“She was a sick girl. Mentally, I mean. She’d been struggling for a long time and one day slit her wrists in the bath while I was sleeping. That’s it.”
“Jesus.” I wonder if that was his plan for me, feel the breakfast I didn’t have churn in my stomach, empty and acidic.
“It was a horrible tragedy.”
“Just like Chioma, right?”
He visibly flinches. I’ve got him.
“I know about the fake Instagram, James. Why is your relationship with Jade all over that but nowhere to be seen on your main account?”
His jaw clenches. “She was putting pressure on us to be official on socials. It was too early for me.”
“I might buy that if you didn’t have a few months of holiday and restaurant posts before she even appears. Why set it up unless you always planned to hide from people you knew? And why hide her? I canonly assume you knew she might disappear in a way that was hard for you to explain.”
His voice has been stoppered up while mine has been uncorked.
“I get it now,” I go on. “Why you were so scared about Will telling the police—or even just Chioma’s mom—about what happened to her. You didn’t want everything else coming up. But, James, it has to end.”
He cocks his head at me, frowns.
“How exactly does this end, Natalie?”
55
Then
James
Chioma, Will, and I ambled to the secluded beach, me trying not to hold Chioma’s openness with Will against her. Beach bags deposited and towels weighted down, we stripped to our swimwear and headed for the waves. The water was calm and shallow. We splashed about, trying handstands like the very first day we’d met. And when we got bored, we looked to the sizable rock a short swim away, jutting out from the water where the shelf of sand dropped into the deep. It was a good diving rock, and a few days prior, we’d seen some locals using it for just that. Today, it was just the three of us.
Our first few turns were fun, effortless, but Will grew bored and swam back to shore. Shortly after, Chioma began to grow tired and in equal parts churlish.
“Can we head back now? I’m getting cold.”
The rock was cool and smooth beneath our feet. She was pouting, one hip jutting out.
“Can’t we stay a little longer? It’s nice it’s just the two of us now.”
“You said that a while ago, James.”
I tensed. “Eager to get back to Will, are you?”
“Are you joking, James? For crying out loud.”
“What? Even my mom’s started cracking jokes about how inseparable the two of you are. ‘Thick as thieves,’ she said.”
Chioma was properly angry now. I don’t know why I kept going.
“I can’t do this with you, James. This insecurity is so—”
“So what?”
“You can’t start spiraling every time I’m friendly with a guy. What are you going to do when we’re miles apart at uni?”
“Exactly! Why d’you think I’m so worried about it?”
She paced away from me. “And why d’you think I couldn’t have us be together?”
