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Olivia yanked away the final board holding her walk-in wardrobe doors together and threw open the door.
“Oh, God.”
She reared away as the stench hit her like a slap in the face. This was far worse than the vomit had been back in the wine cellar. This was shit, and piss, and puke. She just prayed it wasn’t also the stink of a decomposing body.
It was dark inside the wardrobe, but on the floor she could make out the shape of her friend.
“Ellen!” Tears filled her eyes. She’d done this. She’d done it to her friend. Michael had been right all along. He hadn’t been the dangerous one. That had been her. She drugged her friend and then boarded her up inside the wardrobe. What the hell had she been thinking? She hadn’t. This wasn’t her in her normal state. She’d had a psychotic break again; she knew that now. All the signs had been there, but she’d projected them onto someone else.
The stench was unbearable. Ellen must have used the corner of the wardrobe as a toilet, though Liv could hardly blame her.
Clothes had been pulled from the hangers and used to create a bundle on the floor to sleep on. Cast to one side were metal clothes hangers, bent out of shape. Ellen must have pushed them between the gaps in the door and tried to force off the boards Olivia had nailed on. The metal had been too bendy, however, and the hangers had just changed shape rather than done anything productive. The idea of Ellen, weakened from the drugs, dehydrated, starving, and all the while wondering why her friend had turned on her in such a hideous way. It broke her heart.
She dropped to her knees beside Ellen’s body.
“Ellen?” With a trembling hand, she reached out and tentatively rolled Ellen onto her back.
Ellen let out a groan, and Liv clamped her hand over her mouth, holding back a scream.
She was alive.
Realising Ellen had been without water, she scrambled back to her feet and ran into the bedroom. A half drunk, plastic bottle of water was beside the bed, and she snatched it up and took it back to her friend.
“Here,” she said, unscrewing the lid and holding it to the other woman’s lips. “I brought you some water.”
Only barely conscious, Ellen’s eyes flickered open. Understanding brightened their blue depths, and they widened as she realised who had shaken her awake.
“No, no, not you!” she croaked.
Ellen managed to get herself onto her elbows, pushing back with her feet.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I’ve come to get you out. I’m so sorry.”
Ellen lifted her hands in front of her body to ward her away. “No, I don’t believe you. You’re crazy. Stay the fuck away from me.”
She had been backing away, but now her line of sight landed on the open door behind Olivia, and the freedom it offered. She shot Olivia a wild glance, and Liv was horrified to see how much she’d deteriorated in a matter of days. Her eyes were bruised hollows, her skin waxy and white. Already, the weight loss was visible in the hollows of her cheeks.
“It’s okay. You can go. I’m just so relieved to see you’re still alive. I was so scared—” Her voice broke, and she pressed her knuckles to her mouth to try and hold it in. “I was so scared you might be dead.”
The desperation to run morphed into furious disbelief. “You were scared I might be dead?” Ellen spat. “You did this to me, Olivia! You drugged me and locked me up for days. Don’t you dare fucking cry! You don’t get to turn on the waterworks for this.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sick. I didn’t mean to. I was only trying to keep you safe.”
“Well, you could have killed me instead. You need help. Serious help.”
Liv nodded. “I know, I know. Please. I brought you some water.”
She held the bottle out to Ellen, who hesitated, before reaching out and snatching it from Liv’s hand like a stray dog grabbing a snack from a passing stranger. She put the bottle to her lips and drained the contents, before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve got sick like this, is it?” Ellen asked.
She shook her head. “I thought I was better. That’s why I moved to London. I wanted to leave it all behind me.”
“Leave all what behind you?” Ellen demanded. “What did you do, Olivia?”