Page 20 of After the Accident
I stood and watched them for a little bit… not long… but it was comforting to see them like that. They were so slim and small… so precious. They were taking these long, deep breaths and it left me feeling hopeful about the future.
It was true when I said that I sometimes found it hard to see them or be around them – but I think I got over it that night. I started to think that I could maybe babysit them as a regular thing. Julius only had the girls every other weekend, but I thought about contacting Simone and offering to look after the girls if she needed a hand.
…
It was a fantasy, of course. I don’t think she’d have agreed and, even if she had, everything changed before we left the island.
…
Whatever happened later, I have to thank Julius for giving me those few hours. He didn’t have to and I’ll always have that evening. It might sound odd to say, but it was one of the best nights of my life.
Amy:When we got home,Daddy told us Auntie Emma is a bad person who does bad things.
Chloe:He said that bad people sometimes act like good people – but that they’re still bad people.
Emma:After the girls fell asleep, I went out onto the balcony to get a bit of air. Galanikos can be stifling in the evenings sometimes. The heat of the day doesn’t clear and everything feels so close that you’re desperate to get away from it. That night, though, it was so much crisper and fresher than it had been earlier. It felt like the island was resetting itself. There was a chill on my skin and I wished it was always like that.
The balcony overlooks the bar and there were still quite a lot of people out. I was sitting and watching. It was the usual holiday thing. Some people were dancing badly, while others were lining up shots across the bar. I spotted Victor and Claire standing near a piano. They were close to each other but angled away. I didn’t notice it right away – but then I realised they were having some sort of conversation, even though they weren’t facing one another. Their lips would move and then the other’s body would stand more rigidly.
I think they were probably arguing, although I don’t know for sure. It was more the way they were going out of their way to not look at each other.
Claire:We argued more or less non-stop on the island.
Emma:I couldn’t hear anything over the music – but out of nowhere, Claire suddenly spun and then marched away. I think Victor called after her, but she ignored him and kept going. I watched him and he watched her. He didn’t move for a good thirty seconds after she’d gone, as if he couldn’t believe it. There was something about the way he was holding himself in, that time. The way his head was arched forward, with his shoulders tight and tense. I probably knew what was going to happen – and then it did.
Claire:I was back in the hotel by then. I only know what people said the next day.
Emma:There was a man who was on his way to the bar. He was going past Victor and they touched shoulders. He turned back to say sorry – but Victor swung at him before the guy knew what was happening. The punch landed somewhere on the man’s chin or cheek – and he toppled backwards into the piano. There was this enormous bang and the sound of tinkling keys.
I thought Victor might turn and run, but he did the opposite. Even though the other man was on the floor, Victor launched himself at him and started swinging his fists back and forth. It was one punch after another – maybe five or six – until a couple of blokes pulled him off. I couldn’t hear the words, but he was shouting and raging, still trying to fight even though there were three people holding him back.
There was a time when violence would shock me, but, on that night, I realised how much I’d changed. How desensitised I was. I didn’t want to be that person, but it’s like Pandora’s Box, isn’t it? When something’s out, it can’t be put back.
Five or six security guards showed up then and pulled Victor away. They pinned his arms behind his back and one of them had him by the neck. Victor was still trying to get away but had no chance. They dragged him out through a side door and there was a moment of calm confusion in the bar, where everyone stopped and looked to everyone else, wondering what had just happened.
It was only a second, maybe two, where there was this eerie, confusing peace. Like when you’ve been running a bath and then you turn off the taps and there’s a final drip before the silence.
Then it started to rain.
Chapter Eleven
Day Three
THE SHEPHERD AND SAILOR
Emma:I didn’t sleep a lot that night… I’m not sure how anyone could have. Julius got back to the room not long after Victor was taken away. The twins were still sleeping – I don’t think they’d moved – and then I headed off to the cottage.
The thunder and lightning started about half an hour after the rain, and it went through most of the night. Every time it felt like things were quietening down, there would be another boom of thunder and then the rain would clatter on the roof louder than before. I thought about checking on Mum, but I didn’t want to wake her in case she was sleeping through it.
Claire:I didn’t know there had been a storm until the next day. I’ve always been a heavy sleeper.
Julius:I don’t know what Emma did with the girls, but they didn’t stir all night. I slept here and there, but, every time I dropped off, the thunder came back.
Daniel:Slept like a log.
Emma:It was around four in the morning when I went onto the little patio at the side of the cottage. There was a big umbrella next to an outdoor table and I sat under that watching the lightning hit the ocean. The thunder would boom at almost the same moment as the light and there was something so…primalabout it all.
I enjoyed it.
