BooksBarbecue
Back Afterlove Save as PDF
Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

My mother is going to have a fucking stroke.

‘Ash, listen—’

I don’t let her finish. ‘Just go.’

‘Ash, please. Will you just listen to me for a second—’

‘Will you listen to me?’ I point up the gangway to my front door. ‘I know you and Deborah have got it into your head that I’m dead, but I’m not. I’m about to be, though, because as soon as my mum opens that door she is going to kill me. She’s actually going to kill me dead and she’ll kill you as well if you don’t leave.’

Dev doesn’t budge, though, just stares at me.

I turn away with a sigh, but as I’m about to carry on to my flat, something occurs to me and I turn back to her. ‘Do you have my keys?’

She looks confused.

‘My door key. I don’t have it. Or my wallet or my phone. One of you must have taken them.’

Dev shakes her head. ‘Ash, you don’t understand—’

‘Look.’ I press my palms together and hold them up. ‘I don’t care about my wallet. Keep the money. I don’t even care about my door key, I just need my phone back. Please.’

She takes a step toward me and lowers her voice.

‘They’re . . .’ She stops, looks over her shoulder and takes another step toward me, so close that the toes of our boots are almost touching. ‘They’re with your body, wherever that is. The hospital, I assume.’

I roll my eyes. ‘Not this again.’

‘Yes, this again.’

I turn away from her and stride towards my front door. She follows, but I don’t care any more. My parents can add Followed home by a weird girl to the list of this evening’s misdemeanours. There’s no way Dev is going to get past my mother, anyway, as she’s about to find out.

The narrow bathroom window is dark, but the kitchen light is on, so they’re definitely home and I make the sign of the cross. ‘Father God, pardon me for the evil I have done this day. If I have done any good, may my mother deign to remember it. Watch over me as I enter this house and protect me from any danger that may befall me from slippers or other inanimate objects. Amen.’

I make the sign of the cross again and ring the bell.

Nothing.

I wait then try again – twice this time – but again, there’s no response. I can hear the bell ringing through the door so I know it’s working. I try knocking instead and when there’s no response, I press my ear to the door.

‘They’re not home,’ I hear Dev say.

‘Where else would they be? It’s nearly four a.m.’

‘At the hospital, probably. Or with the police.’