Page 43 of Someone in the Water
The cold wakes me up. I shiver, my body jerking in its search for warmth. My stomach roils, and my body jerks again, but this time I’m retching. I twist onto all fours and spew liquid vomit onto the sand. I close my eyes to stop them watering, but all I can feel is my brain knocking against my skull. I throw up again.
How did I let myself get into this state?
And what the hell am I doing on the beach in the middle of the night?
Gradually, my stomach unclenches. I twist onto my backside and pull my knees up to my chest. I desperately want to go back to my room, to crawl into bed and sleep for days, but the accommodation block feels so very far away. Too difficult a feat. With blurred vision, I stare at the sea and take tentative steps backwards in my mind.
Archie was drunk. Upset. I drank that shitty local booze with him.
Why was he upset?
Jack. His rough childhood.
Bomb. Family. Suddenly I imagine a burst of flames, a family screaming in fear.
Adrenaline surges through me and I push onto my feet. I look around, but there’s no sign of Archie. Where did he go? I screw my face up in concentration, but nothing comes. My memory of the night ends with him dropping that bombshell. It’s hard to believe that Archie would leave me out here, but then he was more drunk than me, and distraught. He wouldn’t have been thinking straight. Maybe he forgot I was here and wandered off to bed.
I look up the beach, towards the accommodation block. It still feels like an impossible task, but at least I’m on my feet now. Maybe I can make it. One step at a time.
Sometime later – who knows how long, I’ve lost all concept of time – I stumble up to the block’s door and push down the handle. I expect the hallway to be dark and silent, and I’m desperate for sleep, so when I walk into blinding light, I close my eyes, and the next moment, I’m crying. I drop my face into my hands, then fold like a deflated balloon onto the floor.
‘Oh my God, Frankie! We were so worried!’ Izzy drops down next to me and curls an arm around my shoulder. ‘Harriet said you were coming straight here from supper, but when I got back you were nowhere to be seen!’
‘I got waylaid,’ I murmur.
‘Until four in the morning?!’ Izzy wails. ‘What happened to you? You look terrible.’
I find the strength to lift my head and open my eyes. Harriet is leaning against the wall opposite. Her face is ashen, like she was genuinely worried about me. It’s more than I would expect from her, and I feel a stirring of gratitude. ‘Is Archie here?’ I ask.
‘Archie?’ Izzy repeats. ‘I don’t know. Why?’
‘Were you with him?’ Harriet asks.
I nod. ‘I took a walk down the beach after supper,’ I start.
‘Towards town?’ Izzy asks.
‘No, the other way. It’s really peaceful out there, and I guess I kept walking. But then I found Archie, and he had some booze. We got talking and …’
‘You got hammered and fell asleep,’ Harriet finishes for me.
‘Except Archie wasn’t there when I woke up. He was pretty drunk. I’m scared he’s wandered off and got lost.’
‘How far down the beach were you?’ Izzy asks.
‘Maybe half an hour,’ I mumble, trying to remember. ‘But it was really remote. We didn’t see anyone.’ I shake my head, and some vague memory of guys shouting slithers out. ‘If Archie fell,’ I go on. ‘Hit his head or whatever, there’d be no one to find him.’
‘Surely it’s more likely that he stumbled back here, like you did,’ Izzy says, curling my hair around my ear. ‘I bet he’s fast asleep in bed now. And you look exhausted. Let’s figure out what happened in the morning.’
‘But what if he hasn’t found his way back? It’s pretty cold out there.’
‘Guys, this is an easy problem to solve,’ Harriet says, pushing off the wall. She walks over to Jack and Archie’s door and raps her knuckles against it. When no one answers, she does it again, louder. But still nothing.
‘Try the handle,’ I suggest. ‘He was drunk enough to forget to lock it.’
Harriet nods, and it seems I’m proved right, because the door swings open. But Harriet doesn’t walk inside. Instead, she turns and gives us a nervous look. ‘It’s empty. Archie isn’t in there, and neither is Jack.’
A cold shiver runs through me. Archie’s words, coming back to haunt me.The crazy thing is, I’m scared to tell you.Has Jack somehow found out that Archie confided in me? Has he done something to him?
