Page 36 of You Lied First
‘Well, thanks for doing it.’
‘You’re welcome. Right: eggs are ready. Beans are ready,’ Guy says. ‘Margot, if the toast’s done, we should eat while everything’s hot. Sara, why don’t you see if you can get Celine up?’
‘Oh. Okay.’
I go over to her tent, squat down outside and call her name. I wait but there’s no sound from inside. ‘Celine! Wakey, wakey! There’s breakfast if you want it!’ Still nothing. I lean in closer to the zip, my mouth almost touching the fabric. ‘Yoo-hoo! Celine! Are you even in there?’
‘Just open it!’ Guy shouts.
I unzip the bottom of the tent and peer in. I can see one socked foot poking out from under the duvet. ‘Celine?’
There’s no movement, so I unzip more and crawl half inside the small space. ‘Celine?’
She’s lying on her back with her eyes closed. I reach out and touch the sleeve of her fleece, but there’s no movement at all. I shake her by the arm and it’s as heavy and unresponsive as one of those dummies I learned mouth-to-mouth on years ago. I touch her hand but it’s cold. I shake her more vigorously, and then I back out of the tent not wanting to admit to myself what my mind already knows.
‘Guys! She won’t wake up!’
All my First Aid training deserts me. I stand there, useless, my hand over my mouth. I’m aware of someone saying, ‘Oh my God’ over and over, and I realise it’s me. Guy reaches me in a heartbeat, both his hands steady on my upper arms as he tries to calm me.
‘She’s probably just passed out from all the booze.’
But I’m shaking my head. I just know: Celine is not all right. My eyes search Guy’s in panic.
‘Why isn’t she waking up? Something’s wrong. Really wrong.’
I pull away from Guy, intending to go back in, but he’s there before me, pushing past into the tent. He crawls inside and the flap falls down after his feet disappear. Margot tries to go in after him but can’t – the tent’s too small for three bodies.
She drags her hand through her hair. Her eyes are wide with alarm.
‘Do you think she’s …?’
I can’t speak. I just shake my head, then turn away as my insides squeeze, saliva floods my mouth and suddenly I’m hunched over, heaving onto the sand, painful retches that bring up water and bile and then the acidic tang of last night’s alcohol. Margot’s hand rubs my back and, when I straightenback up, spitting, she hands me a crumpled wad of tissues from her pocket.
I want nothing more than for her to tell me I’ve made a mistake but, after a few moments, as Margot and I watch, stupefied, Guy backs out of the tent and I see by the thin line of his mouth and the small shake of his head that I am right: no amount of effort is going to wake Celine Cremorne ever again.
29
MARGOT
For once, Margot actually needs Guy to do what he does best: to take charge. She needs him to say that Celine is not dead; that there’s a way they can save her, a way they can breathe life back into her or rewind time and change what’s happened but, when he emerges from the tent, his eyelashes are clumped together with tears Margot does not want to see. He gives a tiny shake of his head, then stands with his head bowed for a moment, his face a mess of emotions.
‘Too late,’ he says blankly. ‘She’s gone.’
‘No!’ Sara wails.
She tries to push past Guy to the tent, but he holds her off.
‘Don’t.’
‘I can do mouth-to-mouth!’ Sara cries. ‘I have to try! We can’t just let this happen!’
‘Trust me. It’s happened,’ Guy says. ‘It’s too late.’
‘No!’ Sara sobs. Again, she tries to fight Guy off, but he holds her arms around her, pinning her like a straitjacket, and manhandles her away from the tent.
‘All you’re going to do is upset yourself. She’s gone.’ His voice breaks and he covers his face with his hands and turns to hide his tears.
Margot’s thoughts are a maelstrom. On the one hand, it seems that Celine is dead. Really dead. Margot’s nemesis – the person she has hated for so long – no longer exists. Which is shocking but a thought she boxes up to examine later on. More pressingly, she knows that, no matter what caused Celine’s death, Flynn is going to blame himself because of the accident the day before. Already her mother’s instincts are kicking in. Her son cannot be burdened with this for the rest of his life. She grabs Guy’s arm and yanks him to face her.
