Now Mimi thought she really might be sick. ‘Jesus Christ, you’re actually proud of yourself? You want me to be impressed? You’re deluded. She’s still your niece, you piece of shit. She’s still a child. You can get yourself out of the car.’

‘Mimi! Wait. I — I . . . can’t . . . There’s something sticking into me.’

She looked closer and saw a dark red stain across the bottom of his shirt, spreading out from his side.

‘Please,’ he said, reaching up once more to catch hold of her hand. ‘Please . . . you need to help me.’

‘Help you?’ She was incredulous. All she wanted to do right now was hurt him, punish him; she wanted to get hold of whatever it was that was sticking into his side and twist it, push it in further, watch his face crumple with the pain. Hear him cry out.

She grabbed his hand and pulled it off her other wrist. Then she squeezed it, hard. She kept her eyes trained on his as she spoke.

‘I will never forgive you for what you’ve done. I’m going to make sure you pay.’

He lowered his eyes. ‘You — you . . . have to understand,’ he began.

Mimi crouched right down, until her face was next to his. ‘I don’t have to understand anything,’ she whispered.

She turned around to crawl back out.

‘Mimi! You can’t leave me here. Mimi!’

*

Jill

She was guiding Darren through the CPR, counting out the compressions and instructing him each time he breathed into Andrea’s mouth.

She shifted her attention for a moment to see that Mimi was crawling back out of Tony’s Lexus. Thank God. She’d been nervous seeing her inside that car while it was stuck on its side like that . . . scared that it might fall and she’d be hurt. Tony must be about to climb out after her.

In the distance, she heard the sound of sirens. Finally, help was coming. The professionals would take over and everything would be okay again.

‘You’re doing well, just keep going,’ she said, ‘the ambulance is almost here. Only a few more minutes and they’ll take over from you.’

Darren glanced up at her. ‘Do you smell smoke?’ he asked.

*

Andrea

She was floating in a dark void. Her chest was tight but her limbs felt loose, light, free. Cool water was rushing over her skin. She lifted one hand and watched the small droplets of water fall from her fingertips. And as she watched the droplets fall, she saw something in them. Images. Tiny scenes in each one.

A small bottle being held in a child’s hands.

Tablets on a palm.

Her own hand flinging out to knock the tablets into the air.

The tablets flying, floating, falling.

A little girl’s face. Full of confusion and fear.

An unclipped seatbelt.

The crush of metal.