Page 67 of After the Accident
I said: ‘No’ – but it was too late. He was already grabbing my legs and trying to throw me over the top.
Julius:Emma had basically confessed that she tried to kill Dad. She’d failed to such a degree that she’d damaged any relationship she was ever going to have with the family again.
I saw what was going to happen a moment before it did. She lunged towards the balcony. I shouted something like: ‘You don’t have to do this’ – as I was trying to hold onto her.
We burst through the balcony doors and I was trying to say that she had so much to live for. She seemed so determined to throw herself off and it was all I could do to stop her. It felt like she wanted to die – and I was desperately trying to stop her.
Emma:He was trying to kill me and, as the railing dug into my back, my feet came off the floor. His eyes weren’t wild or wide. He was calm and he knew exactly what he was doing.
I could feel him lifting me; shoving harder into my chest until all that was left was for me to go backwards over the rail and fall to the ground below.
Chapter Forty
THE SPOILER ALERT
Emma:Spoiler alert: I didn’t die.
You should have probably had someone else tell all my parts, then there would have been a bit more drama here. I could have popped up with a bigta-damoment…
Julius:We were struggling on the balcony and I was trying to pull her back.
Emma:I genuinely did believe I was going to die in that moment. I think I was ready for it. It’s not as if I was suicidal, but I was probably accepting. He was stronger than me and a sort of calmness came over me…
…
It was only momentary – then I decided that there was no way I was letting him get away with it.
Julius:She was flailing and kicking.
Emma:I flailed and kicked, all right. I remembered the times I’d seen Julius wince because of his side – and I booted him as hard as I could right in the soft bit above his hip.
Julius:I don’t want people saying I’m a hero. I only did what anyone else would have done in that situation. I saved my sister’s life.
Emma:He crumpled like a broken ironing board – and we both fell forward, away from the railing. He tried to grab my ankle but could barely get his breath – so I punched him one more time in the side and then made a run for the door.
Julius:Emma was still flailing – but there was a moment when I looked up and realised the maid had come into the room. She will back me up on this.
Emma:I didn’t get to the door because the maid was there. She was staring out towards the balcony and I think she’d seen everything. She can back me up on this.
Rosa Makos (hotel maid, through an interpreter):I saw two people fighting on the balcony – a man and a woman. The woman was kicking and throwing her arms –bam-bam-bam. The two of them fell away from the balcony and landed on the floor, then the woman ran towards me.
That is all I saw.
Emma:Julius was stumbling behind me, but we both stopped when we saw the maid. It felt like we’d been play-fighting as kids and that Mum had walked in… except it was so much more serious than that.
Julius:Thank god the maid was there. I really think Emma would have tried to jump a second time if it hadn’t been for her.
Emma:Julius was struggling to breathe – and he didn’t do much to stop me as I left the room. I went to the lifts, pressed the button for the ground floor, and then rode it down on my own.
Everyone was still sitting or standing with their cases, waiting for their buses or taxis.
Nothing had changed… but everything had.
I walked across to take my case from the floor next to the twins – but Mum must have seen something in me. We’d not spoken since she told me to leave the table the night before – but she came across and took my arm before asking if everything was all right.
I looked her right in the eyes and I thought about her diagnosis, and I thought about the family.
There was Dad, who had arranged this entire thing in order to rob a bank with a fake driving licence with the details of a man who was dead. It might even have been a man that he had killed.
