look. A full day at the World of Spas. You know the place we’ve wanted to go for ages.”

“Holy shit! That’s awesome.” I rip the piece of paper off her and look at the curved scripture and pictures of people being pampered and looking glamorous.

“It includes two free treatments, champagne, lunch, the works.”

“That’s awesome Katy, you’ll have a great time.”

She grabs the piece of paper out of my hand and tuts whacking it over my head. “Duh! It’s for two and obviously you’re coming with me.”

I’m relaxed. For what feels like the first time in years. Last night we chose our treatments and drank vast amounts of wine, giggling over TV shows and bingeing on chocolates. Today we lie floating in the pool as the saltwater holds our bodies up and we nurse our hangovers.

Closing my eyes, I let out a contented sigh, and let the water take me where it wants me to go. I feel like I’m flying, weightless and at the mercy of the water.

“I’m going to continue my spa adventure. Are you coming?” I ask Katy, who’s floating beside me, her eyes closed. She moans an incoherent response, which I take as a no.

I paddle to the side, saying my farewell to a barely conscious Katy, and wrap the biggest, fluffiest dressing gown round me, desperate to see what all the hype is about. The spa is split into different zones, and I’m keen to visit them all.

I towel dry my hair and bunch it on my head breathing in the different aromas of oils they used to massage my scalp, lavender and rosemary adding to my feeling of zen.

It’s peaceful, calming music coming through hidden speakers. Stopping by the map, I pour myself a cup of water from one of the many water fountains.

Six zones are sprawled over the floors with a spiralling staircase connecting them: Fire and Ice, Salt, Herbal, Minerals, Nature. Deciding my route, I head down the spiral staircase smiling at a young couple.

Entering the mineral zone made up of four individual rooms, some showers, and a shower walk—whatever the hell that is—I hang up the fluffy robe, and shiver as the cold air hits my bare skin. I’m in one of Katy’s bikinis, not having anything for myself to wear.

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