AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Despite the conditions, I take the long way to Frangipani, using the beach road to check for any signs of life at the dive shop in case Cass has found her way there. The weak light from my headlight illuminates a small part of the beach, and the unfamiliarity of the sight takes my breath away.
Dark clouds hover over the usually meticulous sand, which is now littered with palm tree limbs and seaweed that the ocean has coughed up. The once-flat surface of the water is scoured with crevasses of waves, each of which slams against the shore with a brutality that matches the island’s residents. As we near the dive shop, I notice the long-tail boats that are usually safely tied up on the shore now smashed into the rocks.
The shop along with the Tiki Palms and the surrounding bars are all boarded up, the regular evening bustle along Pho Tau beach nothing more than a memory. And within seconds, it’s clear that this detour was futile. The resort is empty.
As we circle back onto the main road, winding onto the smaller street that leads to Frangipani, we skid over a slippery patch, andthe bike handles momentarily rip from my hands. I hear Alani yell as she loses her balance behind me, but I manage to correct the bike at the last moment, saving us from toppling onto the road.
“Sorry. We’re almost there,” I yell, although there’s little chance Alani will hear me over the wind and rain.
As I take the final turn onto the dirt road where Frangipani lies, a bright light shines at us from the side of the road, blinding me. I’d assumed the entire island was at home, waiting out the storm.
I squint, pulling one hand from the handles to shield my eyes. And just as I do so, I make out the shape of something flying into our path.
I swerve to avoid it, yanking the handles as far as they’ll go, veering off the road.
“Brooke!” Alani yells and grabs at my waist, just as we’re about to collide with the trees lining the street. I swerve again, trying to recorrect, and feel my front tire hit whatever it is that flew in front of us.
The world whirls as I fly over the handlebars, the ground rushing up to meet me.
And then everything stops.
36
CASS
Slowly, Greta’s features morph. Her face washes clean of emotion, her eyes hardening into two beads. Focused, like an animal ready to pounce.
She lunges toward me.
I turn and throw myself down the hallway. Almost immediately, Greta’s behind me, close enough that her outstretched fingers graze the skin of my neck. I force my body toward the bathroom door, the only thing in the hallway that can offer any protection.
And then I feel her. Her hand clenches around the fabric of the sweatshirt that I’d thrown on. And pulls it clean off me. In my haste to eavesdrop on her phone conversation, I never zipped it.
The unexpected movement is enough to propel Greta backward, and I reach the door a step before her, whirling myself around and back into the confined bathroom. I pull the door toward me to close it, but she gets to it first. She yanks the door back, her fingers grasped around its side. And I pull. As hard as I possibly can. I channel the anger that has been piling up in me throughout thisday. First at Brooke, then at Logan, and now at Greta. All people I trusted completely, only to have them betray me.
My biceps flush with pain, and it feels as though my tendons might rip from the strain. But I keep at it until I feel the door press against Greta’s fingers. And when she rips them out amid a shout of pain, I slam the door so hard that the whole house seems to vibrate. The lock turns quickly in my hand, cheap and light. Easily breakable.
I don’t have much time.
I hear Greta’s footsteps retreat, but I know she’ll be back. I search feverishly for anything in the minuscule bathroom that I can use to defend myself. My wet clothes strewn across the floor, a plastic soap dispenser and toothbrush holder that rest on the sink beside a candle that throws shadows across the tiled walls.
And then I see it. A window in the upper edge of the wall, just above the toilet. My only means of getting out of here.
Suddenly, a banging comes from behind me, forceful enough to shake the entire bathroom. It sounds as if Greta is throwing her body against the door. With each slam, it creaks, the wood bending beneath her weight. The candle teeters precariously on the edge of the sink before crashing to the floor, plunging the bathroom into darkness.
It’s now or never.
As my eyes adjust, I grab my soaking wet T-shirt off the floor and wrap it around my elbow as many times as the fabric allows. I try to clear my mind, but as usual, it returns to her.
Robin.
With the pressure bearing down on me from all sides, the memory forms like a diamond, rushing back in one forceful shot. The beach during the Full Moon Party. Making some excuse to the others, walking far enough away from the crowds so that the musicwas nothing more than a distant memory, allowing the Xanax to bathe me in a sentimental haze. Finding a spot up near the trees that separate the beach from the road. Digging my toes in the sand and pretending that Robin was there with me, living out the life she’d always dreamed of, the one she deserved. Before I fell into sleep, I remember a woman’s voice drifting past me, riding on the faint night breeze. “No, no, no.”
It wasn’t me who made that sound. And it wasn’t Lucy. Or if it was, I didn’t cause her to say it.
I remember waking up, disoriented and dry-mouthed. Walking back to my bike and tripping over something left on the beach. A phone. Slipping it in my shorts pocket to bring to the dive shop’s lost and found the next morning. It must have fallen out when I changed into my pajamas that night, and by the time I woke the next morning, the memory had been completely erased. All that remained was the fragmented feeling of carrying something home in my pocket. That must be how Brooke found Lucy’s phone under my bed.
Despite everything happening outside the bathroom door, I feel a small release.
