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Anna’s Journal
When Olly whispered in my ear he said, ‘Kitty’s in desperate need of our help. Have you ever staged an intervention?’
He was so close it made my stomach flip, even though I know that’s not how a woman my age should feel around a man his age, but it did. I probably should have taken his words more seriously, or given them more thought before I followed him, but I was too busy enjoying the sense that he and I were embarking on something together. I wanted to bask in his attention.
When he pulled away his eyes gleamed, refracting the firelight. ‘You in?’ he asked. ‘How do you think she’s going to react?’
‘Why does she need an intervention?’ I wasn’t exactly sure what it was but was too embarrassed to ask.
‘You’ll see,’ he said.
I trusted him completely so of course I was ‘in’, and I had no idea how Kitty would react because I didn’t really understand what was happening. I should have asked more questions. I was like a lamb to the slaughter.
Once the last few guests at the retreat had gone back to their tents, he stood up and walked towards the Coach House. I followed and Sasha joined us. One moment I was walking a few steps behind Olly and the next I felt eyes on the back of my neck, and I turned to find her close behind. She smiled and I smiled back. My sense of belonging and of anticipation grew.
Olly rapped on the door of the Coach House assertively. If I’d been inside, the sound would have startled me. He turned to smile at us as we waited for Kitty to answer. That strange energy of his was still coming off him.
At first there was just a glow from the back of the house, where the bedroom was, but Kitty must have flicked a switch inside, because we were suddenly harshly illuminated by the porch light. Shadows dragged Olly and Sasha’s features down, ageing them.
Kitty opened the door. She wore a silky nightdress styled like an oversized man’s shirt and held its neckline closed to disguise her cleavage. Her feet were bare. I felt embarrassed on her behalf. I’d never seen her like this, and I had an uncomfortable vision of myself standing, similarly undressed, in the doorway of Olly and Sasha’s bedroom.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked. She sensed trouble before I did.
‘Can we come in and have a quick word?’ Olly said.
‘Now?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ His tone suggested that she didn’t have any choice. She looked at Sasha, who smiled, and then at me. I looked away, still embarrassed and increasingly aware that I didn’t know what was going on. Kitty held the door open for us. ‘Let me get covered up,’ she said.
We sat in the small sitting area. Kitty returned wrapped up in a dressing gown, the belt tightly cinched. Olly and Sasha were side by side on the little sofa and I perched on the window seat. Kitty took the rocking chair.
‘What are we doing?’ Kitty asked, directing the question at Olly. ‘Are we doing this now?’
I thought it was an odd thing to ask. ‘Doing what?’ I said but they ignored me.
‘It can’t wait,’ Olly said, his words slow and deliberate. ‘Anna’s suffered enough.’
I frowned and Kitty did, too. It was confusing. Olly leaned forward and addressed her. ‘Sasha and I want to put it to you that you’ve been tormenting Anna, purposely. You’ve been moving or hiding her things and lying about it; you put her phone in the washing machine and you’ve also been making noises at night to terrorise her.’
‘What?’ Kitty said. She looked astonished.
‘Hold on a minute,’ I said. I wanted to press pause and rewind, to try to understand what was happening, but nobody paid any attention to me.
Kitty’s face was contorted as it cycled through a variety of expressions. She looked angry, and, to my horror, guilty. ‘Kitty, is this true?’ I asked.
She licked her lips. Her nerves were contagious. ‘I think what Olly means to say is thatwe– me, Olly and Sasha – want to talk to you, Anna, about what’s been happening. We all feel that you might need to seek some treatment because you’ve been letting so much slip and we’re afraid that you might have been imagining things.’
‘What?’ My heart sank. I’d been afraid of this.
‘Let me stop you there, Kitty,’ Olly said. ‘This is exactly what I thought might happen. Faced with an accusation about your behaviour, you’re not honest enough to own up to what you’ve been doing and instead you’re turning on poor Anna. Hasn’t she been through enough?’
Kitty’s eyes hardened as she looked at him.
Sasha spoke for the first time. ‘We’re very keen to move on in the best way possible for all of us. Clearly, given this behaviour, you can’t stay on here. If you’ll agree to go nicely, we’ll provide you with a good reference. This doesn’t need to hang over you.’
‘Really? Are you joking?’ Kitty said.
‘Sasha’s right,’ Olly said. ‘Are you willing to do the right thing and go quietly, or not?’
