Page 122 of The Triangle

“We talked about this, Christine,” Alec says. I won’t look at him. I refuse to look at him. I can’t see that pretty face of his right now. Not now. “I told you I was sorry. And you forgave me, nunu. If you remember what I did, then you remember that part too, yeah?”

“Lies.” Lars laughs. “All he’s ever fed you was lies.”

“Christine,” Alec says, walking forward towards me.

Lars starts backing away now too. Trying to catch up to me. His pistol is pointed at Danny, not Alec. Which I take to mean… I’m covering Alec?

And I guess I am, because that’s who I’m aiming at. Not real carefully, I admit. But this is an automatic rifle, so aiming isn’t really necessary. I could rip his body in half with one squeeze of the trigger.

“Put the gun down, Christine,” Alec says. “We’re family, remember?”

Family. I almost laugh. But I’m still looking at Danny. Still focused on him for some reason.

“He betrayed you,” Lars says. “You were so hurt. You cried for months, luv. You stopped eating, you stopped laughing, you stopped—”

“I said I was sorry,” Alec says, voice calm. Too calm. “I made it up to you, Christine.”

“With a diamond,” I hiss. “You gave me a bloody fucking diamond!”

“It wasn’t just any diamond—”

“Fuck you!” I scream. “Fuck you! I don’t need another goddamned diamond!”

“That’s right,” Lars says. But I swing my rifle in that general direction and squeeze the trigger. A barrage of bullets rip through the trees. “Jesus fokken Christ!” Lars yells. “What the fok are you doing? We’re on the same side!”

“Stay away from me,” I say, my voice as shaky as my hands. “Stay the fuck away from me!”

“Look at me,” Alec says. I’ve pointed the rifle back in his direction as I ease myself away from the river’s edge and get my back to the woods. His body turns with mine. Lars turns too.

I’m still looking at Danny when I say, “Over there. Get over there by them.”

“Christine,” Danny says, our eyes locked. “What do you think you’re gonna do here? Huh? Kill us all? For what?”

“Do it!” I yell.

He still has his rifle. It’s still hanging by his side. I don’t ask him to drop it and he doesn’t make to lift it. He just exhales. I don’t hear it as much as see it.

Danny deflates and walks forward. Stands to the right of Alec. I motion with the rifle. “Get closer together.”

“Come on, Christine,” Alec says. “Just… let’s put the guns down and talk, OK? I didn’t know you were still upset. I didn’t know. We talked it through, yeah? You were fine. Lars is lying, and you just don’t remember. He’s feeding you—”

“The truth!” Lars says. “He fokked you, luv! He fokked you good and hard. And then he turned his back. And who was there to pick you up? Eh?” He laughs. “Wasn’t Danny, was it?”

Danny shakes his head. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening right now.”

“Lies,” Alec says. “Feeding you lies! You took a tumble, right? You hit your head, lost your memory—”

And that’s when I stop listening.

That’s when the whole world goes black.

And the questions start running through my head like ticker tape in an old movie.

Who are you?

What did you do?

Why are you here?