March 2018
I raced to the far end of the pool area, hoping to find another exit, panic swelling. What the hell’s the matter with me?
With no second exit, I pushed myself into the far corner and slipped down the wall into the shadows. I gripped my knees, making myself as small as I could, close to tears and feeling helpless.
I took several deep breaths – my shaking body rooted to the floor – and tried to reach my rational side. Lawrence’s voice was in my head: ‘You’re over-reacting, Rachel.’
After several moments, I leaned over to look through the door. Whoever had been there, had gone.
Oh God, had I imagined it? Or had it been Zoe, and through the frosted glass she’d looked bigger than she was? Or a caretaker perhaps? Or was this place really haunted?
My heart, which had picked up speed, began to slow, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I needed to get my act together. I levered myself to my feet with the aid of the wall, and, with a deep breath, padded towards the door.
‘Zoe?’ I called, as I cautiously peered into the quiet corridor. ‘Zoe,’ I repeated, as I crept towards the first set of stairs. As I reached the top, I noticed a cup lying on its side, a swirl of hot chocolate spreading over the varnished pine floor, dripping onto the second step. ‘Zoe,’ I called again. ‘Is everything OK?’
I was about to take the second set of stairs, when a sound like something falling over down towards the gym area, caught my attention. ‘Is that you, Zo?’
As I made my way along the corridor, I scanned the fitness machines, their shapes menacing in the half-light, and turned into the café area, where a chair was on its side. I cast my eyes around the deserted room, and caught a glimpse of someone disappearing through a door at the far end.
My courage made a run for it, and I turned and raced back the way I came, and took the stairs two at a time to the foyer.
Rain hammering on the roof of the reception area, after the silence I’d left behind, felt somehow reassuring. ‘Zoe,’ I said, looking about me. ‘Zoe, where are you?’ But she wasn’t by the coffee machine, and a desperate need to get out of the building took over. I flung open the door, and breathed in the cold, wet air for several moments, trying to clear my head. Had I imagined someone else in the building? But as my eyes fell on a car parked next to Zoe’s, I knew I hadn’t.
I looked back over my shoulder, knowing I couldn’t leave Zoe. I pulled my phone from my robe pocket, but there was no signal.
Without thinking it through, I raced back inside and down the two flights of stairs, hoping she’d somehow made her way back to the poolroom, calling her name as I went.
‘Thank God, Zoe,’ I yelled as I lunged through the door, to see her lying on a lounger, looking at her phone.
‘Hey, Rachel,’ she said, lifting herself onto her elbows. ‘Sorry I was so long – I dropped your hot chocolate.’ A pause. ‘Are you OK, hon?’
‘No, no, I’m far from it,’ I said, heading towards her, my voice raspy.
‘Christ, what’s wrong?’ she said. ‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. You haven’t, have you?’ She looked about her wide-eyed, as though a grey lady might appear through the wall.
‘Someone else is here,’ I spluttered, gripping my phone like it was a hand grenade. ‘A man, I think. But I can’t be sure.’
She pretended to shudder. ‘God, don’t say that, Rach. You’ll give me the heebie-jeebies.’
‘I’m not joking. I saw him through the glass door. We need to leave. Now!’ I was talking way too fast. ‘You didn’t lock the door when we arrived, and I think whoever it is followed us in.’
‘But I’m sure I locked it.’ Her brow lifted. ‘And I didn’t see anyone when I went to the coffee machine.’
Frustration was turning to anger. ‘I’ve just been up there, for God’s sake. The door’s unlocked.’
She took my hand, and, as if I was a child making up stories, said, ‘Calm down. It’s pretty creepy, I’ll give you that, but it’s just you and me here.’
I wanted to argue, but she beckoned me to sit down next to her. ‘You’re meant to be relaxing, Rachel,’ she said, with a wide smile.
I stared at the door. Had I imagined it? Lawrence said I over-reacted all the time. Maybe he was right.
But I hadn’t imagined the friend request.
‘And there’s something else,’ I said, remaining standing as I faffed with my mobile, attempting to get the friend request up. And then I saw it – another friend request. I almost dropped my phone as I opened it, despite a nagging voice telling me not to.
The profile photo was a recent photo of me. The cover photo was the spa. I read the update:
‘For Christ’s sake,’ I cried, tears in my eyes as I showed Zoe the screen. ‘I can’t take any more.’
‘Caitlin O’Brian?’ she said, taking my phone, and furrowing her forehead as she looked at the screen. ‘Do you know anyone called Caitlin O’Brian?’ She raised eyes to meet my mine. ‘Does she ring any bells?’
Memories I couldn’t quite reach drifted in, and disappeared once more. ‘Caitlin,’ I muttered, lowering myself down next to Zoe, who placed my phone on the table. ‘In the picture I found at my mum’s house I was with three children I can’t recall.’ I dashed a tear from the corner of my eye. ‘Perhaps one of those is Caitlin.’
I darted a look towards the door, and my body stiffened. ‘Oh God,’ I whispered, seeing the ominous dark shape behind the glass.
‘Fuck!’ Zoe cried on seeing it, jumping to her feet, but I couldn’t move.
‘I told you,’ I said. ‘I told you I saw someone. Hello!’ I called out.
‘Shhh,’ she said, putting her finger to her lips.
‘I just thought he might answer, if he’s harmless,’ I said, my voice low and jittery.
‘Pass me that,’ Zoe whispered, pointing to a broom propped against the wall.
Struggling to rise, I stepped towards it. ‘What for?’
She glared. ‘Just get it.’
I took a deep breath and reached for the broom, passing it over to her. She yanked off the brush head, and tiptoed towards the door.
‘Be careful.’ My heart thudded in my chest, but I somehow found the strength to trail behind her, as she made her way across the room and out through the door. The man, who was now making his way down the corridor, didn’t have time to react. The sound of the thuds of the broom hitting his head twice, his cries of pain, made my stomach heave. As he slumped to the floor face down, I let out a scream. ‘Oh God, Zoe,’ I cried. ‘What the hell have you done?’
I went to kneel down, hoping to take his pulse, but Zoe grabbed my shaking hand, and pulled me back along the corridor and into the poolroom, still gripping the broom handle, now covered in blood. This was too much. We needed to leave. Now!
‘Zoe,’ I said, my voice trembling. ‘Who do you think he was – is?’
She shrugged, a sudden coldness about her. As though knocking the man out had left her numb. ‘No idea.’
‘What if he wasn’t after us? What if he was just an employee or something?’ A lump lodged in my throat, as I dashed away tears. Everything was spiralling out of control. ‘We should get out of here. Call the police. An ambulance.’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’d like one more swim before we go.’ She slipped off her robe, and threw it on a chair.
‘What? Don’t be daft, Zo. What if that bloke wakes up? We need to get out of here. Call someone. I mean what if he’s dead?’
‘Dead?’ She turned, her eyes stabbing into me.
And that’s when I saw her necklace. I hadn’t noticed it before. ‘Where did you get that?’ I said. It was just like my mum’s locket, the locket that held a photo of me when I was a baby – the locket Mum had said was stolen.
‘What, this ol’ thing?’ she said, looking down at it – flicking it open then closed. ‘I can’t recall exactly.’
I was going off on a tangent. We needed to leave. I grabbed my bag.
‘I did so much for you,’ she said, as I slung my bag over my shoulder, her eyes meeting mine once more. She sounded different, serious, Irish, but not in the satirical way she had when she’d called me in Ireland. She turned sharply and rummaged in her rucksack.
‘Yes, you’ve always been there for me, Zoe,’ I said, feeling even more uneasy, ‘and I’m grateful for that.’
‘But you left me.’
‘What? Don’t be silly, I never left you – I’m here, aren’t I?’ My words were coming out fast again, and I felt breathless.
‘You went off with Laura, and didn’t care what happened to me, neither of you did.’
‘My mother?’
She laughed ironically. ‘If you like.’
‘We should go home, Zoe. Now.’
She stepped forward, so close to my face that there was barely any air between us. ‘I want you to stay,’ she said.
‘But we must go,’ I said, heading away, but she was quicker, stronger, taller than me, and I felt the cold steel of a blade against my neck, before I’d reached the door.