Gabi looked from Thea back to Harry, confused. ‘What are you …?’
‘You told me you loved me, you let me believe …’ Harry started. Gabi saw his eyes narrow and his jaw contract.
She looked back to her sister. ‘What did you do, Thea?’ she asked, a wave of dread creeping across her body. ‘What have you done?’
‘I did it for you, Harry,’ Thea pleaded. She took a step towards him, her hands outstretched. ‘You were so miserable, I just wanted to make you happy, to give you what you wanted.’
‘I wanted Gabi, not you!’ he shouted, backing away from her.
Gabriella’s mouth dropped open. She turned back to Harry.
He was wearing his black coat and in the darkness, she didn’t see it at first. But then, there, black against black, a gun in his hand. The gun. He raised it, slowly, pointing it at Thea.
Thea held her hands out in front of her. ‘Harry, please …’ she started, glancing across at Gabi. ‘Put the gun down, you don’t want anyone to get hurt.’
‘Why not?’ he shouted. ‘After what you did last night?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Everything you said, everything you did. That was you.’
Gabi could see his arm trembling, the gun shaking in the moonlight. She could only guess at what had happened, but she could see the hurt clear on Harry’s face. Deceiving him in that way – it was cruel.
‘And why is that so terrible?’ Thea asked, and Gabriella turned back to her sister. Thea was angry, her mouth twisted in a grimace. ‘I’ve never been good enough, have I? I’ve been your best friend,’ she shouted. ‘I’ve been there with you, every day, when she was off travelling the world. And I wanted …’ Thea stopped, then turned to Harry. ‘I wanted you. You … You’re my everything, my whole world, Harry. But the moment Gabriella’s back, it’s all about her again.’ Thea spat out the words. ‘Despite everything she’s done. To you. To me. Lied to us both.’
Gabi could see Harry’s aim waver. Thea looked at Gabriella, pointing a defiant finger in her direction.
‘It was her who attacked me,’ Thea hissed. ‘It was your precious Gabriella who tried to kill me – that night, out here.’
‘What’s she talking about?’ Harry shouted. He glanced at Gabi, then moved the gun to point it at her.
Gabi saw the black metal shine in the darkness. Her focus narrowed, the barrel of the gun her only concern. She held her hands up in an automatic reaction.
‘Harry, please,’ she begged.
‘Tell me!’
Gabi felt her body trembling. ‘I wasn’t trying to kill her, it was an accident,’ she pleaded. She turned to Thea, watching the gun out of the corner of her eye. ‘I’d worked out what you were doing, pretending to be me, and I just wanted you to stop. So I followed you. Out here.’
‘And you attacked me,’ Thea said. Gabi could see the anger flicker behind her eyes. ‘You wanted me dead.’
‘No!’ Gabi cried. ‘I didn’t, I swear.’ She turned back to Harry. He was watching her, the gun still pointed at her face. ‘Please, Harry, please put the gun down.’
He shook his head, a frantic movement to and fro. ‘Not until you tell me. Not until I know what’s going on.’
‘Okay, okay.’ Gabriella’s body was shaking. She didn’t know whether it was the cold, the anger, or the fear, but she felt every muscle in her body contract. ‘We fought. About you going to the club, about …’ Gabi paused, choking back a sob. ‘About what happened to Mum and Dad. What I wanted to do. You were drunk, you were a mess, Thea. You started hitting me, you wouldn’t stop and I got angry. I was furious – with you, with everything that had happened. You were hanging off me, slapping my face, out of control, so I pushed you and you fell.’ Gabi started crying, the tears rolling down her face. ‘I thought you’d just get up, but you didn’t. You must have hit your head on something. There was blood, so much blood, so I just ran. I called the ambulance, but I had to get away. I’m sorry, Thea, I’m so sorry.’
Gabi wiped the tears away from her eyes and looked at her sister. Thea was staring at her, her eyes cold.
‘And have you done what you said you were going to do?’ Thea asked, slowly. ‘Have you told the police about what happened to our parents? What really happened?’
Gabi stopped, perfectly still. She could see Harry pointing the gun at her. She could see the look on his face – the confusion, the misery. But she didn’t want to lie any more. There had been enough lies.
Gabriella nodded.
Next to her, she heard Harry make a strangled sob. Gabriella saw the gun move, flashing in the moonlight, and flinched, raising her hands to her face. But it didn’t fire; there was no gunshot. It was far worse. Gabi saw Harry raise the gun, pointing it at himself, the muzzle at his temple.
‘Harry, no,’ she shouted, and he looked at her, his face creased with despair.
‘I can’t go to prison, Gabi, I can’t,’ he cried.
She held out her hands to him but he backed away from her, the gun still pointed at his head. ‘Please, Harry, no,’ Gabi begged. ‘We can make this better. I can help you.’
‘How?’ he sobbed. ‘How? Madeleine’s dead. I shot her, and she’s dead, nothing is going to change that.’ Harry’s arm tensed but then, from the corner of her eye, Gabi saw Thea move. Her sister flew at Harry, grabbing his hand and pulling it away. She saw them fall together to the ground. She heard the gunshot.
It was loud. Louder than she remembered, louder than anything she had seen since on television or at the movies. It deafened her, stunned her into silence, leaving her body quaking. She smelt the gunpowder, reminiscent of fireworks and bonfires.
Gabriella ran to the bodies on the ground. Thea rolled onto her back, away from Harry, the gun now in her hand.
‘I’m okay, I’m okay,’ Thea gasped.
Gabi fell to her knees at Harry’s side. He lay on the grass, staring up in shock. She floundered, unsure of what to do, running her hands across his chest.
‘Are you okay? Harry?’ she pleaded. ‘Please talk to me.’
Harry shook his head. Gabi looked at his hands covering his stomach, and gently went to hold them. But then she felt the wet. It was warm, and she held her hand up to the light. Her palm was bright red, her hand covered in blood.
Harry winced, his face crumpled with pain. He looked at Gabi; she could see tears in his eyes and she held his hand.
‘I always wondered how this was going to end,’ he said quietly, his blue eyes locked on hers. His face was pale, his lips turning grey.
‘You’re going to be okay,’ she whispered to him. ‘Everything’s going to be okay.’
But she didn’t know how it could be.
She looked up at her sister. Thea took off her coat, then her jumper, rolling it into a ball and kneeling next to Gabi on the grass.
Thea held the gun out to Gabi, the muzzle pointing down. Gabi recoiled at the sight of it but Thea pushed it into her hand. ‘Take it, and go,’ she said, her voice steady. She seemed unnaturally calm.
Gabi shook her head, over and over again, staring at the gun, frozen in shock. ‘I can’t just leave him, I can’t.’
Thea looked down at Harry, opening his coat and putting her jumper against his stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. ‘I’ll stay here, but you need to get rid of the gun and your coat.’ She looked up at her twin. ‘The police will arrest you if you stay.’
‘So let them,’ Gabi cried out. ‘I deserve it. You tell them what you remember, what I did to you.’
‘No.’ Thea met Gabi’s gaze, her eyes red and angry. ‘I won’t. Unlike you, I have loyalty to my family. I don’t want you to go to prison.’
Gabi shook her head frantically. ‘It was never about loyalty, Thea. It’s about being human. It’s about drawing a line between what’s right and wrong and telling the truth.’
‘Fuck, Gabi, what’s wrong with you?’ Thea shouted. She held Harry’s hand tightly, the other still pushing against his chest. Gabi could see a red stain widening a
cross his stomach, blood soaking the grass where they were kneeling. ‘You’re supposed to love us, you’re supposed to do anything for us,’ Thea cried, her voice desperate. ‘We did, all those years ago, for you, why can’t you do the same?’
Gabi backed away from Harry, her hands shaking. She felt her anger build. She remembered what had happened between them all, fifteen years ago.
‘Because I can’t stop thinking about it, Thea,’ Gabi cried. ‘Every time I close my eyes, there it is. I see you, Thea!’ She put her hands over her face, sobbing. ‘I see what you did.’
July 2004. Fifteen Years Ago.
65
The sun beat down relentlessly, sending ripples of heat from the concrete path. Gabi was hiding at the back of the garden in the shade, earphones shoved in, pumping the latest Chili Peppers album at full volume.
She hadn’t seen Thea or Harry all morning, but that was her aim. She thought about the night before, after the prom, kissing Harry. She’d liked it. She wanted to do it again, but knew it was going to create a change in their lives she wasn’t sure she was ready for yet. It had always been the three of them and now – what? How would Thea feel if it was just Gabriella and Harry? For the moment Gabi wanted to enjoy her own little perfect memory. Without the complication.
Gabi felt a drip of sweat roll down her stomach. She reached for her drink and, finding it empty, looked down towards the house. The air was still. The laundry hung limply on the line; the sky was oppressive and stifling.
She couldn’t see Thea or Harry; perhaps she could make it to the kitchen for an ice cream then out again without anyone seeing her. She took her earphones out. Back at the house she could hear voices, loud and shouting.
It seemed to be all three of them this time – her parents and Harrison – and her curiosity was raised. For days all they’d heard was her mum and dad, alternating between bellowing at each other, then living in a deathly silence. The addition of Harrison was new.
She left her Walkman in the grass and crept towards the house, coming to a stop by the kitchen window. She looked up and saw the three adults: Harrison standing at the door, her mother and father at opposite corners of the room.
‘This is ridiculous,’ her mother was shouting. ‘How can you give me such an ultimatum?’
‘How can I not!’ her father responded. ‘We can’t stay here, living next door to the man you’ve been sleeping with all these years. The two of you, creeping around behind my back. How can I possibly trust you if we stay?’
Thea saw her mother scoff, and look away. Their father turned to Harrison, still standing in the doorway.
‘I don’t even know why you’re here. This has nothing to do with you any more, you’ve done your damage. You need to leave.’
‘What’s going on?’
Gabi jumped as Thea came up next to her, crouching low, Harry behind her. Harry was almost bent in two to keep out of the way of the window, and now sat down on the path, crossing his legs under him. He was wearing a baseball cap, shorts, and a slightly grubby T-shirt with a black and white Oasis logo across the front. Seeing Harry made Gabi feel a little surge of excitement, a tingle of warmth that went all the way to her toes.
‘They’re fighting again,’ Gabi said. ‘Dad wants us to move.’
They paused for a moment, and listened to the argument continue.
‘She’s not going to stay with you!’ their dad was shouting. ‘We’ve discussed this, Madeleine and I. It’s over between you two.’
‘Maddy, please …’ They saw Harrison reach out to Madeleine, holding his hands out, pleading. ‘I love you. Let’s leave here, let’s be together.’
‘What do you think you can offer her?’ Robert mocked. ‘A waster like you, living off your widow’s pension and state benefits.’ He laughed cruelly and Harrison looked at him.
‘You’re not so fucking perfect. You’re a shitty husband and a neglectful father.’ Harrison turned, and Gabi saw him walking out to the studio, then coming back with something wrapped in a cloth. ‘Maddy told me – this damn thing is still hanging around the house, after you promised to get rid of it.’
Gabi gasped as Harrison unwrapped the gun, dangling it between two fingers in front of Robert’s face. Gabi exchanged looks with Thea and Harry, their eyes wide.
‘It’s dangerous,’ Harrison shouted. ‘They found it once before, who says they won’t find it again. And then who knows what would happen.’
‘This has nothing to do with the sodding gun,’ Robert said. ‘And it has nothing to do with you. We are leaving. We’re getting away from this house, from you and your son.’
‘Leave Harry out of this,’ Harrison growled, but Robert couldn’t be stopped.
‘Your precious son …’ he pointed to Harrison ‘… is a bad influence on my daughters. Who knows what they’ve been doing together all these years? The sooner he’s apart from them, the better. I’ll make sure he never sees them again and that this ridiculous plan of theirs to go to university together doesn’t happen.’
Gabi saw their father step forward towards their mother. ‘Let’s move. Let’s sell this place and get out of here.’ He took one of her hands, pulling her towards him. ‘We’ll move away from him, we’ll take the girls and go far away. Start afresh.’
Gabriella shook her head. She couldn’t believe what her father was saying. What their mother had been doing had nothing to do with them. How could he blame Harry? How could he say those things?
Furious, Gabi pushed into the kitchen and stood in front of the three grown-ups, hands in fists by her side. ‘Stop! Stop all this fighting!’ she shouted. She saw Thea join her, Harry’s hand in hers.
The three adults stared at the teenagers. Robert turned to his daughters, plastering a smile on his face. ‘What do you think, girls?’ he asked. ‘Where would you like to go? We can be a family again, all together. Anywhere you like, just name the place.’ He reached across to Gabriella, but she pulled away.
‘I want to go where we planned!’ Gabi shouted. ‘To uni, with Harry and Thea. Why does that have to change?’
Robert took a deep breath. Gabi could tell he was still angry, fighting to keep it under control. ‘Some things have been going on long enough. And as your father, I have the right to put a stop to it.’ He looked over at his wife, and Madeleine slowly nodded. ‘To it all.’
Maddy glanced at Harrison, then turned back to Gabi. ‘We’ll all be together, I promise. You and Thea, me and your father.’ She took Robert’s hand and looked up at him. ‘Nobody else.’
It all played out in seconds. Gabi saw Harrison raise his arm, the gun still in his hand. She saw his muscles tense.
She saw Harry dive forward to stop him. His hand grabbed his father’s but it was too late.
She heard the gunshot. The sharp bark was sudden, so recognisable but strange in the familiarity of their kitchen. A high-pitched ringing echoed in Gabriella’s head, her hearing muffled. Her mother screamed.
Gabi saw the blood bloom across Robert’s chest as he collapsed. Harry wrestled with his father and Harrison slipped, falling and banging his head on their kitchen table with a sickening thud. The gun fell to the ground and Harry picked it up.
Gabi saw Harry look at it, slowly, then raise it up in the same way his father had done. Madeleine saw him, her screams escalating, eyes wide as Harry pointed the gun her way. He pulled the trigger, a second gunshot ringing out, the bang louder, a huge fireball projecting out of the gun, grey smoke filling the room. The gun clattered to the floor and Harry doubled up in pain.
Gabi blinked, her mouth open in disbelief, then ran to her parents, now fallen on the floor in the kitchen. She knelt next to their mother, the red spreading across her stomach, tentatively going to touch her then pulling away. She felt panic take hold in her chest, forcing her breath out in staccato bursts.
Blood pooled out from under their bodies, unnaturally twisted where they fell, widening across the white tiles of the kitchen floor. Her father lay face down next t
o Maddy, his body broken.
Gabi couldn’t look away. She could feel Harry pulling at her, but she was hypnotised by the blood. So much bright red blood. Harry tugged at her arm again.
‘We need to go,’ he said, his voice strained. Gabi could hear the wail of a police car in the distance. ‘Pick up the gun. We need to go now.’
Gabi bent down and grabbed the gun, wrapping it quickly in the cloth. Harry dragged her out of the house, blinking in the sudden sunshine, pulling her through the grass and wild flowers, to the oak tree, until Gabi realised Thea wasn’t with them.
‘I have to go back for her,’ she cried.
She ran back to the kitchen door but it was closed. She couldn’t get through. She tugged at it with all her might, panicking, peering through the glass panels, then running to the side of the house, pulling open the old oak door to the basement.
Gabriella almost fell down the steps, crouching low as she ran through the darkness, feeling bricks and dust move under her bare feet. She climbed the stairs into the study, running back into the kitchen.
Gabriella stopped dead in the doorway, the devastating scene hitting her full force, knocking the wind out of her.
The shattered body of her father lay to her right. On her left, Harrison was still out cold, a large angry cut bleeding on his forehead.
She saw Thea on the far side of the room. She was bending over something on the ground. Gabi saw her mother’s feet and Thea’s back, Thea straddling her body and bending over her face. Gabi assumed Thea was trying to help her, and leaned forward to pull her away, but then realised. Something wasn’t right.
Her mother’s legs were moving, weakly, her heels pushing into the ground, trying to get purchase on the tiled floor. Her mother was reaching up, her hands wrapped round Thea’s arms.
And Thea … Thea was leaning forward, a cushion in her hands, pushing it down, using all her body weight to hold it over their mother’s face.
Gabriella froze. Her body locked. Her brain couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing, what her sister was doing. As Gabi watched, her mother’s arms dropped limply to her sides. Thea turned, the cushion still in her hands, and saw Gabi standing in the doorway. Her face was sweaty, her hair plastered to her face. Her mouth fell open.
Ask Me No Questions Page 25