by Daiko, SC
Diego’s accomplice tells me a wild boar attacked him, and I can’t help a brittle laugh at the irony of the situation. “Serves you right,” I say gruffly in Spanish. “How dare you attack innocent women? How much did that bastard pay you, eh? I hope you rot in hell.”
The man falls silent, apart from the occasional groan, and I’m glad of that. I wanna fucking kill him. I pick up my knife and keep an eye on him and Diego. One move and it will be their last.
It’s like my heart is being torn from my chest I’m so scared for my Beth. I lean forward and, carefully brushing the hair back from her face, press a kiss to her cold, unresponsive lips.
There’s a sound of feet pounding up the pathway, and two policemen appear. I tell them I’ve called for an ambulance while they check Beth’s and the men’s injuries.
The older officer introduces himself as Police Constable Lawrence and barks questions at me. I tell him everything I know, that Diego stalked my mother in Ibiza, that I’d caught him attempting to rape her, how we’d fled the island when the police there didn’t pursue the matter. “Well, we won’t let him get away with this,” PC Lawrence promises. “It’s the rutting season for wild boar.” He points towards Diego’s accomplice. “This fellow is lucky it didn’t puncture a main artery. He’d be dead by now if it had.”
Bile rises in my throat. I clench my fists and fight to hold myself together. “I don’t care about him. I care about Miss Matthews and I wanna go with her to the hospital,” I say, my throat tight with unshed tears. “She’s in this situation because she was trying to protect my mother.”
“What’s your relationship to her?” he asks, his gaze skimming over my face.
My eyes flare. “She’s my teacher.”
“I’m sorry, but we’ll need to inform her next of kin. Do you know who they are?”
“All I know is her parents and sister live in Bristol. They aren’t close.” My voice sounds frantic. I’m frantic. “Please, let me stay with her at least until they get there.”
The chop-chop-chop of a helicopter vibrates overhead, the noise drowning out my pleas.
“Right, son,” PC Lawrence says firmly. “You’ve done as much as you can, and, when your teacher wakes up, I’m sure she’ll thank you personally. This is a matter for the medical services and her family from now onwards.”
“But…”
“No ifs and buts. You must go home. I’ll be in touch with your mam later.”
I turn away and let the tears roll down my face. This is all my fault. If Beth hadn’t met me she wouldn’t have been attacked. What a fucking train wreck!
I pass the paramedics on the footpath. I need to trust they’ll do their best for her, trust they’ll save her. But, as soon as I step through the front door, I lose it. Mam opens her arms and I go into them, raw bellows ripping from my chest. “The back of Beth’s head is bashed in,” I manage to say between panting breaths. “I hope she doesn’t die.”
24
I cancel my shift at work and spend the evening waiting by the phone. As if anyone in Beth’s family would think to call us! They know about me; Beth told them. Surely, they’ll let me see her? But how to get hold of them?
We tell Sara that Beth has had an accident protecting Mam from the bad men who came from Ibiza, and that Beth has had to go to the hospital. At around nine, Sara goes to bed and finally falls asleep before PC Lawrence phones and speaks to Mam. I watch her face for positive signs, and ice replaces the blood in my veins when I see nothing of the sort.
“Come sit by me,” she says after disconnecting. She checks that Grandad is still asleep in front of the telly, pats the sofa next to her, and I lower myself onto it. “They’ve taken Beth to neurosurgery in Cardiff.” Tears well in Mam’s eyes, and her breath hitches. “It seems she has a brain injury.”
I grasp Mam’s shoulders with shaking hands. A soundless “no” escapes my mouth and pain, like I haven’t experienced since my dad died, pierces me to the core.
“You’ve got to be strong, son.” Mam wipes the moisture from her cheeks with her thumbs. “Beth needs you to hold it together. She’ll pull through, I know she will.”
“How can you know? I’m sorry, but you don’t know anything,” I snap, releasing my hold on her.
Mam shoots me a look. “You shouldn’t lose hope.”
“She was lying so still,” my voice rasps. “I always thought it would be me who saved you from that bastard. Instead, it was Beth.”
“Incredibly brave of her,” Mam says quietly, “there’s more to her than meets the eye.”
“You should see her in the classroom. She’s awesome… I love watching her teach... she has the kids eating out of the palms of her hands.” A shiver goes up my spine. “God, how are they gonna manage without her?”
“The school will find a substitute.”
“No one can replace Beth. She’s irreplaceable.” I hear the ache in my voice. “I did this to her by involving her in my life. I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Beth’s an adult, my lovely. She made the decision to get involved. It can’t have been easy for her, but, at the end of the day, she chose to be with you.”
“She was living on a knife-edge most of the time, having to subdue the real Beth to the situation I put her in. I shouldn’t have done it.”
“What’s done is done, and can’t be undone,” Mam repeats the old saying. “Take each day as it comes, and don’t let Beth down by giving up on her or yourself. She wouldn’t want that.”
“Yeah, I know,” I frown. “Did PC Lawrence say anything about Diego and his side-kick? I hope they’re both suffering more than Beth.”
“Diego has regained consciousness and he and his accomplice are stable,” Mam says, and my heart sinks. “Under arrest in a secured ward. The police want me to make a statement tomorrow. Oh, and the press have asked me for an interview. I’ll stress Beth and I have become close friends.”
“Thanks, Mam,” I say, enfolding her in a hug. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I know you’ve got my back.”
“And Beth’s too.” She gets to her feet. “Time for bed, my lovely. Tomorrow will be a long day.”
I lie under my duvet feeling like I’m trapped in a horrible nightmare, and hoping when I wake up it will be this morning again. None of this will be happening and I’ll go to work as usual, will stop by Beth’s as usual, and make sweet love to her as usual. She’ll writhe her body and moan with delight as I touch her all over and, when I fuck her, she’ll suck my big cock into her tight little pussy and scream my name as she comes.
The sound of Grandad using the bathroom jolts me back to reality, and pain surges through me once more as my vision blurs with tears. This is fucking killing me. I’m being torn apart from the inside. I choke on the sounds leaving my mouth and fight to drag air through my clogged lungs. Raw emotion floods through me and my heart cracks down the middle. How will I ever live without her?
Mam insists I go to school the next morning. “You have to behave like Beth is just your teacher.” Mam’s gaze blazes into mine as she sees me out the door. “Be strong!”
“I’ll do my best,” I say, watching Sara run on ahead to catch up with Nia.
“Jesus, man,” Josh falls into step beside me as we walk up the road. “I saw on the local TV about the attack on your mother and Miss Matthews. The fuck happened?”
I give him the rundown, explain about Mam’s stalker, act the performance of my life in case anyone overhears. Inside I’m being ripped apart, but I keep it together on the outside for Beth’s sake.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this before?” Josh’s eyes are wide as saucers. “I thought you’d moved to Wales because your mother lost her job.”
“That’s what we let everyone believe,” I explain, pushing my hands into my pockets. “We didn’t wanna spread info that could lead the fucker to us.”
“How do ya think he found out?”
“I have no clue. Mam said Miss Mathews saw a man watching them
at that rugby game on Boxing Day, but they didn’t think anything of it. And, a while back, I had the sensation someone was following me.” I shrug. “We should’ve been more careful, I guess.”
“Do you know how Miss Matthews is?”
“Mam spoke to the police this morning. The whole situation is fucking unreal.” I give a quick look around, make sure no one is within listening distance. “It’s like I’m nothing, of no importance. In the eyes of the law, I’m just Beth’s student. I wanna be with her, Josh. I’m fucking losing my mind with worry.”
“I can imagine.” He touches my arm. “Which hospital is she in?”
“Cardiff. Mam’s gonna ask the police if she can speak with Beth’s sister. Maybe she’ll wanna know from Mam exactly what happened.”
We arrive at the school gates, and Catrin joins us. She slips her hand into Josh’s and give me a smile. “Glad to see you two are together, at last,” I say, and I am. It’s a tiny silver lining to an otherwise bastard black cloud of a day.
“He’s my knight in shining armour,” she smirks. “How can I not fall for a boy who carried me down a mountain?”
Josh puts his arm around her, and kisses her on the cheek. “Did you watch the news this morning?”
She shakes her head. “No. Why?”
And he tells her, tells her the whole fucking story. “Oh, my God,” Cat shivers. “Poor Miss Matthews. Is she gonna be okay?”
“I fucking hope so,” I groan. “I mean, how else will we get through our exams?”
“That’s heartless,” Catrin says, rolling her eyes. “You can be so callous at times, Ryan.”
Yeah, maybe I should win a damn Oscar.
I spend the day trying to act like Mam suggested, but it’s fucking difficult. Especially when the redheaded teacher, Mrs Jenkins, calls me into her office after she’s set work for my Spanish class. “I heard something rather disturbing from Mr Davis this morning,” she says sharply. “He spotted you leaving Miss Matthews’ tent in the early hours of Sunday morning.”
Fuck fuck fuck!
I take in a breath, and marshal my thoughts. “I got up to take a leak, and, on the way back I mistook her tent for mine,” I lie, unblinking.
You’re Beth’s friend. Don’t let her down. Especially now she’s hovering between life and death.
“I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” Mrs Jenkins says, tapping her chin. “As will Mr Davis, I hope.” Her eyes glide over me. “But now the media attention is on Miss Matthews, please don’t do anything that would drag her name in the mud. Any hint of a scandal, and the press will be sniffing around like hounds on the trail of blood.”
“I don’t know what you’re on about,” I say firmly, tugging at my tie. “My mother and Miss Matthews have become friends. She stopped the man who was stalking Mam from kidnapping her.”
“Yes, that’s what we heard. I phoned the hospital just now, but they won’t give out any information except to family.” Mrs Jenkins shakes her head. “I’ve been trying to reach Miss Matthews’ sister, but she’s not answering her phone.”
I wanna beg Mrs Jenkins to let me know if she does get through, beg her to ask Sophie to let me see Beth. My gut twists with grief, and all I can do is shrug.
After school, I go straight home. Josh will give Mr Davis the excuse that I couldn’t attend rugby training as my mother needed me. No way did I wanna face any questions from him about what I was doing in Beth’s tent.
Mam is waiting for me in the kitchen, her expression troubled, and my heart almost falls through the floor. “Oh, shit. What’s happened?”
“Sit down, son. Let me talk you through everything.”
Nerves jangling, I do as she requests. I can hardly breathe my chest pangs so much. “Tell me,” I say.
“Okay. I spoke to the police and they said the neurosurgeons removed the back of Beth’s skull last night.”
Bile rises in my throat. “Jesus!”
“When she landed on that rock her brain was violently thrusted back and forth inside her head, tearing blood vessels and pulling nerve fibres.” Mam looks directly at me, her mouth twisting with worry. “This type of injury causes the brain to swell, apparently. If there isn’t room for it to do so, the flow of oxygen-carrying blood can be blocked.”
“So, after removing part of her skull, her brain can now breathe?”
“Exactly. As soon as the swelling goes down, they’ll put the bone back. They keep it frozen.”
My body shudders, and I clasp Mam’s hands, my mind a jumble of questions. “Will she pull through?”
“She’s in a coma, son. The doctors aren’t making any predictions until she wakes up.” Mam squeezes my fingers. “She could be unconscious for days, weeks, or even months.”
Her words hit me like a hammer-blow. Oh, fucking fuck! “Don’t tell me she’s gonna die!”
“I won’t hide the truth from you.” Her voice is filled with sadness. “It’s a worst-case scenario, but you have to be prepared for the possibility.”
It’s like a spear has slammed into my chest it hurts so much. “No, I won’t accept it,” I groan. “She can’t leave me. She needs me and I need her. That’s all there is to it. Did you get a chance to speak to her sister?”
“Yes, very briefly. She wants to meet you before she decides if you can see Beth or not.”
“Does she know I’m her student?”
“No, son. It will be your job to explain your relationship with her sister to Sophie in person when we meet her.”
“Anything for Beth,” I say hoarsely.
The kitchen door swings open, and Sara appears. I open my arms and she comes into them. “Everyone in school is talking about Miss Matthews,” she says, her voice muffled against my chest. “About how brave she was. She’ll be okay, won’t she?” Sara lifts her head and looks up at me, her chin trembling and her eyes welling up. “We all miss her so much already.”
“We just have to hope for the best, chiquita.” I clamp my jaw as I try to chase away the blockage in my throat. “That’s all any of us can do.”
25
Sophie is a blonde version of Beth. The resemblance is so striking I do a double-take as I walk with Mam into the hospital cafeteria where we’ve agreed to meet. Almost identical features… just different hair and eye colour. Sophie is sitting at a table in the corner, leafing through a magazine. She gives me a surprised look and pushes back her chair; I catch sight of her pregnant belly.
“Ryan? Gosh, you’re so young,” she comes directly to the point. “You must be in your first year of teaching and straight out of college.”
“Yes, well,” I hesitate, “not exactly.”
“How’s Beth?” Mam interrupts, shaking Sophie’s hand then sitting herself down.
“No change. At least she isn’t getting any worse,” she sighs. “My husband is a brilliant lawyer, and he’s preparing a suit against your stalker.” She fixes Mam with a stare. “He’ll take him for every penny he’s got because of the hell he’s put my sister through.”
“I’m so sorry she got injured,” Mam says, giving Sophie an apologetic look.
“It should have been me,” I lean forwards, my hands on the table. “I should have been the one to take on those men.”
Sophie’s brow knits. “One thing that’s puzzling me. How did they find out where you’re living?”
I think for a moment, then decide to come out with it. “I’m sorry, but your sister let you believe something that isn’t true. I’m not her co-worker, I’m her student. And the police told us Diego has admitted to hiring a private investigator to find out if any kids from Ibiza had started studying in a Welsh school. We should have thought of that…”
Sophie’s mouth flaps open in shock. “Of all the crazy decisions that my sister has made in her life,” she bleats, “falling for one of her students has got to be the craziest.”
“Yeah, I agree, it’s insane, but we love each other,” I say calmly. “We met at her friend’s hen-weekend in Ibiza
, at the nightclub you all went to, but we lost touch. You can imagine our mutual surprise when we saw each other again.”
“You look young,” Sophie says, frowning, “but I wouldn’t have said you look young enough to still be in school.”
“I’m an adult and I’ll be twenty in November. Age doesn’t matter when you love someone.”
“Be that as it may…”
“Listen, Sophie,” I plead. “I know, I just know, that if I can be with Beth, if she senses my presence by her bed, she’ll fight harder to come through this.” I take in a breath and release it slowly. “We’re soulmates. It’s not something you can choose, you know. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. Beth and I are right for each other. Only it sucks I happen to be her student at this moment in time.”
Sophie glances at me. “You do realise Beth might not come through this with all her faculties intact?”
My eyes widen. “No, I hadn’t thought of that.” ¡Joder! “But I’ll be there for her no matter what.” And I will. No question.
Sophie’s gaze wanders from me to Mam and back to me again. She catches her lip with her teeth, a gesture I’ve seen so many times from Beth it makes my heart stutter. “She’s in intensive care. There’s a real danger of infection, so you’ll have to put on sterile scrubs and wear a mask. They’ll only let us stay for a few minutes.”
I wanna punch the air, but I don’t. Instead, I contain myself. “Thanks. You won’t regret it.”
We leave Mam in the cafeteria and take the lift to the second floor. Beth’s sister speaks to the nurse in charge and soon I’m washing my hands with disinfectant soap, then dressing in the appropriate clothing.
Sophie leads me through to the intensive care ward. Beth is lying on her side, her head swathed in white bandages, tubes in her mouth, her nose, and her arms. Monitors beep in the background, and a whip of pain cracks deep inside me. “I’m here, princesa,” I bend and whisper into her ear. “I love you. I love you so much. I’ve never been more proud to love you than at this moment.” Tears roll down my face, grating my throat to soreness, making my voice husky and coarse. “You gotta fight, sweetheart. Please!”