laughed too, but afterwards I thought that … I don’t know … that maybe…”
“Maybe he was asking you for real?” Piper asked in a sympathetic voice.
“Yeah. And now I’m just… I worry that he wasbeing serious and, if he was, then how could I have just laughed at him like that?”
I hadn’t spoken about that awkward moment between us to anyone, had hardly even acknowledged it to myself. Tears prickled my eyes and I knew I needed to change the subject quickly or I’d end up sobbing like a little kid and wouldn’t be able to stop.
In my mind, I could see him again, standing there in the dark car park, blowing me a kiss I’d thought was just meant to be a kind of joke.
And I heard the last words he’d ever say to me:
Anything for you
…
“What would you have said?” Piper asked quietly. “If he really was being serious?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, digging my nails into my palms. “I honestly don’t know.”
Piper didn’t ask any more questions and, a moment later, we suddenly came across a simple white cross at the edge of the cliff. As we got closer, I was startled to see the name printed neatly across it:
Rebecca Craig
.
“This is where she died,” Piper said, when I asked her about it. “Didn’t you know?”
“No. My parents never told me how it happened.”
“I suppose they didn’t want to upset you. It was so awful. She came out here all by herself in the middle of the night. No one knows why. It was January, there was snow everywhere, and it gets terribly windy on the island in the winter. As much as ninety miles an hour, so they say, and you’d believe it if you heard it – it howls like anything. My grandmother used to say it was the
Sluagh
, the spirits of the restless dead, travelling around the island in packs. I guess living on an island makes people very superstitious. The
Sluagh
are supposed to approach from the west, and people always say you should keep the west-facing windows of a house closed so they can’t get in. God only knows what possessed Rebecca to come out here like that, all by herself in the middle of the night. She knew we were absolutely forbidden from doing it. But that was typical of Rebecca, always doing something she wasn’t supposed to.”
“Did she fall over the cliff?”
“Yes, but that’s not what killed her. She fell three metres and landed on a little rocky outcrop sticking out of the side. She broke her leg when she fell so she wasn’t able to climb back up again. There wasso much snow that year. None of us had any idea she was out here. It wasn’t until the morning that we realized she was gone. By then she’d frozen to death.”
“How horrible!”
Piper’s lovely face was troubled as she gazed out across the water. “It must have been so scary for her, all alone like that. She must have called and called for help, but we were too far away to hear her. You know, sometimes, when we’re at home at night, the wind out on the clifftop can play tricks on you, can almost sound like a voice. A couple of times I really thought I heard her calling my name, as if she was still lost out here, trying to find her way home.” She glanced at me then and said, “Sophie, can I ask you a favour?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Don’t mention Rebecca’s name back at the house. You saw how everyone reacted last night. It’s just that she’s such a painful subject for my family. Lilias never met her, of course, but sometimes I think she’s haunted by Rebecca as much as any of us. She’s terrified of her old bedroom, you know, and won’t walk past it if she can help it. Mum had her nervous breakdown and Dad’s had this completewith gates and fences and locks ever since. I think he’s worried sick that the same thing will happen to Lilias. And I’m afraid Cameron blames Rebecca for what happened to his hand. I suppose it
was
her fault – she was the one who started the fire, after all. Obviously, it would have been terrible for
“Maybe he was asking you for real?” Piper asked in a sympathetic voice.
“Yeah. And now I’m just… I worry that he wasbeing serious and, if he was, then how could I have just laughed at him like that?”
I hadn’t spoken about that awkward moment between us to anyone, had hardly even acknowledged it to myself. Tears prickled my eyes and I knew I needed to change the subject quickly or I’d end up sobbing like a little kid and wouldn’t be able to stop.
In my mind, I could see him again, standing there in the dark car park, blowing me a kiss I’d thought was just meant to be a kind of joke.
And I heard the last words he’d ever say to me:
Anything for you
…
“What would you have said?” Piper asked quietly. “If he really was being serious?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, digging my nails into my palms. “I honestly don’t know.”
Piper didn’t ask any more questions and, a moment later, we suddenly came across a simple white cross at the edge of the cliff. As we got closer, I was startled to see the name printed neatly across it:
Rebecca Craig
.
“This is where she died,” Piper said, when I asked her about it. “Didn’t you know?”
“No. My parents never told me how it happened.”
“I suppose they didn’t want to upset you. It was so awful. She came out here all by herself in the middle of the night. No one knows why. It was January, there was snow everywhere, and it gets terribly windy on the island in the winter. As much as ninety miles an hour, so they say, and you’d believe it if you heard it – it howls like anything. My grandmother used to say it was the
Sluagh
, the spirits of the restless dead, travelling around the island in packs. I guess living on an island makes people very superstitious. The
Sluagh
are supposed to approach from the west, and people always say you should keep the west-facing windows of a house closed so they can’t get in. God only knows what possessed Rebecca to come out here like that, all by herself in the middle of the night. She knew we were absolutely forbidden from doing it. But that was typical of Rebecca, always doing something she wasn’t supposed to.”
“Did she fall over the cliff?”
“Yes, but that’s not what killed her. She fell three metres and landed on a little rocky outcrop sticking out of the side. She broke her leg when she fell so she wasn’t able to climb back up again. There wasso much snow that year. None of us had any idea she was out here. It wasn’t until the morning that we realized she was gone. By then she’d frozen to death.”
“How horrible!”
Piper’s lovely face was troubled as she gazed out across the water. “It must have been so scary for her, all alone like that. She must have called and called for help, but we were too far away to hear her. You know, sometimes, when we’re at home at night, the wind out on the clifftop can play tricks on you, can almost sound like a voice. A couple of times I really thought I heard her calling my name, as if she was still lost out here, trying to find her way home.” She glanced at me then and said, “Sophie, can I ask you a favour?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Don’t mention Rebecca’s name back at the house. You saw how everyone reacted last night. It’s just that she’s such a painful subject for my family. Lilias never met her, of course, but sometimes I think she’s haunted by Rebecca as much as any of us. She’s terrified of her old bedroom, you know, and won’t walk past it if she can help it. Mum had her nervous breakdown and Dad’s had this completewith gates and fences and locks ever since. I think he’s worried sick that the same thing will happen to Lilias. And I’m afraid Cameron blames Rebecca for what happened to his hand. I suppose it
was
her fault – she was the one who started the fire, after all. Obviously, it would have been terrible for
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