| |
Taryn
I CALL IVELISSE IMMEDIATELY, and she answers. Her breath is labored.
“I’ve done something stupid...” Her voice doesn’t sound right. She’s speaking too fast, and her breathing is heavy. Like she’s in pain. “I’m sending you my location now. I...”
“Taryn?” Sibylle’s looking at me, but I hold my hand up at her.
There’s a gulp from Ivelisse, and I don’t know whether the phone line twists it so it sounds tinny or whether she’s choking or something.
“Don’t tell the teachers, please,” Ivelisse whispers, then the call clicks off.
I stare at my phone, then I call her again. It goes straight to voicemail, but a second later her location pings to my phone.
“It’s Ivelisse,” I say, turning to Sibylle. The few bites of potato I managed to eat suddenly feel like they’re stuck at the base of my throat. “She’s... She said she’s done something stupid and needs help. She’s sent me her location.”
“Then we give it to the teachers or the police.” Sibylle rubs her left eye.
“No, she said not to tell anyone.”
“Well, what can we do?” Sibylle asks.
“Go and find her,” I whisper, my voice cracking. “Help her. She’s asked for my help. And she wanted me to cover for her.”
“Cover?”
God, that conversation seems like a lifetime ago. Not just this morning. And I never updated Sibylle on Ivelisse’s plan. I tell her quickly. Her eyes widen more and more.
“Okay. But we’re not going on our own.”
“Jaidev’s outside,” I say.
“Good.” She grabs her coat.
I put Alma’s clothes back on and grab my coat, then pull on my trainers. I shove my phone into the pocket of my jeans.
Sibylle opens the door, updates Jaidev. I hear him swear under his breath. Then the three of us are running down the corridor.
“Where are you going?” Freya is suddenly here, blocking her way.
Xavier is behind her. His hair is disheveled, and his lips are red. Freya’s too. I wonder if they were kissing.
“Just move,” Sibylle pants.
“No, he can help,” I say, looking at Xavier. “We don’t know what’s happened to Ivelisse. If she’s in trouble, if people have her or have hurt her, we’re going to need more strength. Jaidev and Xavier.”
“And Freya,” Freya says.
“Five is better than three,” I say.
“So, what’s going on?” Xavier’s frowning.
Sibylle tells him quickly.
Then the five of us run.
###
RAIN HAMMERS DOWN, bouncing on pavements, throwing darkness everywhere, obscuring my vision. Sibylle clings to my left hand and my right hand is in Jaidev’s. I think Freya is clinging to him and Xavier. We’re all huddled together, all trying to run.
“Is it this way?” Freya yells. “Down there?”
I squint into the darkness. There are barely any streetlights here.
“Let’s see your phone again,” Jaidev says.
I hand it to him. He peers at the map I’ve got up on it, trying to shield the screen from the worst of the weather. Then he nods and hands my phone back to me.
We run faster and faster. My skin burns under the rain.
Water.
No. I try not to think, to remember.
I just keep running.
Must keep running.
We’re in a part of London I don’t know; we got two buses here, and we’ve been running since. We pass the odd person—usually someone bundled in layers, sitting in a doorway. The shopfronts aren’t posh, and there are lots of broken windows. None of them are boarded. The air smells strongly of smoke, but it’s stale smoke. My lungs burn.
Sibylle trips and stumbles, but I right her. She squeezes my hand.
“This way,” Jaidev says.
We turn left. The rain pounds down heavier. My clothes cling to me. There’s a hole in my left trainer, and my socked foot squelches against the sodden insole with every step.
A streetlight flickers ahead—there’s only the one, casting a weak glow.
“Wait, is that her?” I point to the right of the streetlight where what I think a figure is slumped by something dark. A doorway? I can’t tell.
“Oh my God,” Sibylle says.
We move forward, faster. It’s a girl. I can see it’s a girl. A girl with lots of dark hair tumbling down over her face and her chest.
“Ivelisse?” Fear grabs me, and then I break away from the others, running faster and faster. “Ivelisse!”
She stirs, opens her eyes. Then she groans, holding her stomach. She’s been sick on her clothes and the stench wraps around me. She looks up at me through bloodshot eyes. “Something’s gone wrong.”
I crouch next to her. “Gone wrong? With what?”
“I...” Tears pour down her face. She looks behind me and freezes.
Jaidev’s here, and the others, but Ivelisse shrinks back a bit.
“It’s okay,” I say. “We’re here to help.” I push her hair back from her face. “What’s happened?”
She gulps. “I...went to this...person. She said she could help me.”
“Help you?” My heart pounds. With her anorexia? I thought she had therapists and doctors for that. I don’t understand why she’s out here.
Unless she’s not talking about that. Has she got money problems?
Oh God. How didn’t I notice anything? I’m her roommate.
“Is it gangs?” Jaidev asks. He crouches next to me. “Did they give you drugs? Because they did that to Bastien, my brother, and—”
Ivelisse shakes her head and looks at me. “Because of... In June.”
“June?”
She shakes her head. “The party, remember the party I went to? In June.”
I don’t. I didn’t know she went to a party.
“They were drunk, there. Everyone was drunk at the party.” Her words tumble out, crashing into one another. “I had one, just one, but they wouldn’t leave me alone. Two men. And... I thought it would be better after, but then the test was positive. And this, this person I saw today, she said she’d help get...get rid of it.”
Get rid of it.
“No,” Sibylle whispers.
The streetlight flickers more.
I found a pregnancy test in the toilets of the lower school.
I go cold.
“A backstreet abortion?” Freya’s voice shakes. I see her face. She’s gone white. Xavier grabs hold of her.
“It’s gone wrong,” Ivelisse whispers, and I turn back to her, just as she slumps forward.
I let out a scream.
Dead. Another girl dead.
My sister, my friend. No!
“Hey, Ivelisse?” Jaidev pushes me away. He shakes her gently, then he places his fingers against her neck. “Okay. Uh, recovery position. Taryn, help me.”
He barks out directions to me, telling me how to position Ivelisse. He knows what to do, that’s clear. We lay Ivelisse on her left side. Freya and Xavier both have their phone flashlights on now, and they shine them on her. I can see the blood appears to be coming from her crotch.
“Lift her head up a bit,” Jaidev says. “Make sure her windpipe is... Ah, what’s the word?” But he takes over and carefully and gently maneuvers her head. “We have to watch her, in case she starts vomiting.” Then he looks directly at me. “Call an ambulance.”
“Already doing it,” Sibylle says.