Page 2 of Deep Blue Lies
She pushed the door again, and took a step forward.
The curtains were drawn, so it took a moment to adjust to the dark. Then her eyes went back to the thing on the floor. Deck shoes, socks, a pair of legs, tanned but twisted. Then his pastel-blue shirt, the staff uniform Jason always wore. His arms – one over his body, the other wedged underneath. Then she saw his head.
Her eyes took in the small, neat hole beneath his chin first, connected it with the way his head was driven back, exposing his throat. But when she looked for his face it was gone. Just a ruin remained – a gory mess of blood dripping off white bone, the pale grey jelly of brain. One eye stared back at her. The other was missing. The wall behind him, once whitewashed, was now painted in a fan of red.
She blinked, gasped, inhaling the thick, coppery air which now made her gag. No scream came. She couldn’t. Her breath came in jagged bursts. Her mind reeled.
She took a step back, her hand over her mouth. But then her eyes widened further. She couldn’t just leave, she had to check, onher. The woman swallowed, from somewhere found the courage, then moved forward further into the room.
Oh no.Oh no.
Mandy’s body lay half-hidden behind the double bed. Only her torso and head were visible, cheek pressed to the tiles, eyes wide open. Her blonde hair, once so pretty, was tangled and matted with blood, a pool of it lay on the ground around her.
The woman tried to look away, but her eyes fell back on Jason’s empty half-head. Then she screamed.
A moment later her breath came back, in panicked gasps. She noticed the bed. In the centre lay a single sheet of folded paper. A note.
Her eyes fixed on it. She nearly reached out. But her senses returned. Whatever it said, she had to leave it for the police. She had to get out, call for help.
She began to turn, her mind urging escape from this place of sudden, awful death…and that’s when she heard it. Unmistakable.
The sound of breathing.
There was someone else in the room.
ONE
Present Day
“Hey babe, we meeting for lunch today?” Kevin rolls out of bed as he speaks, stretching his arms towards the ceiling, throwing an admiring glance at his biceps.
“What do you mean?” I reply. Surely he hasn’t forgotten?
“Lunch. You know, that meal that people have at…” He sees my face and abandons the sarcasm. “Shit. You’ve got that meeting?”
“Yeah.”
That meetingis with the university’s Academic Review Board, so they can decide whether I take resits in the summer, or if they’re gonna kick me out right now.
“They’re not going to expel you,” Kevin says, his confidence flowing back. “So you failed a few exams? You’re gonna be an awesome doctor, I know it.”
“Yeah, but did you also know that people who fail their exams don’t get to be doctors?” I tell him. “It’s this weird idea they have about knowing what’s wrong with people and keeping them alive.”
Kevin doesn’t answer this. He’s doing Economics and BusinessStudies, while I’m in my fourth year of a medical degree. And quite possibly my last.
“You’ll be alright.” Kevin pulls on his jeans, but leaves his T-shirt off. He likes to stroll around my house like this, with his abs on display, so my housemates can see them. When we first got together I quite liked this habit, he does have a good six-pack. Now though, it kind of irks me.
“So…lunch?” he asks again.
“I don’t know,” I snap back. “Maybe I’ll see how I feel?”
He raises his hands, like I should calm down, then breaks into a bored smile.
“Cool. I’m gonna take a shower. If you’re making coffee, babe…” He pauses. “Unless you wanna come in?”
I shake my head, and he pads off barefoot down the hallway to the bathroom.
I do make coffee, for Kevin too, but I shower when he’s drinking it. Then afterwards I walk down the hill onto campus. It’s early May, but up here on the northeast coast it’s still cold. It’s always cold. That’s what I associate most about my time at the University of Sunderland. Being cold.
