At some point Joshua melted away and Adam found his vision adjusting to the swirl of the heavy curtains in the morning breeze. Adam smiled to himself. The alcohol from the party had dulled his senses for almost a whole week. He had felt that acute loneliness of having only the fully living for company.
Adam couldn’t remember a time before his ‘intuition’, which was what he preferred to call it, although it had had many names. His earliest memory was of his mother, who was both deeply religious and highly superstitious, of calling it ‘the evil in him’. He must have been old enough at least to understand that evil was a bad word, and that, like the other ‘evil’ thing that his first father hated, he would need to try and hide this about himself. And so he began to stop mentioning when the colours that bloomed around people grew brighter, or dimmed. He learnt to keep his mouth shut when the whispers of those departed drifted into his ears.
As with everything, it wasn’t until Joshua that he let himself be fully open to the spirits. In life Joshua had reasoned that Adam’s ‘visions’ were most likely an ‘eccentric manifestation of his eccentric empathy’. But after his death, Joshua impressed more and more firmly into Adam’s subconscious. They would often ‘meet’ a few times a week, although they did not speak. Adam thought of their encounters more like a transference of feeling.
Still, though, there were times when Adam wished for his father in the flesh, to feel the soothing stroke of a hand on his shoulder. Right now he would have asked Joshua for advice on how to stem the flow of unrequited desire. Adam wasn’t sure he could call what he felt towards Noah love, but it did tug at his insides. And whatever it was, Adam had no doubt that his fixation was also hampering his progress on his next piece, and jeopardising his chance at winning. It was only six days until the second showcase.
It didn’t help that the mood in the whole house had been tense since the gala. Even without his otherworldly senses hecould tell that there was an abundance of strained relations. Something had gone down between Heather and Ruby, Johan had torpedoed any chances of friendship with practically the whole group and Noah had been, unusually, keeping himself to himself in the studio. Often missing the communal meals entirely. Adam found it hard not to absorb the bad vibes around him, and so he had found his days in his now repurposed ballroom turned dance studio wholly unproductive. Until today, when Joshua had finally broken through again and inspired him with his dance.
Now Adam was eager to get downstairs and start working through his choreography. He’d missed breakfast, so he headed down to the kitchen first, helping himself to a couple of eggs in the fridge.
He had just cracked them into the cast-iron pan when he heard someone approaching.
‘Oh hello, Johan.’ Adam had hoped for a solitary breakfast, but Johan settled himself down at the kitchen table.
‘Have you got enough there for two?’
Adam didn’t reply, but instead retrieved two more eggs from the fridge and added them to the pan wordlessly.
‘I can leave you alone if you’d prefer.’
Adam could hear the defensiveness in his tone, and despite the entirely self-inflicted nature of Johan’s estrangement from the group, Adam felt sorry for him. ‘No, it’s all right. You can stay.’
‘Are you pissed off at me as well?’
Adam pondered the question. ‘Not particularly anymore, although I find it hard to understand your decision-making,’ he said honestly.
Johan seemed to sense that he’d exhausted Adam’s sympathy, and changed the subject. ‘How are you finding the tournament? I’m racking my brains for what to do for the next challenge.’
Adam felt compelled to ask what Johan had done for the first, but he resisted. ‘What is your experience of death?’ he asked instead, his back to Johan and his eyes trained on the eggs in front of him. It was an intense question to ask over breakfast, but Adam had never been very good at small talk.
Johan, though, didn’t seem put off. ‘I guess I don’t have much experience of death, and honestly most of my work isn’t about me anyway. I’m a voyeur. I’m nothing without a subject.’ Johan paused for a moment before turning to Adam again. ‘You know any dead people I can photograph?’
Adam turned to face Johan then. ‘Only a couple, but I’d guess they’re probably quite camera-shy.’
Johan blinked in disbelief, and then his expression turned to scepticism. ‘You’re joking?’
Adam shrugged and turned back to the hob. ‘Most people don’t believe me.’
Johan didn’t say anything else, and the pair ate their breakfast in silence. But Adam had the distinct sense of the cogs turning in Johan’s mind.
They cleared their plates and Adam was just leaving the kitchen when Johan called after him. ‘Heard that dinner is a good one tonight. Hope to see you there?’
Adam turned back. In all honesty, he found Johan somewhat puzzling. Did he imagine that this exchange now constituted some sort of friendship? ‘I’m sure you will. Have a good day, Johan.’
The smile Adam received in response sent a small shiver down his spine.
Back in his studio Adam was pleased to finally feel some creative juices flowing. Adam chastised himself for getting so distracted by his infatuation with Noah. He was here after all for his art. Joshua’s presence in his bedroom that morning had been the jolt he’d needed. Within a few hours he’d blocked out the majority of his second piece.
Adam was back in his bedroom, freshly changed out of his orange tracksuit and matching headband and into his evening attire when the gong rang out through the house. It was seven o’clock, dinner time, but no one had used the instrument to signal that since Gareth on their first night. Descending the staircase, Adam was unsurprised to discover Johan with the large mallet in hand.
‘Thought it was time that someone rallied the troops.’ Johan grinned and Adam noticed that he had his camera hung around his neck.
It seemed that Johan was either totally unrepentant or totally unaware of his own great part in the disintegration of group morale. As Adam settled at the dining table, though, he had to admit that the dramatic summoning had worked. Opal was already seated in her usual spot, but Adam watched as Ruby too appeared, followed by Heather and finally Noah. Despite himself, Adam felt his breath catch in his chest at the sight of Noah’s face, which offered back a shy smile.
The atmosphere was still frosty, but everyone seemed to be making a bit of an effort, and exchanging pleasantries. Maybe Johan’s instinct, on this unique occasion, to force everyone together had been the right one.
When everyone had taken their places, Johan finally came in from the hallway, brandishing a bottle of champagne in one hand.
