Page 84 of The White Octopus Hotel
She took a step closer to the girl. The rage was too strong, she was going to hit her, she knew she was; she couldn’t help herself. The expression on her face must have frightened her younger self because the girl took a step back and quickly said, “I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Eve cried. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter how sorry you are! It’s too late!”
She didn’t know what to do with this child. There was no chance that she could forgive her, none whatsoever. Not when she hated her more fiercely than she had ever hated anything.
“It was you,” she whispered harshly, letting all the hatred flow out into her voice, her face. “Youdid this.”
Stop it,a voice said inside her head.Stop it, stop it.
“Stop it,” Max said.
Very deliberately, he moved Eve to one side, like she didn’t matter at all, like she was nothing, and then he went to crouch in front of the little girl. Eve was surprised to see that she wasn’t crying. She didn’t look upset at all, only angry, furious—even more furious than adult Eve. She was, in fact, the angriest person in the room. Maybe even the angriest person in the world.
“I hate you!” she snarled. “I hate all of you!”
Without a word, Max put his arms around her and held her tightly. The girl stood rigid for a moment or two before melting into him. And now tears did sparkle in her eyes and Eve could see that she was trembling so much she could hardly stand up. Her hands went around the back of Max’s neck and she clung to him like her life depended on it.
“Today will be very hard,” Max said. “Some days are. But you can do hard things, Eve.”
“I’m never going back,” the girl whispered. “Never. Everyone will stare at me. In the church. They’ll whisper and they’ll stare.”
“We can’t control what other people do,” Max said. “The other people don’t matter. You’re stronger than they are.”
“Bella is gone,” the girl said so quietly her words were almost lost. “She’s gone.”
Max nodded. “People go sometimes. They just go and there’s nothing at all we can do about it except let them leave. And turn up for the people who are still there. Your mum and dad are waiting for you, aren’t they? Even if you don’t want to go back for yourself, you’ve got to go back for them.”
“But—”
“If you stay here, then you’ll have to live with me,” Eve said. “And I’m even more angry than your mum is.”
The girl shrank back at that, closing her eyes briefly. Eve knew she felt trapped, that it seemed like there was nowhere in the world that she could go, but what could she do? What could anyone do?
She tried to soften her voice and said, “Hiding doesn’t help anyway.”
“How about we make a deal?” Max said. “I’ll perform one last magic trick if you’ll go back home.”
The girl hesitated for a moment but then nodded. Max smiled. “Say. What’s that hiding in your ear?”
She was about to check, but Max beat her to it. When he brought his hand down and uncurled his fingers, the fumsup doll was resting in his palm.
“This little fellow brought me a lot of luck,” he told her. “And kept me company through some very difficult times. Now he’ll do the same for you. He likes living in pockets. And every time you feel afraid or alone, just give his head a rub. It helps a little.”
The girl took the fumsup solemnly. And to Eve’s surprise and relief, she let Max lead her back to the door. But when she got there, she paused, frowning down at the objects that had fallen from Eve’s bag.
“Why have you got the clock octopus?”
Eve looked down at the white octopus sculpture.
Would the little one like to help me wind the clock…?
“The grandfather clock,” she breathed.
“What about it?” Max asked.
Tick.
Tock.
