Page 7 of After the Accident
I used to go on boozy holidays with my friends when we were teenagers. We’d do shots and fishbowls – and then go back to some lad’s room. There was this moment where I was able to forget about everything that had happened and could be that girl again.
Paul:I couldn’t get the key card to work on my room door.
Emma:We dashed up the stairs because there was a queue for the lift. It was like being tipsy, even though I hadn’t touched a drop. I think I was giggling because he couldn’t get his hotel room door open.
Paul:I was inserting the card the wrong way. That’s not a euphemism.
Emma:When Paul finally got the door open, I remember standing on the threshold, knowing this was my last chance to leave. A part of me wanted to – but a bigger part wanted to follow him inside.
Paul:I only realised later that everything with her dad happened while we were in my room.
Emma:I know that people said I used Paul as an alibi, but it wasn’t like that. Anyone who says differently is a liar.
Chapter Four
Day Two
THE MAD ONE HERE
Emma:It was five or six in the morning and I was heading back into my hotel when I saw the manager coming towards me. We were in reception and he was wearing a suit, which I always thought was a harsh requirement, given the temperatures.
I didn’t think anything of it until he said ‘Ms McGinley’. He struggled with the pronunciation a bit, so I said to call me Emma.
He came right out with: ‘It’s your father’ and it was like walking into a freezer. I couldn’t get out a reply. He added: ‘Your mother was looking for you’ and then said something about the hospital.
I couldn’t take it all in.
I was trying to ask questions, but he said they were waiting for me. He was pointing me towards a car that was parked outside the main doors. I don’t know how long it had been waiting there, but I remember looking between the manager and the car, not knowing what to do. He said: ‘Go!’ and I asked if Dad was alive. He said: ‘I don’t know,’ and then I ran to the car.
Julius:I don’t think Mum had her phone, but, even if she did, there was hardly any reception at the hospital.
Emma:Someone who works at the hotel drove me to the hospital. The roads aren’t very busy anyway – but they were empty at that time of the morning. I tried calling Mum but couldn’t get through. Julius wasn’t answering either.
It’s hard to remember what I was thinking at the time – but I probably assumed he’d had a heart attack. Dad definitely drank too much and he was at that age where you start thinking about that sort of thing. The other thing was that I figured he had to be alive, else we wouldn’t be going to the hospital.
It was all a bit blurry when I got there. There were loads of burnt tourists hanging around the waiting room, or people looking green or grey from too much booze. I went to the desk and asked about Dad. There was a woman who seemed like she was expecting me because she beckoned across another woman – and then I was marched through the corridors. It seemed to go on forever, one turn after another, until we eventually got to where Mum and Julius were waiting.
Julius:Emma seemed really… spaced out – plus she was wearing that same panda T-shirt from the day before. It was six or seven in the morning and she hadn’t been in her room when Mum had knocked. I wondered whether she’d been drinking.
Emma:I’m not even going to dignify that with a reply. Was it Julius who said that?
Julius:The first thing she said was ‘Is he alive?’ Mum might have nodded, but it was me who said ‘yes’. After that, Emma asked what happened. I thought it was a strange way to order things. Wouldn’t you ask what had happened first if you didn’t know? Dad could have been taken to hospital because he rolled out of bed – so your first question wouldn’t be ‘Is he alive?’ Why would you assume something was that serious if you didn’t know?
Emma:I don’t remember what I said when I first saw Mum and Julius. I probably asked what happened. Julius then said that Dad had fallen off a cliff at the back of the hotel.
Julius:I don’t think she said anything to that. She just stared.
Emma:I’d braced myself for it to be a heart attack – and then it turned out Dad had fallen off a cliff. I’d have been shocked in any case, but, because of what happened on Galanikos the last time we were there, it left me stunned. I couldn’t talk.
Julius:Mum started to speak. She said that a villager had found Dad on the beach below the cliffs. The first thing Emma said was: ‘Like Alan…?’
Emma:It was impossible not to think of Alan. He was Dad’s original business partner until he’d fallen off a cliff nine years earlier. Then, the first time we returned to Galanikos, on night one, the same thing happened to Dad. How could anyone not be shocked by that?
Julius:It felt a bit theatrical, if I’m honest. Emma was gripping a door frame like she was trying to hold herself up. I’ve seen better performances on daytime soap operas.
Emma:Mum couldn’t meet my eye when I mentioned Alan – but I can’t have been the only one thinking how strange it was.
Julius:I was more worried about whether Dad was going to survive.
